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Original poster

To wonder how kids had downtime before TV

207 replies

someladdersandsnakes · 26/04/2023 21:06

I saw a post earlier on a Facebook group from someone who had managed to keep their 3 year old screen free, until out of desperation recently she started giving her one cartoon a day so she could put the younger child down for a nap. And she feels she's destroyed her kid's creativity. And most people were saying it's admirable you've managed this long but go easy on yourself because screen time is incredibly helpful and gives your child a chance to wind down too.

Now I see a moderate amount of screen time as pretty much essential to my own parenting. It's not just that it gives me time to get things done without being interrupted. There are also times particularly after a long day at nursery when my DD seems too tired to engage with play, and can't maintain interest in anything and just needs TV/tablet to zone out a bit. And this seems pretty normal/common to me.

So I'm just wondering, before TV was invented (and/or if you're genuinely a screen free parent but I've never met one of those) what did young kids do when they were too frazzled to play? Were they more creative than modern kids and just played nicely anyway? Or did they sit there whinging? What if they were ill? Did they just lie in bed staring into space? I'm a 90s kid and always had TV so I have no idea and cannot imagine this world 😂

OP posts:
luckylavender · 26/04/2023 21:36

Skybluepinky · 26/04/2023 21:18

There was hardly any kids programs only lunchtime and after school, I watched after lunch and the just b4 tea.

This

Needmorelego · 26/04/2023 21:36

If you go way way way into history when people only had candles to light their homes it would have seemed dark earlier so probably easier to fall asleep.
Now the world is full of artificial light - in people's homes and outside with the street lights.
In summer - when evenings were lighter - children were probably just outside using up their energy (or working down t'pit or up a chimney so would have been exhausted).

AegonT · 26/04/2023 21:38

My DD doesn't watch much TV and didn't as a toddler either. She reads loads, when we suggest watching a film she protests she'd rather finish her book. She finds it very relaxing. She also writes and draws. We don't allow any screens till 2 which is soon for DD2.

viques · 26/04/2023 21:38

Drawing, writing stories, listening to the radio, board games, reading, playing with toys, playing with friends, roller skating, riding my bike,making dens, not tidying my room, tidying my room.

What a sad thought it is that someone can’t see that there is a life and activity beyond screens and electronic devices.

VickyEadieofThigh · 26/04/2023 21:39

Clymene · 26/04/2023 21:35

Not in the U.K. @VickyEadieofThigh Smile

Well, that explains it!

QueSyrahSyrah · 26/04/2023 21:40

Reading when I could read (not sure exactly what age but I was pretty young compared with my peers). Before that I don't remember but I imagine it involved being read to, or Duplo.

There wasn't 24/7 streamed kids TV back in those dim and distant days. It was Saturday morning cartoons or the hour or so after school and that was your lot.

ChopperC110P · 26/04/2023 21:40

I didn’t see a TV until I was 14. We read books and played chess.

Bollockybollocky · 26/04/2023 21:41

luckylavender · 26/04/2023 21:36

I was born in the 1960s. There wasn't TV in the mornings before school?

Show quote history

You're right there were no morning programmes at all. When we did eventually get a telly and if ever I was off sick from school the most you could hope for in the mornings were those weird public information/test films. I seem to remember one about Belgium.

Fromage · 26/04/2023 21:42

Free use of a toy box, colouring books, imaginitive play, friends in the street and good old fashioned sibling torture.

That was my youth anyway and I wonder if that model meant that those of my generation were less likely to switch the tv on as parents in the 90s, by which point there was 24 hour Scooby Doo and everyone owned 14 hours of Teletubbies videos...?

Hardbackwriter · 26/04/2023 21:42

Again, quite a lot of these posts seem to be talking about children a lot older than the OP is about.

Squamata · 26/04/2023 21:43

Take the screens away and see what your kids do! They'll complain then find something to occupy them because kids are hard wired to learn about the world around them.

My kids (4&6) watch more telly than I'd like but never use tablets, phones, computers etc. It hacks their brain reward centres. I know they'll get to it eventually but I'm delaying it as long as I can.

They'll play with anything - bit of string, shadows on the wall, veg peelings, blanket, cushion etc. I remember spending weeks playing in a big cardboard box as a kid in the 80s, it was great.

ILikePizzas · 26/04/2023 21:43

Bollockybollocky · 26/04/2023 21:41

You're right there were no morning programmes at all. When we did eventually get a telly and if ever I was off sick from school the most you could hope for in the mornings were those weird public information/test films. I seem to remember one about Belgium.

Show quote history

When I was off school I used to watch Supermarket Sweep with Dale Winton.

Lamelie · 26/04/2023 21:46

Clymene · 26/04/2023 21:16

I was born in the 1960s. We watched tv every single morning before school. I don't know when this mythical before tv age was but it's soon not going to be in living memory.

