To just let him watch the bloody tv!

[Pinkyyogapanties]

Before children ( as a teacher ) I had my ridiculous expectations of parenting . How I laugh.

No dummies
No screens in a restaurant
1 hour or tv ( you see my children would be busy crafting !)
hahahahahha

I have a 3 month old and a 2 year old and I am becoming so stressed. Why on earth I don’t just let dd watch the tv ? Would stop me chasing her around and exhausting myself at 8am. Why didn’t I just give the children dummies .
I am becoming so stressed and I imagine this will cause more issues longer term than a dummy , few hours of pig could ?

Should I just let dd watch the bloody tv ?

A dummy was very very useful when my very grumpy DS was little. Sucking is comforting, and I preferred to use a dummy rather than my actual nipple (in between feeds). We removed it at 6 months when we did sleep training though. And yes I do (silently) judge 3 year olds walking round with a dummy hanging out of their mouth.

TV.. I try to keep it in short chunks (20 mins max) to break up the day rather than having it on for hours in the background.

Hours of Peppa Pig, as OP mentioned, is not “a bit of tv”.

But needs must sometimes. She doesn't say she's planning on doing it all day, everyday but you do what you need to do if you're having a tough day.

This, my daughter is 7, watches a wide range of programmes not just cartoons, happy to put her kindle down when told, not hooked on it at all. Still goes off to colour, craft things, play with toys etc.
Put the TV on for her and give yourself a break. Put Bluey on, love Bluey :-D
She also had a dummy, took it away one Christmas when there was plenty going on the distract her, worked well.

Sarah & Duck is a few years old now but they're all on iplayer and 1 million times better than Peppa Pig. It's honestly better than most TV for adults. My 7yo still watches it when he's poorly.

Kit & Pup (opposites, basic science), Apple Tree House (real life situations), Jo Jo and Gran Gran are also not irritating and reasonably educational. Patchwork Pals for a wholesome chillout.

just do what works for your family - if you're not comfortable with your decision make a different one.

none of my children watched a screen until over 3, no dummies, no screens at a table (that a rule we have for adults too - it's so bloody rude!)
BUT they were regularly filthy (& my 8 yr old is still delighted to declare how long it's been since she washed 😳)
I let my kids read basically whatever they want & as they all read far older than their years it's been interesting on occasion...
none of them have their hair cut - they don't want to & I won't make them
they all sucked their thumb & the one who persisted needs braces as a result

I had the exact same list of things I wouldn’t do. What a judgemental knob I was 😂. I’ve done them all now and have no regrets and very nice kids for the most part! Have a cup of tea, use the TV as a tool and crack on.

Mine didn't have dummies becauae they all sucked their thumbs, which turned out to be more of a pain to sort out in the long run than the dummy fairy.

But they watched TV. Stick to cbeebies if you're feeling bad about it. It's fairly educational.

If you keep it to half an hour or so at a time it becomes a treat, a bribe, a bargaining tool. Useful in so many ways!

before I had kids

no tv
no dummies
ni chocolate
ni sweets
organic homecooked food only
routine

hahahahahhahaha

i broke the dummy rule when ds was 2 weeks old

the Tweenies were my best friends by the time ds was two and I was pg with his sister 🤣

There is new research to suggest dummies can prevent cot death. So I wouldn't feel one bit guilty about giving it if you want to!

I don't have a link to it or anything but the nurses in the hospital told me.

I love Peppa Pig and I'm in my 50s.
I was looking for a radio station last week and came across an episode of PP just as it was starting so sat and watched it.
Horrible Histories is great too.

Modelling good behaviours, good habits, good approaches and emotional intelligence is far more useful in developing a child than unrealistic judgements about watching a bit of t.v.

Everything in moderation, variety and core values is what makes a well rounded and balanced person, not whether they watched a bit of telly or not. Why do some mothers judge other mothers so bloody horribly? Honestly, it’s pathetic.

Yep. DS looked like he was going to be a thumb sucker, so we introduced a dummy. Easier to wean them off a dummy than a thumb.

He used it as a soother for the first year or so which made life so much easier, then limited it to night time use only. Then same as you, just never gave it to him again one day and he didn’t even notice!

Just had a second and he’s always trying to suck his fingers so thinking we may need a dummy again!

Because the screaming once you turn the tv off is worse than the whining if you never turn it on.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-end-your-kids-screen-time-without-a-meltdown-1834160813

The above works really well to avoid screaming when you turn it off.

