No TV before school?!

[Tireddadplus]

Hi! Just got a message from our DD’s (5yo) school that we should not let the kids watch any tv before school! Bad for their brains or something…

DD watches a bit of tv while myself or DW sort out lunches or whatever…just makes getting out the door easier!

Am i being unreasonable to ignore this advice?

You see I forgot this…I have to wake mine up 😂😂 I get myself sorted and then wake them. But then I generally always have! Lazy bones!

I think you can really overthink these things and it’s totally what works for you and your family!

My 7 and 9 year old are usually up about 7am and will watch some CBBC. We will all be settling in to the day, coffee, hot drinks, me and DH getting dressed for work. At 7.30ish tele straight off and it’s breakfast at the table and getting dressed for school. This has been our morning for years and has never impacted their schooling. I would actually say it’s beneficial and lets them have a calm and slow start to the morning, sat having their milks together on the sofa. They aren’t allowed to watch you tube

We don't have TV on a school morning as it's too distracting for eating breakfast. 7yr old on a weekend can take nearly 45mins just to eat a slice of toast if the TV is on, we defo don't have that much time to spare on a weekday.

It probably depends on the child and the school may have a few that struggle a lot with the transition or who don't get a decent breakfast due to TV time. But it's easier for them to ask parents for a blanket ban than deal with individual parents and say "look, your child is struggling and I think it's because they have TV before school...".

My DD occasionally has 10 mins but mostly not, it doesn't seem to make too much difference either way (she usually just takes ages with breakfast so we run out of time) but we have a walk to school so it's not too intense a transition from TV to school. She also doesn't watch much generally and is into quite calm CBeebies stuff. I think you know your kids and whether it is a problem or not.

Who puts a 5yo in front of a screen first thing in the morning FFS.
Let me guess, she is also in front of it after school and before bed?

We used to have it on years ago but we don’t know, our habits changed when we moved house. It was more background noise, and we just have the radio on now. To be fair, the music is more motivating in the morning !

I always used to watch TV before school. BBC Breakfast or TV Am usually. Even Roland Rat didn't fry my brain.

DDs didn't particularly but it's probably testament to there being only one of me and how organised my mum was that I was up early enough to sit and eat jammy toast before school watching TV. DDs didn't have time.

Schools should butt right out of family life. They overreach constantly these days. We could actually have more family life if school ended at school and home was for home.

We've got two rules in our house.

No alcohol before driving and no TV before school.

Surely this depends on a number of factors;

1. what time you all get up? If everyone is an earlier riser, (530am) then it can be a Loooong morning before leaving for the school run.
2. would they be watching tv whilst eating breakfast? To me, watching a screen whilst eating can certainly induce zombie type status.
3. what is your school run? A car trip/a walk/a bike ride. This can make a difference to break the ‘screen time zombie’
4. what are they watching? If it’s newsround type programme, or some YouTube influencer?

my kids are all older now. We had tv on whilst they were younger- but never in the kitchen (where we ate), they never done a task in front of the tv (like getting dressed/ready) & then we had a 15/20 min walk to school. Never any iPad screen time or using the TV for YouTube etc!

I think like everything, it’s how it’s used.

Gosh this makes me feel like a terrible parent. My children watch a lot of TV, including an hour in a morning. They don’t watch crazy stuff, more calm fact programmes or cartoon type things. The watch another hour or two on an evening. They also do multiple clubs, homework, have friends over, play independently, play outside, draw, craft etc. The additional effort to stop them doing this by sorting activities, tidying spaces when they get messy (they are awful at tidying) and curating activities is not possible for me in the mix of everything else. I just can’t get excited about the level of TV watching tbh.

I can't think of any reason to watch TV first thing in the morning. Just pop the radio on to get the energy going, and just give your child a book if they have to wait for you to get ready.

So what?

So was I. I used to watch absolutely anything that was on. Open University, Schools TV, breakfast TV, soaps, kids TV. Nothing after watershed. I absorbed everything like a sponge and have always had very good general knowledge, a diversity of interests, could read fluently at three, had plenty of time playing out and being active as well and also spent loads of time gaming too. I was the first person in my solidly working class family to go to university and have a professional career and move 250 miles away. I've done ok out of it.

Exactly. Don't feel bad.

A five year old that likes watching Peppa Pig or Bluey for 10 minutes in the morning.
Oh the horror 😱

We’ve never had TV before school. Mainly because it’s too much noise first thing in the morning - don’t people want quiet time to get up and get used to their brains having to be awake before the sensory barrage of the day begins?

The radio on in the morning is 10 times worse even than the TV for my brain!

”To get the energy going” is not how it would affect me!

We never had tv before school otherwise leaving for school became a huge battle just switching it off. Did not need that battle first thing.

I have an ASD child. We used tv or screen time as a motivator to follow the morning routine. If we had leftover time, she got a few minutes of screen time. It also gave her a chance to self regulate and calm down. Exact opposite effect of not being able to focus.

I wfh and start work at 7 so DS does watch tv in the morning - never heard that he has any problems starting in the morning. Always telling me how bright he is 🤷🏼‍♀️

We have no TV, or other screens at all in the week.

School are asking for a reason, not sure why you think you are better than their advice.

I used to know someone that claimed to be "anti-tv" but would allow her kids to watch selected programmes via iPlayer etc.
The difference between her 5 year old and mine was hers would sit staring at a tiny screen watching 20 episodes of Peppa Pig in a row without pausing for breath (because it's was on auto play) and mine would switch on Channel 5, watch the ONE episodes as it's broadcast and that was that.

We used to allow TV before school, and we stopped when my eldest went to Y1. The difference in his concentration at school is massive. Also the mornings are a lot less hectic now. Kids focus on their breakfast and if they finish early they find something to occupy themselves with. Eldest does a bit of homework or they play together. Kids are now 7 & 5. They still ask for TV sometimes but it’s a hard boundary for us. They watch in the morning on the weekends, and we get to sleep a little more. Sort everything that you can from the night before, so you don’t have much to do in the morning to need to put the TV on

We don't have any TV before school, it turns my kids into zombies even if it's only on for 10 minutes. Mine do some colouring if they're ready early. I can understand why school don't want a load of kids whose brains aren't in learning mode when they arrive, but I also don't see how they can impose any sort of rules around what you allow at home, so if TV on a morning works for you then I'd carry on as you are.

We have a no tv rule in our house for mornings as everyone would get distracted and I need them to focus and get ready for school (ages 14 and 17) but that’s because it’s what worked for us. I’m usually supportive of schools but that feels like over stepping. Do what works for you and your family.

we watch a small amount of cartoons before school, so i can get the final bits done.

However this advice from the school wouldnt sit well with me as they set homework to be completed on a tablets etc