Perhaps you could encourage your children to take up cross stitch

What did you watch? Breakfast tv didn’t happen until the 80’s. Definitely no children’s tv. Pretty sure the test card was shown on BBC 2 most of the time?

YolayCaprese · 26/04/2023 21:46

An NCT friend didnt have a TV and when her kid was ill she just sat on the sofa with her while she grizzled. Think we all coped better with hey duggee on loop!
I was a lot stricter about TV with my first and used to put music on a lot to "change the energy" or look at picture books together. My first child was pretty good at entertaining herself from a young age. For my second child, it was life changing once he could watch TV!

Yazo · 26/04/2023 21:48

Love all the comments saying reading, drawing, worthy things. Kids just used to sit and watch what was going on in the house, out of the window, mucked around or had a fight with a sibling. TV doesn't destroy creativity and there is a certain amount to be gained from the same cultural references as peers, however much a parent might be snobbish about them. The people I know who grew up in restricted homes are less creative and happy for what it's worth

CurlewKate · 26/04/2023 21:48

We didn't have a TV when I was a child. I read LOADS. And I drew and I had a toy farm I played with a lot. I think- not sure about this, but I think -that things were slower generally. I needed less winding down time as a child than my own children did because I got less wound up!

Squamata · 26/04/2023 21:48

YolayCaprese · 26/04/2023 21:46

An NCT friend didnt have a TV and when her kid was ill she just sat on the sofa with her while she grizzled. Think we all coped better with hey duggee on loop!
I was a lot stricter about TV with my first and used to put music on a lot to "change the energy" or look at picture books together. My first child was pretty good at entertaining herself from a young age. For my second child, it was life changing once he could watch TV!

I put my kids in front of TV when sick too, but I often think they'd be better off being bored enough to sleep and recover better. Without a tv you can read or sing or do quiet stuff like sticker books etc.

Lamelie · 26/04/2023 21:49

@Clymene
I think you’re misremembering

Wednesdaysotherchild · 26/04/2023 21:50

Suzannargh · 26/04/2023 21:35

TV/screen time is very much linked with ADHD, lack of self-regulation, lack of creativity and inability to visualise things in one’s mind. Society’s already changed so much with a generation having phones and handheld screens as opposed to a family TV.

I grew up without any TV (I read A LOT) and I still have ADHD! It’s a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder…

sweeneytoddsrazor · 26/04/2023 21:52

We didn't just sit and watch what was going on, we played, helped out around the house and yes we did creative things. My absolute favourite was cut out dolls.

Johnisafckface · 26/04/2023 21:52

I was born in the 70s and I didn't watch much tv when I was little. I was good at entertaining myself - reading, drawing, playing with toys/dolls, make believe, games, playing outside (mostly with friends but sometimes alone).

When I became a teen we lived where there was only one channel and usually my parents dominated the tv, but i enjoyed a lot of "mature" content even at a young age so sometimes i would watch with them. I wasn't very social so usually I was reading or playing computer games or daydreaming as a pre-teen/teen.

My dd wasn't good at entertaining herself and didn't like toys or like to read so to give myself some relief i let her watch tv and play games. But she was usually outside with her friends from noon to night. She doesn't watch too much tv and still doesn't read so she does other stuff to keep busy - she played sports in school and now as an adult she hangs out with her friends or finds busy work around the house to do as she gets antsy and bored easily.

Gherkinsandwich · 26/04/2023 21:55

We don’t have a TV. Not against them for any particular reason, we’ve just never bothered with one. As a result, our two year old hasn’t ever spent any time on screens. He seems fine, I think. Presume we will get a TV at some point as he might want to watch it.

VikingLady · 26/04/2023 21:56

Mine aren't interested in tv any more, I've no idea why. If we're trying going tablet free again (we wax and wane on this) they do Lego, play with toys, make up stories with their soft toys, do jigsaws, make dens under tables, play with play doh, draw, look at books, play cars, listen to audiobooks, have a bath with bath toys, do a sticker book.... mainly Lego tbh.

VickyEadieofThigh · 26/04/2023 21:56

Bollockybollocky · 26/04/2023 21:41

You're right there were no morning programmes at all. When we did eventually get a telly and if ever I was off sick from school the most you could hope for in the mornings were those weird public information/test films. I seem to remember one about Belgium.

Show quote history

I was off school with bronchitis for a week in the winter of 1970 and I remember TV starting at about 3pm each afternoon with a programme called 'Yoga for health'. I was so desperate for entertainment that I watched it. I was 12...

Ethelswith · 26/04/2023 21:57

My DMum is in her 90s, so no regular telly at all until she was about 10, and I'm not sure how old she was when they first got a set.

She read (a lot! - lifetime habit, she still does), walked her dog, played cards and board games with her siblings. When the radio was on she knitted or they did jigsaws together. And just played a lot.