Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Not to want my DD to watch TV at nursery?

70 replies

drivinmecrazy · 14/01/2009 10:33

DD2 came home from nursery yesterday and as usual i asked her what they had done. She told me they watched Mr Tumble on the TV. I am not happy. I don't pay for her to go and watch TV. have spoken to another mother at a different nursery and she says they watch Tv at her nursery and have for several years. DD not back at nursery til Friday, so will bring it up with them then.

OP posts:

Original poster

drivinmecrazy · 14/01/2009 20:07

DD's nursery has several SN children, and teaches signing all the time, I just think that I pay for my daughter to be stimulated in different ways. She is only there for four hours, very few children attend her nursery all day. I'm also not interested if staff need to do paperwork, I am not paying to sit my DD in front of the TV for 1/2 an hour.
I could understand if there were alot of children there from 8am - 6pm but it's a very small nursery, one of the reasons we chose it for both DDs because it offers a varied and stimulating enviroment.
I guess i will just have to resign myself to the the fact it's just a sign of the times, at least she is happy there.

OP posts:

Ashantai · 14/01/2009 21:00

Oh FGS its not like they are plonking them in front of American Pie while they go outside and have a fag!!

Our nursery has 10 mins a day after the children have eaten lunch to watch tv so that the teachers could do the afternoon register. My son would come home and tell me about the programmes he had watched and i would record them and watch them with him.

Mr Tumble is a wonderful programme and we also went through a stage of learning a few signs

TeeBee · 14/01/2009 21:04

Yeah, my DS' nursery has quiet time after lunch to let their lunch digest while the teachers clear up the detritus for going home time. Its either a story or TV time. Don't care a hoot, its only 10-15 minutes.

purepurple · 14/01/2009 21:08

we have a tv in the nursery where i work, but I discourage the staff from using it. It used to be on every day for a couple of times while tidying up or setting up the room and I hate it. What is wrong with reading a story or singing songs or talking or playing I spy instead? Our children deserve better. I object to the TV being used as a member of staff!

piscesmoon · 14/01/2009 21:09

I don't know why there is a fuss about 15 minutes in a quiet time. Watching with others is a different experience than watching alone.

rempy · 14/01/2009 21:21

Vinegartits, DD is 23 months. I don't want her to watch TV because there is a fair bit of research about that suggests that it is not great for children, and she is enrolled in infant psychology work at the local university where I have had (brief) discussions with them about the fact that even with specially designed "educational" programmes, children do not learn from the TV alone.

However, as suggested by someone else on this thread, watching with someone who is explaining, doing the actions with the child etc is a different thing.

I chose a nursery that doesn't use TV at all with the under 3's because I imagine that the staff would be tidying up/changing nappies etc i.e. not engaged with the program and the children when using it. And that the "only 15 minutes" could easily stretch to half and hour. And if thats twice a day thats an hour sat in front of the screen.

She does watch a very small amount of TV with me. Perhaps 15 minutes a week.

I find it quite freaky when I have used the TV as a distraction how subdued, and fixated DD becomes. And yet she does not actually seem to follow the story, or engage particularly. And things like "Its our planet" change about far too quickly for her. 1 second of a parrot, and before she can actually say "bird" its onto something else. You almost wonder if the editor has ADHD...

CatchaStar · 14/01/2009 21:30

Whilst I don't mind my 19mo dd watching the tv every now and then, I'd be hugely pissed off that a nursery I was paying hunders of pounds to care for my child, was letting the children watch the sodding thing.

She can watch tv at home any time, I'm not forking out all that money so that she can just sit and watch it somewhere else.

Read or sing to them instead, don't just plonk them down in front of the telly fgs!

No, YANBU!

piscesmoon · 14/01/2009 21:33

Maybe they weren't plonking them in front of it-maybe they were using it educationally.It sounds from OP as if it was a one off.

Ashantai · 14/01/2009 21:35

I think maybe cos i grew up with the tv always on, i do the exact same, and even if i am in the house on my own, i need to have some sort of background tv.

I do find it strange tho, that so many people find having the tv on almost disgusting. My kids knew how to use a computer by the time they hit nursery, are all mad on their wii and ds's but also enjoy sticking bits of crap to cardboard boxes, getting totally muddy in puddles!!and just going for a kick about in our local park.

