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

[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 , 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.

How old are all the people that are saying no?

49. My tolerance of background noise and music has declined as I’ve got older. In my teens and 20s I always had the radio in the background. .

I’m surprised so many people are saying no! I’m 40 and always have the TV on. I never have it loud enough to be intrusive, just like a fire rumbling away in the background, usually on some daytime news stuff or whatever. I can’t stand it being completely quiet. At the weekend I usually put cbbc on for the kids and they watch a bit and then play on their iPads or with toys. We got out for walks a lot - we live in the countryside- so it’s not like we’re stuck in front of the tv for hours, I just find it comforting. In the evenings dh and I sit and watch a series or film and really sit and actually watch it but I do like it on non stop during the day, always have done.

No, in fact the tv is rarely on there's days. Dd usually puts it on so we can watch something while we eat tea but that's about it.

No, selective about when the tv is on.

Yes, I do.

I was never allowed TV or screens growing up - my dad was super strict growing up and now I seem to love to do everything he banned me from

No DC here though.

Would drive me potty .

I love silence. I can go weeks without putting on the TV. I watch some youtube or news on my laptop, listen to podcasts or music, but stuff of my choosing, not the endless drone of TV.

I really don't get the people saying "no - because daytime TV is dross".

I don't even remember the last time I watched anything on live TV. I watch programmes on Netflix, Prime, NowTv, YouTube or Disney or catch up.

No
I don’t have a tv anymore anyway but watch a an episode of series at night on laptop usually

I haven’t ever done this but do have radio on

Definitely not, and I don't know anyone in the UK who does. I'm nearly 60. It was the thing that most surprised me when I first went to the US in the 1980s. My friends married an American and her in-laws had the TV on the entire day, whether anyone was in the room or not. I found it really distracting.

There are occasions when our television stays on for longer in the day than normal - for example i had it on for much of yesterday while I was keeping an eye on the coverage of the US election results on the BBC news channel while getting on with other stuff. And I might do the same when there are other big news stories breaking. But normally it goes on for a particular purpose and then off again.

When the children were young the television went on once a day so they could watch the Teletubbies or Tweenies, and might go on again a few hours later to watch a video. But it was never left on the whole time.

How old are all the people that are saying no?

47. But I've only ever put the TV on to watch something specific. Drives me bananas if it's on and not being watched, ie if we're eating in the kitchen and it's on in the lounge. I do listen to radio 4 and 5live all day whilst WFH though

No. We rarely have the TV on. When DD was a baby we didn’t have a TV anyway. I also recall reading something about that first year they need not to have other noise distractions so they can focus on mum’s voice - but I can’t now remember why. My daughter’s cousin had speech problems as a toddler and part of the problem was attributed to them having had the TV on a lot as a baby/toddler.

I don't have anything on! H thinks it's odd too and needs background noise to wfh... So he puts music on but I don't know I just don't have it on

So according to his logic before TV was invented everyone had speech delay because no TV constantly causes this?

Watching TV all day is really bad for you. Having divided attention while playing with your son will be bad for his development. Ignore your husband.

Ps. I am a speech and language specialist

Yes.

No as daytime TV is a corner of hell I'd rather avoid. I do have the radio on all day though.

Radio yes, TV, sometimes.

My mum always raised me to think having tv on in the day was common. Same goes for the big light. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My parents do this and it drives me mad - I never do it in my home, and find any excuse I can to turn the TV off in their home (which is probably very rude, and I wouldn't do to anyone except my own family). That said, I don't think it did me any particular harm growing up in a house with the TV on, it just left me with a preference for silence. We do listen to the radio - I used to always listen to radio 4 in the morning when I drove to work but now I WFH and if I tell Alexa to play radio 4 DS wants either nursery rhymes or animal sounds on instead and I can't be doing with that before I've had a cup of tea so she stays off!

I find background speech soothing- try radio 4, will be good for D.C. to hear lots of speech even when you’re not talking to him & one can learn loads of interesting things with little effort!

No. The TV goes on only specifically to watch something.

I kind of (jokingly) regret it though, while other kids seem to play quite happily with the TV on, my kid’s turn into zombies whenever there’s a screen on anywhere. Reckon I could leave them watching the viagra ads in the chemist and they wouldn’t even notice I’d gone.

Only goes on if there's something I want to watch, no radio even. I like the silence.

@IcandothisactuallyIcan

I think the bigger issue is that your DH is calling you weird and blaming you for your child's speech delay.

The tv is a red herring. He sounds like a dick
And a dick that doesn't understand child development

Used to, but as Ive got older I find it gets on my nerves and I quite like the quiet. I always have the radio on in the disco kitchen though.

Mines on from 4am until we go to bed at 9. DS2 watches it some of the day but we play/read/sing with him a lot of the day. We do out but this will be happening less due to lockdown/winter. He goes to a childminder 2 days a week and she doesn't have the tv on (sometimes the radio). His speech is brilliant (as told by a speech therapist) and his understanding his great, he has learnt a lot of things from the tv programmes he watches so I don't have any problem with him watching it.