To wonder how kids had downtime before TV

[someladdersandsnakes]

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 😂

Well my kids are 7 and 9, and didn't have screens at all until eldest started school. From that age we had TV a few times a week (like less than every other day, never more than an hour) and I have been recently relenting and trepidatiously replacing one of those tv days with access to a tablet for games. So while not tech free my kids are lower tech than most folk we know. Until they were maybe 6 and 8 respectively they seemed to generally just play quite nicely together, big imaginary games in our house or garden which were hard to tear them away from... but they started fighting as they got older and have big blow out arguments about where the game is going which can be hard to manage and loud. I find they are happy to read when they haven't had screens for a few days... but the more screens they have the less likely they are to reach for a book. I had hardly any telly myself as a kid due to parents being very opposed... and I read loads and played out. I am kind of sad that my kids aren't as avid readers as I was... They both read well but for me books have always been my go-to for down time especially age 8-14 but my children are less in love with books... I think a lot of children read more when there was less tech.

When the DTs were small we lived in an African country with no tv output suitable for children so the only screen time was a couple of videotapes of nursery rhymes and possibly Postman Pat. They amused themselves with their toys, sand pit etc.
very little tv in my own childhood either, just Watch With Mother! We played with dolls, learned to knit dolly clothes, read voraciously and ‘gardened’ in our own little patch.. idyllic really! 😄

I didn’t have a tv when I was little. We played, listened to music, cooked, ran around outside, read, art, stared at walls, helped parents with chores, saw friends. Fond memories of this and sad my kids didn’t have this experience.

My grandmother recently said she was criticised as a child for always having her head in a book

🤣

Now im wrestling an iPad from DS and begging him to read instead

I was too @sofamarathon ! In the seventies. My parents felt I should have been spending more time outdoors. So I took to reading beneath a tree in the garden!

We played out.
Street of Kids doing more or less what they would do in school playtime. Took younger siblings with us and were "responsible' for them. General mucking about and chatting.

The playing out thing is pretty hard to replicate now.