My girls used to love putting on shows and still enjoy being creative, and my son gets totally lost in his imagination, so i dont believe that the tv has damaged their fragile minds

Pingping · 15/01/2009 10:20

YABU

Nothing wrong with a little TV shockingly its not the work of the Devil Mr Tumble

alibubbles · 15/01/2009 10:42

fennel, I am a childminder and don't have a television in the children's playroom, not many I know do, and those that I know who do, are unlikely to use i.

I drive past three nurseries very day and can see the television o at 7.45 am and still on at 5.30.

squilly · 15/01/2009 11:03

I think tv is too often villified as an evil of modern life. I used it as a tool for helping me educate my child. I never let her watch it alone when she was younger and I enjoyed watching the programmes with her. I think it helped to give her fantastic early speech and a great sense of rhythm. IMO it's a great tool for helping kids learn when they're small, if used in the right way and in moderation.

I'm not you though...and you might object to your child being festooned in skulls and playing on a DS or Laptop every day (she is 8 now btw! so not as bad as it sounds).

You think it's unreasonable, so it is. It's not anyone else's opinion. You have to decide how far you want to take it. Speak to your Dc's care worker and see how often it's used. If you're not happy, would you want your dc to be isolated and withdrawn from the tv sessions? Would you look for alternative care? You just have to decide how important this is in the balance of care for your child.

Aitch · 15/01/2009 11:11

i queried this at my nursery, but i see that they only use the tv to cover the overlaps of the staff lunch breaks, and it's when a lot of children are having their naps anyway.
like MP says, it's more social i a roomful f people.

kslatts · 15/01/2009 11:20

YABU.

I think TV for a short time between activities gives the children some chill out time.

I haven't seen Mr Tumble so can't comment on the choice of programme though.

My dd's have watched educational programmes at school before, linked to the topic they are doing.

Lotster · 15/01/2009 11:24

I send my son to nursery for all the stimulation other than TV so would prefer them not to show TV. YANRBU

However, he does a day at a private nursery (so I get term holiday cover and a full day once a week) where there's no TV, and he also has a day at the local pre-school, where they do put on Mr Tumble from time to time. They said it's so they can see and learn some signing.

Thing is, at the private nursery he has just moved in to their pre-school room - he's only 2.5 but at private ones they end up with a younger pre-school room because as soon as the kids turn 3 most parents choose the free childcare attached to their future primaries anyway). So when I picked him up on this week they said he'd been doing time on the computer I really didn't see why but they said he was holding the mouse, moving the cursor etc, and putting discs in and out.
Sorry for the slight hijack but I don't get the need this early? Anyone else had this?
My husband isn't impressed because now he wants to mess with ours at home which we didn't previously have to deal with.

Original poster

drivinmecrazy · 15/01/2009 11:30

My DD1 (8) grew up without access to a computer, when she started reception they introduced computers and she was soon more able than kids who had been playing around with them for years.

OP posts:

Mimia · 15/01/2009 12:30

I don't see the problem with preschoolers being allowed to used computers either, I let DD 2.7 use my laptop with me with appropriate websites. She can use the mouse fairly well. I think computer skills are important and letting them just have a go is fun.

Lotster · 15/01/2009 12:42

I do see your point Mimia as my dad introduced me to the computer and games when I was young and really glad he did, but still, I was a few years older than 2.

I show my son the odd youtube when he wants to see an animal we're talking about.
But to give them control so young is what I didn't like. It's just not necessary yet and as I said before, means he now wants to jam cd's in to our hard drive etc. and thinks it's "his turn" when my husband's trying to work!

Fennel · 15/01/2009 13:43

I'd say the acquiring of basic mouse and keyboard skills is something that most children are going to pick up, quite easily, at some point. Not something that parents need to feel their toddler should acquire.

My 4yo was praised for "excellent mouse skills" in reception, without any home computer access at the time. It's really not a complex skill. They learn basic googling and other computer skills in the primary school curriculum anyway.

Not that I object to the odd bit of computer access at nursery, but I don't think it's a necessary educational activity.

deaconblue · 15/01/2009 13:54

Our nursery has no tv's at all. I went to look round when where the children were having what looked like compulsory tv time after lunch as all were sitting around it and none of them were off playing. very odd imo

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread