Managing the TV - Help!

[Kif]

Dd - 23 months old.

I've allowed her to watch little bits of CBeebies for a couple of months. I'm really not that happy with how mesmerised she gets by it, but I've thought fair enough when
a) she is clearly exhausted after a very busy day and just needs some passive time
b) when me and/or Dh are very tired - and need a saturday morning lie-in/twenty minutes to prepare dinner.
c) gives me a broader range of subjects to chat to my toddler about - they show clear pictures of animals and things.

Recently it has become a real problem, however, as she is becoming very assertive about asking for it, and then wails inconsolably for ages when denied.

This is upsetting enough - but it is made worse by the fact that my Dh is quite over-worked at the moment - and really can't cope with the sound of screaming Dd - really makes him stressed.

Don't want Dd screaming - don't want Dh upset - don't want to cave in to her screaming and let her watch TV all the time...

... I'm hunting for a way round this without going TV cold-turkey. I don't want to do this because.
a) Now and again it is a helpful tool for sanity
b) Grandparents and cousins(both sides) let kids watch telly. So not like we could pretend it doesn't exist.
c) I've got some videos coming by mail-order in my mother tongue. I find watching one video again and again to bolster a second language less objectionable than being hypnotised by constantly changing programmes.

Can anyone who has been in a similar situation advise?

Oops that link didn't work sorry the website is www.tinylove.com

DC - I love the Shrek in French idea! Don't some DVDs come where you can chose which language you can play it in? I'm sure I accidentally put Toy Story in Spanish on a while back.

have never really limited tv in our house

and my 5 year old quite happily switches it off when asked

he also plays by himself, we do games together .. we don't turn it on that much

when its on in the background my DD (21 months) pays it absolutely no attention at all

I think if you make it a big issue .. or something restricted it becomes much much more interesting to small children

well that's what I think anyway

I went for death by excess and it worked for us

My dd is 22 months and loves Cbeebies. I can only echo what's already been said. I only put it on at fixed times each day, in the mornings when i'm getting dressed and at teatime to keep her occupied while I'm making dinner (Lordy how I look forward to the big 4pm switch on!).

She asks for 'beebies' at other times but I find if I give her a book with the tv characters in it, she's happy to be distracted with that.

I agree with Twiglett (as ever ) The TV is on more than I would ideally want but the DSs are more than happy to entertain themselves without it as well.
Personally, I prefer them to watch a range of programmes than the same DVD over and over anyway.
I think if you make it into a big issue, then it will only get worse!

really helpful thread for me, thanks, esp bink

(trouble with death by excess for me is that I could watch cbeebies all day, ds not that interested!)

katharine whitehorn had a good comment about teenagers and cars, which fits for me with ds at 2 and tv - 'they have least resistance to the cheerful impersonal No'.

Thanks for all these ideas. To update on us:

Dd called my bluff by getting an ear infection last week (hot, floppy, fractious baby) which kind of put my intentions of limiting the TV out of the window before I'd even started.

I've also got a hard disk recorder, and I recorded one episode of Balamory for her, which I've been playing every time she asks for 'Beebies'. That has made me feel better about the TV because I find that when she watches the same thing again and again she understands what is happening much better, and reacts and speaks about it. I guess because she knows what's coming next, she doesn't seem to 'go into a trance' the way she did with the live feed. She'll interact with me more, turn it off, and copy what she sees on screen. We've even done things like putting all the shoes and socks into pairs (like they did on balamory) and buying a balamory magazine and playing 'Balamory Bingo'.

I can't wait for the native language DVDs to arrive - but I've a whole pallaver with 'smuggling' them across the border (darn copyright law). Defo can choose any European language on DVDs - I think that is really very cool. Only problem is the lip sync which will m

Amusingly, Dd has taken to turning off the TV when dh watches the news in the morning.

Don't some DVDs come where you can chose which language you can play it in?
Many do, and Spanish is the most common.
Given that French is about the least useful legacy language to learn, maybe I'll roll with that and get them speaking Spanish.

As for the "smuggling" there are plenty of ways of getting non-English movies, just not very legal.