To be mad at DH for sticking DD infront of TV for 2 hours

[Wingingthis]

2 solid hours of peppa pig. I was raging! DD is 2 and he gets limited 1:1 time with her due to work

Aside from the fact that Peppa Pig is utter shite, 2 hrs of TV won't do her any harm in the big old scheme of things! Parenting is bloody hard - you can't be 'on it' 24/7 - it's exhausting. Sometimes you do lovely 'wholesome' activities with them & sometimes they get to veg out for a bit while you have a break - it's fine. My now intelligent, articulate, well adjusted 12yr old spent a lot of hours watching Thomas the Tank Engine & Fireman Sam - especially if I was ill, busy or just not feeling it! He's awesome - no harm done. It obviously depends on the circumstances - if he never engages with her, then you have a concern.

To be fair OP I can see your point. DH also gets rarely little 1:1 time with the kids. He works long hours and I work from home around their schedules, so I do the bulk of the parenting. If, on one of the very rare occasions he is alone with them whilst I go out with friends or whatever, I would be disappointed if he plonked them in front of the TV instead of taking them to the park/playing/otherwise bonding. Even a family film together with a big bag of popcorn would be better somehow. Did he have a reason for doing it?

I don't get the obsession a lot of ones have on here hating tv time. I honestly believe if you continually deny something, access to it later on will be unhealthy. An hour or two throughout the day is absolutely fine. Peppa Pig is age appropriate, too. You might have had a point if it was 2h of a film which was explicit but it's designed for tots.

You are totally allowed to suggest ideas of things for your partner to do with his toddler. But micromanaging is only going to create resentment between yourselves. If the programmes are age appropriate and educational, who cares. Maybe watching something might spark off a trip somewhere, or some arts and crafts ideas. Its what you make of it.

I get it Op, totally lazy parenting on his part because he couldn't be bothered.

Peppa Pig's a really poor choice tbh.

Yes it's lazy, yes if he doesn't do normal interaction etc I can understand being peed off. Sometimes my dh takes the easy route and would probably feed them mac Donald's everyday.
However I am with the others on that it won't harm her! Tv in a normal busy day, weeks is fine I don't get the obsessing with it nor with tablets unless the child does have an issue.

Dc can read, run, play, build incredible lego cities, write books, climb trees, and and and... Watch a couple of hours of TV!! We have dc who come round, two in particular, different families, as soon as our TV is on they cannot avert their eyes, they are like zombies.

Making memories?? How is taking your DC for a crappy walk to the local park or to some germ infested soft play “making memories”?

In 20 years time, what are the chances of your adult DC saying “oh Mum, do you remember that time we went looking for butterflies on the estate?”

Having fond memories of your Childhood from your Dc’s perspective is about remembering the love, the security, the family habits, the freedom to live a rounded, balanced and happy life. It won’t be about that time dad spent 2 hours doing crafts with her

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ To the poster who declared “Peppa pig is awesome”. She’s an overweight snidey little grass

I'd be annoyed too if he didn't spend much 1to1 time with her and then spent a huge chunk of it letting her watch tv. (Barring illness or some other crisis).

It's not Peppa that's the problem, she's awesome, it's the fact he can't seem to be arsed to parent on the odd occasion he has to.

@hmga90 Peppa or the pp? If the latter that seems a little harsh... 😏😂

It's a bit like leaving my DH to cook a meal for the DCs and he decides to get McDonalds instead. If someone is going to get a night of cooking and feed them junk food, it shouldn't be the person who is hardly ever responsible for cooking. It should be a bonus for the person who does it all the time.

YANBU for expecting your DH to step up and interact with his child when he has some rare time to spend with her. He sounds lazy.

I never knew how to 'play' with my children, I'd stick them in front of the TV as well if there were no other children around for them to play with.

Not everyone knows what to do to amuse children.

YABU

YANBU peppa pig is horrendous, I hate those disgusting snorting cretins!

Both my ds's used to watch tonnes of tv: Thomas the tank, fireman Sam, whatever.

Can't see the issue myself!

As a kid I watched TV , sometimes all day. I'm still sane and my eyes haven't fallen out. I'm sure your DD will be fine.

Same happens here a lot of the time when I'm not here but thats their thing, a mobie or cartoon, also dh would make sure to do one outdoorsy/ inside stuff too ( hide and seek, board game or nerf fight). I agree we need context though, if they were only together the 2hrs and he does it all the time I'd be raging too. If something to do to with work came up fair enough or he was watching it too, then that's their thing

I would have hated to grown up in most MN'ers households.

10:45 needlework
11.30 crafting
12.45 sticking.

Scheduled every minute of their day.

Screw that. Can't I just sit in the sofa and watch postman pat?

Ps last ds stopped watching peppa this year and i miss it, some of their in jokes are brilliant!!

Well due to having chronic fatigue my sons did watch a fair amount of tv including Peppa Pig.

But, Ds1 is 16, is on an extended break from school due to finishing his GCSEs mid June. He has obviously been gaming, also rubix cube solving, playing guitar, (self taught) playing piano, preparing for A levels with their summer stuff, watching The West Wing with me, gardening, going to the park. So yes, that TV watching of Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig, The Fimbles etc ruined him.

The pluses are it shows you can take your child on a long haul flight and they will stay quiet watching Peppa! You need to chill. You clearly do lots of activities with your child, so it balances out the tv watching.

I'm with you OP

if it was because he was too lazy to play / entertain her I'd be really mad

If it was a one off I'd tell him how you feel and let him know it's not appropriate

Perfect Parent Brigade. queue the music

Making memories 24/7 sounds exhausting when at 2 they’re unlikely to remember any of it. A long stimulating walk to a 2 year old is likely to be a pain in the arse to them unless a park is involved.
Surely if it was on for 2 hours and she watched then she was happy, is that not the ultimate goal? If you decide not to have the TV on and she’s still happy then great. People who feel the need to be so emotionally involved in other people’s lives need to make their own more interesting.
TV does no harm. I watched TV as a kid and guess what, I now teach your kids! So can’t be all bad can it?

I've had dc that loved the TV and one that never watched it I couldn't get worked up about two hours of TV tbh. I'm sure that you can spend time actively entertaining your child for the rest of the day to compensate anyway.

Can i as a mum of 3 big children and DGC be really controversial and say that 2 hours in front of the t.v wont harm your child, look at it that she iss having a rest, too many children dont get to rest these days because their parents feel a failure if they dont entertain their offspring 18 hours a day. I have seen children come into my classroom exhausted on a Monday morning because their parents have dragged them here there and every bloody where at the weekend. Give the poor child some peace.
OP your OH is your childs parent too, you are not the BOSS

Watching tv for 2 hours I think is normal tbh
They need some downtime when young, esp if they don't have a nap
If mine had been doing stuff all morning, after lunch they would have 'rest time' for a couple of hours in the afternoon and spend it watching tv or a film, possibly doze off for a bit, while I got on with other stuff or relax myself