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?

Thank God for that 🤣 I honestly never know these days!

We’ve never allowed TV before school/nursery. We always have paper and pencils around and lots of books, and they have Tonieboxes, so they use those if they need to kill time after breakfast.

I used to watch cartoons before school and I have a science degree and PhD and a good job in my field. It didn't do me any harm. However, it was a different time. The TV was the only screen I had and I didnt have a TV in my bedroom until I was an older teen. So comparatively, my overall screen time compared to children now was probably substantially less. As an adult I find if I watch videos on my phone in the morning it does negatively affect my brain function, but I think there's something about the short dopamine hit videos that messes with your brain compared to just watching a TV show.

It’s interesting to see so many people say “no screens before school” and that their children have screen time later. It’s the opposite in our house, where it used to be 15 mins in the morning and none the rest of the day.

Equally we have hours in the morning before school, so there is time for many of the other activities mentioned along with reading, going over spellings, etc.

Everyone has such different routines and we don’t have the full picture of anyone else’s routine.

Whilst it is nothing to do with school what you do at home you shouldn't need anyone to tell you the obvious. Common sense I think.v

I work from home while my children get ready in the morning so they're pretty much guaranteed to be watching TV for an hour. I also grew up watching TV in the mornings and never had any issues. This seems unnecessary involvement from school.

It’s not up to school to police your home life.

Do what works for you and your family.

Same. My kids are generally very active. They aren’t allowed tablets during the week because they do fixate on them and it gets in the way of homework and reading, but I’m more relaxed about the TV.

That's all very well but the school specifically said TV, not screens.

Can you share one?

My DCs were early risers so yes back in the day we would watch Peppa Pig or whatever before school. It didn’t damage them. They are both at university now!

I think I'd ignore the advice

With the TV on my son sits and eats a healthy breakfast. It's 15 minutes tops. It doesn't prevent him learning just as watching the breakfast need before work doesn't prevent adults doing their jobs

My DC are teens now but we've never had tv on in the mornings. I listened to radio in the mornings all my life but I stopped that when I had DC. I just don't know how anyone can have the radio or TV jabbering on in the background while everyone is getting ready in the mornings. None of us like it.

I don't think the school should be dictating what you do in your own home. But its a massive relief to get rid of all that noise so you might like to try it.

It’s well documented that eating and watching a screen at the same time is bad for digestion and should be avoided.

“I don’t think this thread is very representative of most households.”
What evidence do you have for this? Is it just because it doesn’t reflect your household?

We don't personally. I find it just zones my kids out and makes it harder for them to get ready on time. That's my kids and their focus though - they can't bring books down to the breakfast table either because they get engrossed and don't move onto the next thing, so it's not about screens it's about focus and ability to stick to a task. But it's what works for you and your family - if your child can't get breakfast down in the mornings unless you pop the TV on, or you have loads of time and it helps them relax before the start of the day, who cares? I think the point about total screen time, and what they're using their screen time to do, is far more relevant than whether or not they watch 20 mins before school overall!

We don’t have the TV on in the mornings, it’s not a rule I’ve made, it just happened that way as we just don’t have time.
I have to wake DD8 up at 7:30 and we leave at 8:05 to walk to school for their free breakfast club. So she literally only has time to get up, washed, teeth brushed and dressed then we leave!

How would they work that out?

Actually, never mind. Pound to a penny the effect of TV is negligible and it's iPads and gaming that are the culprit.

My kids get up at 6 and dressed and breakfast straight away. They can pretty much do what they want then. Then we walk to school, no zombies in sight as they’ve been up for what seems like days!

I wonder....
Does massive TV screens make a difference?
I hate the really big TVs that are attached to the wall. Some of them practically take up the whole wall.
That must be very over stimulating and probably does affect children in some way.
We had a small little portable TV when my daughter was at the Milkshake/Cbeebies age. Our replacement TV (about 10 years ago) wasn't much bigger.
Maybe it's the massive screens that cause issues not a 5 minute episode of Bluey.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing Yes I think this just shows that moderate TV is perfectly healthy, different timing and routines work for different families, and schools really shouldn't be telling parents what to do!

We don’t put tv on in the mornings during the week, mainly as we don’t have time! Eldest sometimes reads a bug club book on the iPad while I’m dealing with younger. Could always try not putting tv on and see how it goes?

I've never allowed screens of any kind in the mornings. The kids are 10 and 13 now and don't question it. I think it probably saves us a lot of battles with getting up and out! As it is I have to drag them away from books which is bad enough....

Re representative households, I'm a single parent and don't have some kind of Guardian lifestyle supplement existence. I just can't imagine screens making anything easier.

It's none of their business. DD7 occasionally watches it if she wakes up early during the summer months but most of the time she doesn't because she already messes about enough as it is. But that's my choice and not something I'd allow the school to dictate unless it was causing specific issues for her.

Take their advice definitely, there will be people who try it and it works wonders , do the best for your child and help the teachers , as they have them all day.
You could always sit your child down with some special books or listen to a story CD .