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Original poster

Do you have the tv on in the background all day when you are home ?

377 replies

IcandothisactuallyIcan · 04/11/2020 22:06

I don't and my DH says I'm weird as whenever he gets home he puts the tv straight on.

So I'm at home with our nearly one year old all day. DH says I'm the only mum who doesn't watch daytime tv in the background whilst playing/looking after DD.

I didn't have the TV on with my older DS either, although he had daily some tv time everyday once he could focus on it (so from 18 months onward maybe.) My DS had a speech delay and my DH says it because the house is so quiet due to no TV. I of course I do talk to the kids. I do however look at my phone for texts and MN a bit Hmm, but try not to all the time, so I guess that's the modern reading a book whilst looking after the kids. He could be right that I'm unusual. I suppose I've never thought to have the tv on and only put it on for the kids to watch stuff. I hadn't considered having bargain hunt on whilst playing cars. Maybe I'll try it for lockdown 2, instead of going out and having occasional company.

OP posts:
Lazypuppy · 05/11/2020 09:31

Yep ours is pretty much on all day

WoahHeyThere · 05/11/2020 09:31

Yes but mostly as just background noise. DS1 will occasionally ask for me to put something on for him but he usually wonders off to play after a short while. DS2 not old enough to be interested in the TV yet.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 05/11/2020 09:33

It’s only on if one of us wants to watch something.

SleepingStandingUp · 05/11/2020 09:35

I have it on cos i don't like the silence but o don't think it matters of you don't.

One of my concerns was that I found it difficult to keep up a running commentary with DS to expose him to language so I was concerned about him being in silence for hours at a time

IntermittentParps · 05/11/2020 09:36

No. If I'm watching telly I'm watching it with my full attention. I don't understand the idea of just putting it on and watching whatever presents itself. And I find the sound of it in the background depressing. I don't really like silence though so I have the radio on all day, sometimes 6Music and sometimes Radio 4.

ramblingsonthego · 05/11/2020 09:38

My TV is on from like 7am till 10.30pm. Even when working from home I have it on for background noise (put it on mute when on video/telephone calls. I like to have the background noise like you do at work.

PanamaPattie · 05/11/2020 09:38

No TV on. No radio. Silence. Lovely.

FlyingByTheSeatof · 05/11/2020 09:38

I'm a big TV and radio person but actually when my DC were small I didn't have the TV on during the day, there was so much to do and I loved hanging out with them because they were both adorable. I went out quite a lot with them but I also went back to work within a year of having each so they were in nursery by the time they were one.

Fluffybutter · 05/11/2020 09:40

Yes , all the time .
I only listen to the radio in the car so the tv is always on in the background.
Wasn’t like that when I was growing up though .

LaMarschallin · 05/11/2020 09:41

Hardbackwriter

It's also, if we're honest, very much a class thing (waits to be flamed for mentioning c-word)

Interesting.

(Watching really far away from the incendiaries at a suitable socially distanced... erm... distance.
But I'm holding a fire extinguisher.)

notalwaysalondoner · 05/11/2020 09:42

No, but I did market research for a tv company so know a lot of people have it on literally ALL the time when they aren’t asleep. I was raised to see having the tv on all the time as a bit “common”, not sure why as my own granny does it, maybe my DM was trying to get away from her roots... I am not good at multitasking so would find it very distracting, I can’t even listen to music while I work.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 05/11/2020 09:47

I have the telly on all the time as background

Its switched off for guests and actually i should get back to the habit of switching it off when ds1 and his partner come home

It wasn’t on permanently when the children were much younger, but it all went to hell in a handcart when they got to senior school

SleepingStandingUp · 05/11/2020 09:55

@notalwaysalondoner

No, but I did market research for a tv company so know a lot of people have it on literally ALL the time when they aren’t asleep. I was raised to see having the tv on all the time as a bit “common”, not sure why as my own granny does it, maybe my DM was trying to get away from her roots... I am not good at multitasking so would find it very distracting, I can’t even listen to music while I work.
I think there's broadly speaking two tribes. The ones who can only concentrate in silence (DH) and ones who can't concentrate in silence (Me). I literally can't work in silence, because the noise in my head is too loud, o think having TV or music on kinda drowns it out or suppresses it so it's easier to think
WhatifIfeellikeacat · 05/11/2020 09:58

My DH has it on or with the sound off and sometimes I want to throw the TV out of the window but he will get a new one of course 😭

ConfusedcomMum · 05/11/2020 09:58

I used to when I had two DCs under 2 and one of them was badly colic. I think it kept us all sane.

