To ask how much screen time your toddlers get?

[Silverclasp]

My little one is 18 months old and for the last couple of days I've realised that I've had the TV on most of the day and I'm feeling so bad about it.

She's not a kid who will sit and watch TV for hours, she's too active climbing and playing but she loves it to be on in the background and will comment on whatever is on the screen from time to time.
Obviously we go outside for walks and playing but when we are in the house she asks for the TV to be put on all the time and I'm thinking that's not good for her and need to get out of the habit of doing it. We are currently making a playroom out of another room and there's no TV in there so hoping that will help.

So my question is those of you with toddlers how much TV do they watch?

Mine are older now, but when they were toddlers we started to set aside the pre-dinner period as "telly time". At first it was half an hour (one episode of In The Night Garden), and then later it stretched to an hour, from 5pm to 6pm. And that's been the rule for about nine years now.

This has been incredibly useful, because it's totally ingrained with them, to the point where they never ask to have screen time at any other time of day. So no pestering.

DD is 3.5. Not a lot at the moment;

No phones
No tablets
About 20 mins actual TV watching in evening followed by it becoming background whilst she plays with other stuff for about an hour.
She used to play Kiddopia on my tablet but that broke and now she's so used to not using it that she hasn't even noticed I've had a new one since

I will say, it helps her to sit down and eat her tea rather than have a bite and run off into the wilderness lol

I'm also baffled by parents who say they have TV on for 20 minutes at a time... do people really do that? It seems very abrupt to cut off at that point

Most of the programmes on cbeebies are short. So we let each child choose one, it's usually a Bing for youngest and something like Andy's adventures for the oldest. They know it's one each so don't expect it to be left on. I don't watch that much TV so I don't have it on at all for background noise.

Honestly, since lockdown it's been on way way more than ever before. I feel guilty and like I need to reign it back in but meh.

@DeepaBeesKit

I'm also baffled by parents who say they have TV on for 20 minutes at a time... do people really do that? It seems very abrupt to cut off at that point

Most of the programmes on cbeebies are short. So we let each child choose one, it's usually a Bing for youngest and something like Andy's adventures for the oldest. They know it's one each so don't expect it to be left on. I don't watch that much TV so I don't have it on at all for background noise.

Fair enough. I we do cbeebs too, but with the auto play it's so hard to switch off. End up watching so many and lose track. "Just one more" and then you've watched about 10

None, he's a toddler

45 min 5 days a week but we often skip a day here or there. She’s 2 and only in nursery half days (i pick her up at 12:30) and dropped her nap so it fills a bit of time. Weekends we are out and about all day with DH (I don’t drive which is a pain in the ass in a country that doesn’t think pavements are important). Tbh though her behaviour deteriorates quite quickly any more than that so I have to limit it.

I'm pretty shocked by lots of the replies on this thread. My understanding of the research is that TV is not in any way good for children's development before about age 3 and the absolute worst thing is "just having it on in the background" because it distracts them from learning through whatever activity they're doing.

I wouldn't judge anyone for giving toddlers a bit of TV either just as entertainment or because we all need a break sometimes, but I certainly wouldn't be relaxed and not even thinking about it being on all day!

TV isn't harmful, it's just not beneficial. Which means so long as a child is getting all their other needs met (for play, language development, problem solving, etc.) then TV is not a problem. The problem is when young children get TV instead of those things. If you expect CBeebies to teach your toddler to talk no doubt that child could well have some speech and language issues. It's not all or nothing though is it? It's ok to have times you do jigsaws, and times you play make believe eive, and times you run in the park, and times you have play dates, and times you do baking or tree climbing or swimming or any number of things, and TV being one of those things isn't a problem. It's when you substitute parenting for TV that the problem comes in

DS seems to have natural dips in energy (and mood) during the day and a bit of TV gets him sitting on my lap, resting and stops him running himself into the ground 🤷🏻‍♀️ Maybe 20 mins in the morning between 8:30 and 9 before we go out and do something, and 30 minutes between 6:20 and 6:50 post tea, pre bed. Outside of these times we are usually out and about doing things. If we are at home, he’ll ask for it and get cross if I say no, but can be (currently!) easily distracted with toys/books/food. I’m not sure what I’ll do if he starts proper tantruming for it - I’ll cross that bridge when I get there!

Neither of mine had any until 2, because they just weren't interested (which was both a blessing and a curse) however now at 3&6 we've gone too far the other way and they have waaaaay too much, about 2 hours a day in the week and more on weekends. We're working on cutting it down but with our current living situation it's difficult.

None. There's quite clear WHO guidelines on this. Screens are not good.

Around 3 hours of sitting and watching. Typical day 1.5 hours when we get up because I'm tired. 0.5 hours after his nap. 1 hour on an evening when forcing him to play isn't fun for either of us.

He's fine

DD is five, she watches about an hour a day usually (20 mins whilst having breakfast and getting dressed and the rest while I'm preparing tea). At the moment she has covid, so has been snuggled up on the sofa watching BBC iPlayer.

We rarely have live TV on, and quite honestly I don't mind that she's watched Operation Ouch for a few hours in between homeschooling.

On weekends she gets screen time relative to the amount of time spent outdoors or doing activities - a long walk after swimming and she can choose a film to watch or a couple of episodes of whatever she's fond of that week.

Don't worry about it. If her speech and language is coming along as normal and you are still able to have a conversation with her, just leave it be. too much guilt around as it is. Maybe slowly turn the volume lower little by little, so that she can speak to you more easily.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/24/who-warning-children-screen-time

The WHO guideline is based on sedentary screen time, and even that says for 2-4 year olds they can have some TV (up to an hour a day).

It says time spent face to face with a parent is better, but doesn't take into account that they might be watching TV with their parent and talk about it afterwards, might be watching with a sibling and joining in with songs, dance moves, etc.

It's too simplistic to say "The Who says tv is bad for kids"

@Lightswitch123

None. There's quite clear WHO guidelines on this. Screens are not good.

The Royal College of Paediatrics have said that the WHO guidance is based on very limited data and is too generalised to be applied to entire populations (www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/24/who-warning-children-screen-time). There own guidance is far more realistic for the average working, multi aged family, in my mind: www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/health-impacts-screen-time-guide-clinicians-parents. Note they do not recommend ‘cut offs’ as the evidence is just not there.

There own guidance

^Their own guidance

19 months. Nothing at all until recently. Now 2 minutes twice a day because the Blipi toothbrushing song is the only thing that avoids a major toothbrushing battle and I was worried his teeth were going to fall out if I didn't do something I'm mean and if he stops brushing his teeth I turn it straight off.

@DaisyandSimeon oh her speech is brilliant she is just after turning 18 months old and talks constantly. Even if she watches the TV she'll be constantly pointing out what animal is on the screen or if its "we are going on the bear hunt" she recites the words along with it and we both do all the actions. I have no concerns about her development just worried that she's getting used to the TV being on that much.