To think a childminder shouldn't have kids watching films on the telly?

[5footMama]

A childminder in my village says she "sometimes" has a movie afternoon with her charges (age 10m-3yrs) and it's made me doubt whether to send DD (14m)

Is it just me, or should a childminder not be using the TV like that???
I mean, I'm not anti telly and if they were watching a bit of a program about penguins or something because they're learning about penguins,then cool. Bit to just put them in front of the telly for 2hrs when it supposed to be looking after them seems a bit crap. They wouldn't do this in a nursery or anything.

[quote IncludeWomenInTheSequel]@WaxOnFeckOff makes an excellent point. I chose a CM because of the home environment; I had no interest in my toddler getting up to speed on the curriculum.
If you're the other way, maybe a nursery is more for you.

Our old CM will be family for life, and her kids think of mine as little cousins. That's worth it's weight in gold in this life; a bit of extra screen time compared to that? That's nothing.[/quote]
The CMs 13 year old loved having a little boy in the house after two younger sisters and starting popping home from lunch to play cars if he was awake. It helped that they had the same name. My DS was my CMs first mindee and she only had him at the time so he was very much a new member of the family :) A CM suited us better than a nursery but for other folks it's different. She took him to the clinic for his jabs and things like that too.

This is madness! I'd be shocked if a childminder wasn't showing them a film once a week or so.

I'd also be completely shocked if any of the sat through it but thats by the by.

As a previous poster said, I chose childminder for the home environment. I didn't want my babies in a soulless nursery and we certainly had no interest in the curriculum at that age. Mine went to nursery at 3 and I know for sure they all were wacking the tv on pretty frequently too.

Watching a film isn't going to kill/delay the development of/upset your kid. The chances are they watch 10-20 minutes and then do some colouring. Why are parents nowadays so obsessed with their babies following a curriculum and strict education schedule? bladdy hell

Notimeforaname

What bat shit loons.

Does any one really believe that children aged 10 m - 3 years are going to sit there for a solid 2 hours?

We are in lock down with shit weather, a film once in a while wont do any harm, every where will do the same even at school.

@KitchKlassic

AccidentallyOnPurpose

I appreciate it sounds like a contradiction but what I meant was it's on all day so it's a constant distraction. Even if they're playing/pottering they'll be sucked in by it over and over and will abandon what they're doing as nothing competes with tv for some DC. It's shite for their concentration. Some kids are there for 10 hours per day, five days per week.

I'd be ok with one movie put on or a designated hour or so for a bit of tv like I do at home, as the CM deserves some down time, but I think It's lazy when you're being paid to look after people's DC to have the tv on all day in the hope of distracting them as much as possible.

How do you know that it is on to "distract them as much as possible "? Did she admit to that or are you a mind reader?

We had the telly on all day when DD was little , she wasn't that interested a lot of the time precisely because it was always there .

We watch it one a week now if that(movie night) and that's not a brag as we have other screens.

Mumtoalittlegirl
It was exhausting because we essentially had to just let the child see the screen every week as we couldn't keep her away and her mother would be fumin with us every week,making complaints higher up. I understand people live differently but you can't have society cater to every which way you want your child to be taken care of.

Even nursery and Reception classes do this as a treat, and I can assure you we follow the National Curriculum. We give it a build up, close the blinds. Sometimes we ask children to make tickets for the show.

Not all children find it a treat though, and after 5 minutes would rather run around outside.

It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me with a childminder, just like taking them on a wet walk would. However, if a child minder mostly walked around in the cold, or mostly put films on, then that would definitely be an issue.

@RubyFakeLips

This is madness! I'd be shocked if a childminder wasn't showing them a film once a week or so.

I'd also be completely shocked if any of the sat through it but thats by the by.

As a previous poster said, I chose childminder for the home environment. I didn't want my babies in a soulless nursery and we certainly had no interest in the curriculum at that age. Mine went to nursery at 3 and I know for sure they all were wacking the tv on pretty frequently too.

Because atm screens are the root of all evil?

What bat shit loons
I'd have to agree.

I sure private nurseries do this as an occasional thing.

Yep. DS went to a private nursery. They went for walks, they went to the shops, they did baking, they got read to, they played in the garden, they did messy play and construction and early years curriculum and all the rest of it. And now and again, they watched videos.

