To think this was a nice day for toddler …?

[Owlatnighttime]

Wakes at 5.

Comes in bed for cuddle with parent a, won’t go back to sleep, Parent a puts tv on. Has breakfast around 8, goes out with parent a at 9. Toddler group, then a run and play on the park. Home for lunch, naps 12:20-2:20, watches some tv for maybe an hour, plays outside in the garden for an hour. Now playing with toys until tea at 515, will then watch another hour of CBeebies then bath and bed.

I think the early morning TV is reasonable to keep as, like you say, you are tired!

Posters here seem to think that anything other than screentime involves interacting with the toddler. Not so! They need to learn to entertain themselves- like he does when he’s playing in the garden or inside with his toys. Just expand these sessions and he won’t need the afternoon & evening TV.
Busy mums and energetic toddlers existed before screens - they learn to cope and start using their imagination! That is what screen time inhibits and why too much of it is not a good idea. The answer to a busy toddler is less screens, not more.

OP, I think it sounds like a great day for your DC! And when you’ve got an early riser (as I did, although mine are older now) you do whatever works for you/them. Also, to all the people saying that’s too much screen time, I really don’t think it’s going to have a lasting impact, negative or otherwise. And if it helps you as a parent, then it makes for a better day all round — and that’s got to be a good thing.

Mine wakes up around 5.30-6.30. We usually get up around 6, I might go for a shower then we go downstairs, have a cuddle, change nappy, have breakfast. Then DS (5) gets up and I have to get clothes gathered up and get her changed and him ready for school, make his lunch, get everyone's teeth brushed, locate shoes etc.

On the weekend we either go out really early for a park trip or forest walk or beach trip (much more frequently in summer) which requires all the usual morning fuss, or we lie around in our pyjamas in front of the telly (much more frequent)

@Mysisterlivesinbicester thats actually pretty reasonable! A good way to get them to understand the time and read the clock. I will never forget when my mum asked me the time and I said for example quarter past 4 or quarter to 4 and my niece (who was like 13/14 years old) turned around and asked why I speak like that and why I don’t just answer the question normally! I was shocked as I did answer the question normally and she mentioned I will say quarter past/to or half past.. I told her that’s because that is what the time is and she said it made no sense, how can quarter anything make sense.. it was then i realised she didn’t understand how to read the clock in any other way besides whatever she did know (if anything). She was a lazy kid because of my sister and would just ask my brother the answer to everything simply because he would always answer (he is a yr older than her).

@Theelephantinthecastle so that’s essentially what the OP wrote however everyone is saying she was wrong for that 🤔.. regardless if it was 3hrs, more or less it sounds like everyone else does something else that doesn’t involve the TV for however many hrs it takes for them to wake up.. why is why I asked what others do as it must be something different?

Way too much tv

Ugh the screen police. Boring

Generally sounds nice but an awful lot of screens for such a young child IMO.

I don't think it does harm to have background noise. I would have been happy to have the radio on, but I feel overwhelmed by background noise so I didn't do this. I was also guided a bit by DC1 who has AS and hates any kind of background noise.

I suppose I'm not wondering in the case of children with additional needs - more in the case of NT children whose parents just have the TV on as background noise. I don't see the point of it.

I put mine in bed with me to watch the I pad for an hour while I snooze. Some of the parents on here will FREEEEEAK out at that, but I don't give a shit, my kid is happy as am I :-)

OP as long as your toddler isn't watching adult x rated TV he'll be fine.

Parents (mothers normally) stop beating yourself up if your child watches TV.

You've got to look after your own mental health too......do what you need too.

It can be very boring entertaining your child day in and out.... there, I've said it.....boring !

With a 5am wake up it’s almost impossible to stop the screen time! People are so judgey. Only thing I’d do is try and reduce one of them. Do you have a yo-to player? Or have certain toys set up when they come downstairs for tv so there is a delay before they start it.

Im not judging btw we are EXACTLY the same. Do you watch different things?

