Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell my parents we aren’t watching any news in our house

45 replies

Saywhatman · 28/10/2023 23:23

I’ve been having a lot of anxiety recently over the news etc, plus I don’t want my 5 year old seeing anything distressing. We never watch the news in our house, I follow things via the internet or sometimes via daytime shows if I’m in.
My parents are coming to stay for a week and they tend to watch the news from 6-7/7.30 even though they complain all the way through and dad admits he watches far too much news and it brings him down. I always say to them that we don’t watch the news, but inevitably it ends up back on and depressing conversations ensue
Aibu to announce a total ban on it this time they stay?

OP posts:
Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 28/10/2023 23:27

They can watch it on a tablet in their room. If they really want to……☹️

PetsAreBetter · 28/10/2023 23:27

Of course you're not unreasonable. It's a parenting decision that your young child doesn't need to be exposed to the doom and gloom yet. If they want to watch it they can go watch it in their phone in their room with a quiet volume.

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/10/2023 23:32

My dad watches it at 10pm, after DD is in bed.

Having left her at an impressionable age in the living room with the news on all about a murder. Bloody idiot.

Fairospop22 · 28/10/2023 23:32

If they are staying in your house then no, they can’t tell you to watch the news. Tell them to bring a tablet if they want to watch it.

I’m with you, I haven’t watched the news since 2020

Pigeonqueen · 28/10/2023 23:34

Your house, your rules.

Consideringachange2023 · 28/10/2023 23:36

Do you have more than one tv? A tablet/iPad? Do they have one?

Id just say “oh just to let you know, we don’t have the news on during the day whilst DC is up and around and to be honest I’m finding it very upsetting at the moment… but I know you like to watch the 6oclock so if you do want to, I’ll set the iPad up for you in the bedroom / kitchen”

chipsahoy1 · 28/10/2023 23:38

I grew up with my parents watching the news every night at 6pm.

in fact the oil fields burning in (possibly) Kuwait during the gulf war is a distinct memory as is Lockerbie and other pretty nasty events like Rachel Nickel’s murder. It’s unfortunately part and parcel of current affairs and I’ve not been scarred by it.

you can obviously set your own rules in your own house but you sounds a bit precious.

theduchessofspork · 28/10/2023 23:40

You can ask them not to watch it until your child is in bed.

Autumnalvibesofmellowness · 28/10/2023 23:58

I do think adults should be able to watch the news briefly at an appropriate time if they feel the need.

junbean · 29/10/2023 00:01

With the ways things are now it's not unreasonable. Every time I read the news there's some blurb basically amounting to the end of the world. No one needs to hear that over and over.

Pinkpinkpink15 · 29/10/2023 00:09

@Saywhatman

im sorry you've been feeling anxious, it's a horrible way to feel. I get most of my news via the radio or online reading or audio rather than video).

i was at a friends last week and she usually has her cinema sized TV on a live cam
of her favourite holiday place, but she has the news on all the time I was there, the visuals were shocking.

but on the other hand, as a child of the 70's the 6 o'clock news was on every night and we knew to be quiet and I grew up with the conflicts and some knowledge of world affairs. I think kids should know what's going on in the world & build up their knowledge of world events/on going conflicts etc.

but it's your house, your children & your anxiety so the decision is yours.

id rather be told than you either get more anxious or angry. Your parents can use their phones/tablets etc. away from you & DD. no need to have the TV on the news channel.

Murpe · 29/10/2023 00:20

I think at the moment, it's very understandable, it's all so distressing. I usually listen to loads of news, starting with Today on R4 shortly after waking, and ending with watching Newsnight, but for the last few weeks I've completely changed my habits - it's too overwhelming. Also, don't want DS to hear too much of it; he knows a bit about what's going on, but the close-up visuals of people's suffering are something I'd rather not expose him to where possible.

Idtotallybangdreamoftheendlessnotgonnalie · 29/10/2023 00:23

It's banned from my house. Too fear mongering and anxiety inducing. Everything is "breaking news" in a way that in the 90s and 00s was reserved for Princess Di and 9-11, now it's constant.

DNLove · 29/10/2023 00:25

Totally agree with you. Kids hear enough bad stuff without listening to the news. My son sometimes sees the news in other houses and asks why there is no good news on it.
You can provide your parents with space/method to get the news away from your son.
Your priority is your child and protecting then from the awful state of this world till they need to be exposed to it's full pelt. Newsround was a nice intro for us as kids. Filtered and simply put.

Poetnojo · 29/10/2023 00:30

If your parents have ever said, when you're under my roof you'll abide by my rules, this is the perfect time to parrot that back to them. Yanbu

AdoraBell · 29/10/2023 00:30

YANBU, just tell them and if/when they want to watch tell them again and suggest something different- maybe do something with DC/watch something DC like/play with the grandchildren etc.

SwordToFlamethrower · 29/10/2023 00:31

My mother in law was on the phone to my husband recently and she started to talk about the latest news and how terrible everything is. My husband interrupted her and said "mum I don't want to know. We don't have a TV licence and we don't watch the news. There is literally nothing we can do about any of this stuff and it only makes us miserable."

She was aghast but he is right. Stopping paying attention to the news has cheered us both up.

Greenshake · 29/10/2023 00:41

@SwordToFlamethrower I just can’t imagine living like that. Don’t you feel a kind of social responsibility to know?

Lokipokey1 · 29/10/2023 01:12

I am definitely not one for protecting children overly, but I think, at 5, any news that she needs should come from newsround, not the over sensationalised adult news programmes. I can remember learning about the first gulf war from catching glimpses on the news (aged about 7ish) and putting 2+2 together and getting tanks+war = WW2 and evacuation and not sleeping for the next week until mum got her atlas out to show me how far away it was!

JockTamsonsBairns · 29/10/2023 01:37

Greenshake · 29/10/2023 00:41

@SwordToFlamethrower I just can’t imagine living like that. Don’t you feel a kind of social responsibility to know?

I agree. I can't imagine shutting my eyes and ears to what's going on, just so I could feel more cheerful.
My DSs and 25 and 16, and are both very socially aware. We talk at length about what we hear in the news and, although much of it is hard to absorb, I think it's important that they're able to interpret what's going on and formulate their own thoughts and viewpoints.
It's not about coming up with practical solutions, but more about being able to understand the world around us.
I'd be pretty disappointed if either of them took a "I don't want to know" approach.

Maray1967 · 29/10/2023 01:45

Your house, your rules - but I’d tell them in advance so it should not be an issue when they’re here. I took my son out of the room when he was about 5 when the Boxing Day tsunami happened - in laws had the TV news on loud on the 27th for ages, no 5 year old needs to hear that.

Greenshake · 29/10/2023 01:48

@JockTamsonsBairns I am right there with you. History is littered with far too many horrific incidences of people deciding they are going to ignore what’s unfolding in front of them. To date, it’s not ended well.

mathanxiety · 29/10/2023 01:51

YANBU.

Some people are addicted to it.

mathanxiety · 29/10/2023 01:53

You don't need to watch ordinary TV reporting to keep up with what's going on.

That's just car crash tv, and more and more newsroom editorial decisions are made on attention grabbing spectacle in kreference to thoughtful presentation of events.

Watch an analysis orogramme or read thoughtful written material on the conflict.

MidnightOnceMore · 29/10/2023 02:55

I'm not watching the news currently but am reading analysis. I want to understand but me watching rolling distressing video helps no one.

OP: tell your parents they can bring a tablet and watch upstairs of course but the news is not going to be on in the lounge.