One of my happiest Christmas memories is poppping in to collect DS when they were just starting The Snowman and sitting with him on my lap among the carers and kids to finish watching it.

Our CM sometimes puts a programme on for the children. They do wholesome activities the vast majority of time, so a bit if TV isn't going to cause any harm at all. To be honest DD would have more screen time if she were at home with us instead. (I assure you we are not negligent parents, but there is only so much entertainment i can provide in a 13 hour day)

A lot of this just goes to the "shit childminders" stereotype imo.

I have a 3yo at home. She watches about an hour of TV a day I'd say, in a couple of chunks. I'm not going to list all the amazing things she can do but suffice to say TV isn't eating her brain.

There are some truly shit CMs out there but I'm not sure this is indicative of that.

@starpatch

No you are right. Childminders are ofsted regulated they are supposed to be following the early years curriculum.

You cannot follow solely the early years curriculum from breakfast to bedtime, to the exclusion of all else, 5 days a week.

My ds's childminder had movie afternoon once a week and he loved it they made cookies in the morning and got to choose a film for the afternoon to watch while eating their cookies and got popcorn too. Yabu nothing wrong with a film thats suitable. His favourite to pick was toy story and the other children got to pick too

I think it’s fine to do occasionally (which is what she’s saying it is), it’s very unlikely that she just plonks them in front of a tv for 2 hours and forgets about them, I mean how many 2 year olds will sit still through a whole film anyway?

They are still minding the children

It's not as if you could just leave your young kids home alone as long as they've got the TV on...

Yep. DS went to a private nursery. They went for walks, they went to the shops, they did baking, they got read to, they played in the garden, they did messy play and construction and early years curriculum and all the rest of it. And now and again, they watched videos

One of my happiest Christmas memories is poppping in to collect DS when they were just starting The Snowman and sitting with him on my lap among the carers and kids to finish watching it

This is exactly how the nursery I worked at ran.
It was lovely on a Friday for some exhausted parents to come in and cuddle up on the cushions for a few minutes watching with their little ones.

Equally there were exhausted parents who would just pull the child out as quick as possible to avoid having to faff around on the floor

They absolutely do in nursery.

And right now - what else are they meant to do?

Childminders are often alone and need to prepare meals etc and clean up, set up activities etc. They need the children entertained whilst they do that just like we do as parents.

I absolutely wouldn’t want them glued to a tv for 8 hours every day but I wouldn’t have a problem with a movie afternoon every so often.

The title "childminder" in itself doesn't imply they are offering anything in terms of education or particular activities, although I know some do.

Technically they are just "minding" children, which really just means that they are present as a responsible adult in place of their parents, making sure that they don't come to harm. They're not teachers.

What activities they are doing during that time is really up to them to decide and up to you as a parent to find out if you are happy with it.

They had movies on a Friday in our school! Ha. Friday afternoon once in a while was movie day!

Kids loved it. That was at a school

The fuss about screen time is turning into something of a class marker imo, with too many jumping uncritically onto a crowded bandwagon.

It's the dead of winter. She can't bring them all out because some of the younger children are probably sleeping in the afternoon. They can't go to a soft play because they're closed, and the weather isn't always suitable for a trip to a playground. They have probably done some outside activities in the morning, done all the building and art and sand play that passes the time. All of them probably need some quiet time.

A movie occasionally is not going to give them brain damage. It's child oriented entertainment, not North Korean propaganda.

Either you trust the CM's judgement here or you find another one.

Most 1-3 year olds will struggle to sit through a 90 minute film so your 1 year old will most likely watch for 10 mins then lose interest and find something else to do. I wouldn’t be fussed by this at all, it’s hardly like she has the TV on all day and plonks them all in high chairs in front of it.

2 hours seems a bit much when you’re paying for it. How do you know the length?

Because that's normally how long kids films are roughly??

Highly unlikely for under 2s. More like 30 minutes or so.

A tv programme (20 mins) late morning each day whilst the childminder prepares lunch and a movie on Friday pms through the winter (90 - 100 mins approx generally for kids movies) seems reasonable for an 11 hour day - remember most nursery staff get a break, childminders do not.