👏 I watched loads of tv as a kid and I'm semi normal

If you want to curb the early wake ups I would try cutting the TV in the morning and 1 hour before bed.
Especially the morning TV - you may find he is waking early to watch TV - all subconsciously.

Say for example if I woke at 5am every morning someone would give me £100... you bet I'd start waking up at 5am, in order not to miss it.
Your toddler might be waking up early to not miss the opportunity to watch TV (even though he has the chance to do it later on).
If he wakes at 5am and nothing happens, he may find it's a bit boring and slowly start sleeping longer.

I treat anything before 6am as a night wake up, so wouldn't even get them 'up' until 6am. If it's 5am or 2am I treat both the same.

The longer he sits watching screens in a day the more likely he is to wake up overly early. You could experiment with a really engaging day with more time outside and more interactive play and see if he sleeps a bit longer.

Jeez all these fucking earth mothers with their limited screen times! Clearly not experienced a constant 5am waker. The tv he's watching is not going to kill him. I think that sounds like a lovely day for both mummy and toddler!

That’s a lot of screen time, and not a lot of time to be ‘bored’

but as a one off to maintain your sanity after a 5am wake up I think that’s absolutely ok!

When you’re actually expected to function (ie past the newborn stage) iPad or tv. Otherwise no coffee amount will help you to cope. Or they leave them alone in their rooms playing. (Most of the negative comments is from parents who don’t have crazy poor sleeping kids).

So what do you do? Because trust me, when you spend over an hour trying to get them back to sleep every single day it is absolutely exhausting.

The majority of the tv time is in the morning for quite obvious reasons. If your child is up at 5am and tv manages to placate him / her so you don't have to be up and about at 5am, I think it's fine.

Speaking as the parent of a terrible sleeper who relies on tv / iPad to survive.

Mine are early risers. I regularly stumbled downstairs and pit the TV on and flopped on sofa. I was never so glad when they were old enough to have an ipad they could watch quietly in bed on a morning.

I suppose if you find background noise a bit overwhelming, it would make sense that you wouldn’t want the TV on.
Im the other way, love a bit of background noise and hate it when’s it’s too quiet.
Luckily DP is the same, so can have the TV / radio on in the evening when in bed! And have music/radio/tv something on throughout the day

I’d personally have no tv after tea time though - maybe tv goes off before tea and then it’s playing with toys again and reading before bed?

@namechangeforthisbleep yeah so essentially the same thing then, a screen is a screen in MNs eyes.. I mean I have thought about this a lot and my partner and I have always thought that not only is the amount of screen time a issue but it is also what is being watched. There are plenty of educational toddler/children programmes out there and watching something that is also going to teach them things we don’t feel to be as bad as watching a casual TV show for just entertainment purposes.

I do feel like we condition our children and when they get older and start to go crazy if they don’t get/do x,y,z that is only because that is what we as parents have gotten our kids used to.. For example I have seen kids kick off because a certain programme has not been put on because you want to change things up or because you have now said TV time is over or something like that.. I feel kids are sometimes set up the wrong way and then parents cannot understand what the issue is.

Like one PP said they didnt want to start as when it comes to turning it off there is a issue… if from day 1 they always knew at whatever time it goes off or after this programme ends it goes off, this is the norm so highly unlikely to randomly kick off at it later, likewise introducing a change up from day one means they will always expect a change up but having things the same for all their life then suddenly one day changing the routine and saying time to switch it off, change over, do something different etc is bound to cause issues.

You tell them shhh shh time to go to sleep and repeat. Or whatever method you use when the wake in the night. Pat them, lie them back down repeatedly, play calming music, give them a book to look at, say Mummy will be back in 5 minutes, then 10 minutes and repeat..

We've all had kids wake early, but luckily it's always been a short lived phase as we have never gotten them up before 6am. So the early wakes up never last long.

How early would be too early to get them up in the morning otherwise? Our cut off is 6am, but I guess if your kids get up at 5am and you are happy to get them up then I guess it might be different. We all have our own time that 'morning' starts. My worry would be if it's 5am, what happens if its 4.30am the next day..!