Scarlettpixie · 05/11/2020 09:59

I only put it on when I am watching it. I didn’t have it in in the background when DS as small.

WhatifIfeellikeacat · 05/11/2020 10:01

With TV or radio on for most of the day it feels like you are in a supermarket. Constant sound is a noise pollution and a very selfish action.

spotlovesbedtime · 05/11/2020 10:12

I would never have the Tv on as background. It's not really great for kids to have TV on all the time? It certainly won't help their language skills, they need real people to talk to them for that. I have a set length of time for cartoons for 3 year old, during this time I know I can get stuff done undisturbed, if TV was a constant then he wouldn't be so engrossed in it during that one hour. Use a radio for background noise if needed! Hate going to someones house and trying to chat while their TV is still on, seems really rude...... I'd rather my children saw me with a head in my book than staring at a screen all day!

jollybobs89 · 05/11/2020 10:17

Radio most of the day or Disney movies for the toddler Smile

CorianderLord · 05/11/2020 10:20

So does he think everyone had speech delays before TV was invented?

GameSetMatch · 05/11/2020 10:20

No, I’m a SAHM but don’t put the TV on until 5pm, it’s not healthy to have it on all day. I’ll go on Mumsnet or browse the web when it’s nap time. I love the quiet though.

MummaBear4321 · 05/11/2020 10:22

Do people not find it quite off putting when you go into someone's house and they dont turn the tv off? My inlaws have their tv on a lot and I always feel like I have come over with DD, and they would rather watch tv than talk to us. I find it really hinders their communication with DD and DH. They just dont really speak or have decent conversations about their lives or what they have been up to. They get distracted by the TV. I always make a point of having the tv off when someone is over.

Original poster
IcandothisactuallyIcan · 05/11/2020 10:22

@WaltzingBetty ha ha we just agree to disagree. I'm confident enough to know DH talks crap about a lot of things. I just smile my smug smile of superior knowledge and carry on my day. If he produces any of his incorrect gems of wisdom in public, then I use my expressive eyebrows and eye balls to acknowledge the bollocks he talks with the other person. 👁 But don't fear DS' speech has picked up, but we did use a speech therapist rather than the TV they did recommend an episode of Mr repetitive Tumble everyday if they were going to watch Tv, but definitely didn't recommend TV or radio generally or in the background as too distracting .

OP posts:
Original poster
IcandothisactuallyIcan · 05/11/2020 10:44

Oh could be a class thing my DH is very working class background. Parents both worked really hard as a truck driver & nurse doing shifts around the kids and they sort of brought themselves up.

Although my Dad grew up on a notorious council estate in London he went to a private school via some scheme that paid his fees, as did his brother. He likes the TV constantly. My Mum's family had money/ land, she went up grammar school lived in the posh countryside. Mum says you shouldn't watch daytime TV ! So could be something in it ..I would say I'm not working class, but poor scrap by middle class, my Dad owned his own business growing up, but it didn't do that well as was 80/90's and the recession, but mum was a SAHM.

OP posts:
ShowingOut · 05/11/2020 10:48

@IcandothisactuallyIcan

I don't and my DH says I'm weird as whenever he gets home he puts the tv straight on.

So I'm at home with our nearly one year old all day. DH says I'm the only mum who doesn't watch daytime tv in the background whilst playing/looking after DD.

I didn't have the TV on with my older DS either, although he had daily some tv time everyday once he could focus on it (so from 18 months onward maybe.) My DS had a speech delay and my DH says it because the house is so quiet due to no TV. I of course I do talk to the kids. I do however look at my phone for texts and MN a bit Hmm, but try not to all the time, so I guess that's the modern reading a book whilst looking after the kids. He could be right that I'm unusual. I suppose I've never thought to have the tv on and only put it on for the kids to watch stuff. I hadn't considered having bargain hunt on whilst playing cars. Maybe I'll try it for lockdown 2, instead of going out and having occasional company.

Your DH is completely, utterly wrong about background TV being good for speech delay. Our DC had speech delay and we were told by the speech therapist that we must not have the TV on, as background noise makes it harder for DCs to listen to and react to actual humans speaking to them.

We don't have the TV on in the background.

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