Page 4 | to hate " oh we dont watch tvs - just DVDs"

AlpenCrazy · 12/01/2010 18:17

dh home. in middle of argument about summer holiday. perhaps should suggest canoeing

mummygirl · 12/01/2010 18:18

well, my SIL has a 65" inch tv, but allegedly, they only use it for DVDs and they don't have an arial connection.

That would be absolutely fine, if she didn't announce it at every opportunity. And then some. She DOES look down on people who watch tv and that's smug.

But then she'll also mention at least once a week that her husband has a PhD. I feel that her tiny brain thinks that a PhD shows intellectual superiority, as does the lack of tv. Now that I think about it, these two things are always mentioned very closely to each other... Hmmm...

I suppose what I'm saying is that having or not having a tv isn't smug. A smug person would use anything though

DavidTennantAteMyHeart · 12/01/2010 18:25

I don't watch much TV but I'm not sanctimonious about it. I'm perfectly happy to let my kids watch it. CBeebies is great stuff. Educational, interesting, entertaining and good for chilling time for my DS2 who does not like to sit still. I just prefer my lappy to crap TV .

I know two people well who don't let their kids watch TV. One is an irritating sanctimonious prig about it and the other is not at all. Funnily enough, the prig is the one who has the TV. The none without a TV at all is perfectly reasonable, interesting and non-judgemental.

AlpenCrazy · 12/01/2010 18:27

she sounds lovely, aren't you lucky to have her as family. big empathy.

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 18:33

YABU

TV is full of adverts, and for me that is what I don't wnat my child watching, not the programmes.

DVDs don't bombard kids with brainwashing adverts all the time. You can be selective about what kids watch via the internet, but hours sat in front of itv on a saturday morning will mean loads of adverts and I am smug with the knowledge that my DS is spared this capitalistic materialistic ideal world brainwashing.

mummygirl · 12/01/2010 18:35

thanks AC. How's the holiday argument going

skidoodle · 12/01/2010 18:35

"When you use a computer to watch a DVD you are much more selective about what / when / how much you watch. And it is never on as 'background'. Not the same as having a TV at all."

Maybe when YOU use a computer YOU are more selective, but you needn't speak for everyone.

My TV is never on in the background and I'm extremely selective about what I watch on it.

You seem to be confusing the technology with the uses to which it is put.

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 18:36

Just for the record though I never mention that we don;t have a tv unless someone asks, and if they ask why I don;t give them any moral bullshit, I just say "well my ex kept it after the divorce and I have never got round to buying a new one"
coz actually I'm not smug and Holier than thou or anything

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 18:38

skidoodle's right.

Sweeping statements about tv owners vs. non tv owners are just rubbish.

dexter73 · 12/01/2010 18:39

I love tv. I would miss Eggheads if we didn't have one. CJ makes my day!

ImSoNotTelling · 12/01/2010 18:39

skidoodle nice work

lovechoc · 12/01/2010 18:54

I know a family who only watch DVDs on their computer, they don't want to pay for a TV licence and this is why they choose not to have a TV or telly or whatever you want to call it.

lovechoc · 12/01/2010 18:57

overmydeadbody your DC will make up for when they are older by watching oodles of TV with loads of advertising

you can try and control them now but when they get older - it's out of your hands.

AlpenCrazy · 12/01/2010 18:57

back from beavers pick up ready and raring to resume holiday argument. will update

thisisyesterday · 12/01/2010 19:05

lol, i am one of those people! i don't thinm it;'s the same as tv though.

personally i was sick of dp coming in each night, sitting on the sofa, and not getting up until he went to bed
and i was tired of having cbeebies on a loop because it was "easy"

so we stopped it. we save money (another reason for doing it) by not having a tv licence or the tv service from virgin.

we do have DVDs for the children, but no advertising, and it isn't so easy to just leave it on all day. when it ends it ends.

the main reason we kept the tv was so that we could play on the wii as well though lol

tbh it has made a difference, I think I had got into a rut of using the television as background noise, or to entertain the children. so it has meant that I spend more time doing stuff with them. and dp and I talk more, and get housework done (sometimes) which is good.

depends what kind of person you are though. If you can regulate how much you watch then great! i have no real problem with television, or kids watching it. just, in our case it was getting to be a problem and we are unable to control ourselves clearly! lol

skidoodle · 12/01/2010 19:06

"you can try and control them now but when they get older - it's out of your hands."

It's not "controlling" to make parenting decisions about what influences you want your children exposed to.

If you take this argument to its logical conclusion parents should just let children do whatever they want, whenever they way, as much as they want, regardless of age, because when they are grown up they will make their own choices.

The point is that you hope that by the time they are making their choices you will have shaped them into people that make good choices for good reasons.

thisisyesterday · 12/01/2010 19:08

skidoodle, well said! i came back to say just that.

when my kids are older they might be druggies, so should i feed them crack now just cos they might at a later date??

lovechoc · 12/01/2010 19:10

so if a child watches TV they are doomed really, that's why you are saying...

advertising is everywhere not just on TV. It's on the radio, it's on billboards when you go outside, it's everywhere really.

yes we are all trying to make the right choices but TV isn't going to damage them if they watch it in moderation.

mrsgboring · 12/01/2010 19:11

My DS only watches videos/DVDs not telly. This is because I have got totally fed up with his constant requests to rewind the telly. And his complete inability to understand that I cannot make it be Bob the Builder just because he wants it. It is time for Clifford the Dog and that's what's on.

I can't seem to have a conversation about telly without this fact coming out, because I'm utterly clueless about tv schedules and half the programmes out there whose videos have not reached our charity shop yet.

I love telly and have no time for people who profess to "read books instead" and then read total crap. Nor the ones who "never watch it" but then have an animated conversation about the telly they happened to see yesterday (which was the same telly I sat and vegged in front of for 2 hours)

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 19:14

lovechoc I'm not controlling my DS lol and he may well make up for it when he's older, but it's the brainwashing from adverts that happens to little kids that I'd rather he missed out on.

Exposure to advertising can be minimised in other ways too, like choosing what radio shows to have on etc. Not all advertising is bad either.

I am happy we don't have a tv, regardless of what anyone else may think.

skidoodle · 12/01/2010 19:16

"so if a child watches TV they are doomed really, that's why you are saying..."

No, I'm saying it's not controlling to make decisions about whether or not you want your children to watch television.

I made no argument about whether TV was good or bad for children.

"TV isn't going to damage them if they watch it in moderation."

If that's what you think, parent accordingly. Other people think differently and will do likewise.

GeneHuntsMistress · 12/01/2010 19:20

ooooh 4 pages and no-one has quoted the best line in TV ever! Joey (Friends) to non-tv-owning person:

"But what does all your furniture point at??"

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 19:20

And you are right, tv in moderation won't damage children, but it will certainly influence how they are shaped and what life views they have. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to individual parents to decide.

But we cannot just simply try to compare tv watchiers with non-tv watchers, or lump either category all together, or make feeble excuses for why one side or the other is 'wrong' in their decision.

If you have a tv and let your child watch it, be confident in your decision without slagging off people who have made a different decision.

SoleLundyFastnet · 12/01/2010 19:20

Ski, I did say "In my experience" - so not a sweeping statement, just a statement of what I have seen in others' homes- TVs are often the 'default' activity and aren't used particularly selectively - and are often on all the time.

I think you are right; some people are more selective than others about when and what they watch. I know if we had a TV we would watch all sorts of rubbish - so better for us not to have one.....and go and do something less boring instead (in the words of that famous children's programme).

Like mumsnetting reading an improving book

overmydeadbody · 12/01/2010 19:21

Gene