A baby and a toddler is really hard, do what you need to do, it doesn't mean she has to watch loads of telly her whole life, just this difficult few months.

I don't think your expectations were that high, we don't give screens in restaurants or hand held at all , DS watches TV in the living room, but not for hours on end and most week days he doesn't watch any, he's too busy with school and activities, before this term it was nursery and activities. We did all sit and watch a film yesterday afternoon which was nice. Peppa is banned, I have an irrational hatred of that pig. I also prefer of he's going to watch, to just put on cbeebies because before long something will come on that he's not interested in, whereas binge watching has that addictive quality to it, we let him binge watch paw patrol when we all had Covid and trying to turn it off was horrific.

We also never gave a dummy, I think DH would've and DS wasn't a great sleeper, but SIL and DB have had nightmares taking them away, so I guess you either have the pain when they're tiny and you don't give one or when they're older and you're trying to make them give up.

Ultimately make the decisions that suit your family, but don't give in on anything that's really important to you long term.

Dummies protect from sids dunno why people are against them in young babies

There are certain aspects of parenting that I've found very helpful to be extremely rigid on, and avoiding the path of least resistance in these appears to have been the correct mid-long term decision.

Then there are aspects of other rules you might think your model of ideal parenting should include / exclude, but need to inevitably give yourself the ability to modify day to day when necessary and not give yourself a hard time about it when you do.

I found it makes life easier to clearly distinguish between the two in my own mind.

For instance, always following through on any threat, no matter how inconvenient it might be for us to do so, has served us extremely well. As has no screens whatsoever at mealtime in cafes / restaurants etc, or in the car.

Watching TV at home belongs in the second group for us, and if I need a few hours of TV occasionally for our 4y/o to get things done then so be it. I'd probably have stopped at 30 mins at 2 y/o though, but that's just me.

How flexible you can be will also be very much dependent on your child's personality. With my daughter it has always been extremely difficult to undo even very occasional instances of relaxing any rules & generally causes so much fuss when refusing the next time it wasn't worth doing in the first place!

A small, controlled amount of tv is fine. But screens in a restaurant are absolutely not.
Dummies, meh. For very small babies, ok, but trying to wrestle one off a pre-schooler with poor speech...then you've gone too far.

It's about balance. I didn't let my DC watch TV until they were 2 because I'd read a report about how TV can delay language development and like a lot of new mums I wanted to do everything 'perfectly'. I'm not a big TV watcher myself anyway. It was relatively easy because they were twins and had each other to play with and I was a full-time working mum so a lot of the time this was the CM's problem (she didn't use TV either). When I finally did let them watch TV, they couldn't watch it for more than 10 minutes before losing interest so I made a rod for my back in some ways!

Despite my own approach, I certainly wouldn't judge any parent who uses TV unless they are literally plonking their child in front of it all day every day. The main issue with TV is if it's being used instead of real interaction with real people. As long as DC are having plenty of real communication opportunities, a couple of hours of TV that gives a parent a break and enables them to be more engaged with their child as a result has surely got to be better overall.

CBeebies was absolutely my co parent at times, I had three under two and I was so very tired.
Much preferred as advert free and they really are addictive.

Some days more than others but the bedtime hour was so handy when I had dinner to cook. Fairly sure ds taught himself to read with sky+ (he could at least spot the word octonauts no problem) I also used CBeebies characters to get them interested in books as until iggle piggle was involved they were far too busy running amok.

Hells bells woman! Put the telly on.

Do it. I did and both mine are fully formed successful adults! There's a time and a place for tv.

There’s always one sanctimonious ‘screens will ruin your children’s development!!’ silly wee billy on these threads. Op letting the toddler watch a bit of tv while she takes care of the baby is not going to melt the child’s brain! Also, honestly, anything which makes life easier with a two year old and a THREE MONTH OLD is fine in my book!

I think some tv is fine..especially when they’d re tired and waiting for their dinner. I don’t do it in the morning , I just let mine play and run around tbh although I do get stressed with mess. By 4/4.30 though they always have an hour or so of tv before their dinner.
I don’t do hand held screens though, I find it a bit absorbing and antisocial I think.. it feels not quite right but don’t know why?! And mine haven’t had a dummy before, but a 3 month old with a dummy is totally normal!

Please be an AI bot.. You can't be real. 😂