How much telly is your under 2 watching?

[MouMouCow]

DS is 18 months and has started recently watching cbeebies in the morning for 30 min and then in the evening for another 30 min and DP finds it too much and is concerned. DS only used to watch 30 min in the evening until then, but discovered Bob the builder and wants to watch it every day...
I'm quite happy with DS' vocabulary and capacity to express himself, and the fact that he is now showing signs he can empathise with characters and follows stories (watched the episode of the Night Garden where one of the Tomliboos got lost with fascination, very focused though).
Is it too much telly time for such a wee little boy?
If during weekends we're out and about 3 or 4 hours every day does it compensate? It's not that he watches telly all day. He can ride a scooter like a 3 year old which I'm very proud of.
or are we making a fuss about nothing?
I'd like your views please?

TV is certainly always on in our house.. like someone said upthread, it is background noise. I have a 4 year old DS and he has always watched TV.. he was addicted to Mickey Mouse as a baby and toddler. Now that he has started school though, it is very reduced as he has school and activities to fill his time. I have a 9 week old DS now and even though I won't let him watch as much as DS1 did, it is inevitable that he will watch some as I can't possibly stop DS1 from watching TV now.

too much tv every day for more than 2 hours a day for a young one is bad i,d rather use the time to play read and do other activites. but i,m sure it all goe,s out the window when there older. i woulden,t put a tv in the room to drop them to sleep it,s not a parcifier.

I agree with dinosaurs - we're happy as we are watching as much or as little of Baby TV on Sky as DD likes. She laughs and smiles when her favourite characters are on but of course she gets tonnes of interaction and variety from us as well without the tv. She's a happy little girl, why would I restrict her tv time?

Would be very interested to see studies or research showing it's a bad thing. Can someone post a link to something?

Agree with quietly and ppeat too, sorry missed your posts

Birdies I was just remembering the sanctimonious idiots people saying that Tellytubbies will stop the DCs talking properly; well maybe if they only said 'innit' all the time!!

They also said that about Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men;people will complain about anything IMO and E.

11mo old DS saw TV for the first time a few weeks ago when we were all sick at once and at the end of our tether. I watch it very little myself so it wouldn't really occur to me to put it on. I am however a terrible parent in lots of other ways .

Lol ppeat!

i just think that there are enough things we unnecessarily feel guilty about as mums without tv being one of them!

Very true Birdies

Mmmmm. Well my 4 kids had/have unrestricted access to tv and were allowed to watch what they wanted up to the 9pm watershed.

I had 3 pre-schoolers so that's probably why initially but they quickly gravitated towards "grown-up" programs such as those on history channel, nature programs, science documentaries etc (at age 3 to 4!).

No 4 is a toddler still, the others are teens with incredible general knowledge, way beyond the norm -and those are still the kind of TV programs they watch now.

Interestingly, I read some research a couple of years ago which said very bright kids use/watch TV differently to most kids, the concentrate on it with more focus and learn more from it - in retrospect I'd say that applied to my older 3's TV experience, I think it was a real positive it their (self) education.

I'm not saying TV or computers don't change the brain - I'm sure they do but that need not be a bad thing - it's just a thing. Think about books, or radio or photographs - they were all new once and all changed us and the way we relate to people.

We haven't got a TV, so my twins (aged 2) have never seen any TV at all. I might consider getting one in a few years' time, but I'm quite anti-TV in general so I'd rather not. I'm a clinical psychologist with an interest in neuropsychology and I do have concerns about the effects of screen-time on developing brains, particularly in terms of attentional focus. I'd be particularly worried about TV being on all the time inn the background.

That's true scotch They also changed the way we related to the world.

DH & I were both born in the late 70's. I grew up with plenty of TV and DH grew up without a TV. We are academically similar but DH will be the first to admit he has little imagination and a narrower education/knowledge base than I do. I'm sure this isn't just because of TV but certainly a generalisation that TV is bad and no TV is ideal parenting doesn't have much weight in this household.

Have got 3DC, 5, 3 and 17 months. The older two watch about 20 mins before bedtime routine 2/3 times a week. The 17 month old potters with me upstairs. I am a bit old-fashioned about television though. They only watch one episode from a DVD (so I know what they are watching and so we're not clock watching waiting for something to start) and they still don't know that since the digital swichover we do actually have ceebeebies at home! They think it is something only some other televisions have... long may that last!

I am a lost cause on this one. I had a few principles on screen time with DS1 but by the time DD was born (DC4) I have to confess to have given up. It doesn't seem to have impacted unduly on her speech and language development

It's difficult to comment on this without sounding like Mrs.judgey McJudgey knickers, but in all honesty I don't get why a child under 2 watches any tv? why can't they have a toy or something while the spuds are being peeled, or makeup is being done?

CharlieMouse - I'm with you. It must be a piece of cake to have the tv off if you are at work for most of the day.

We watch a bit of Peppa at breakfast and then something in the afternoon after being out all morning. Probably 1-2 hrs per day the tv is on. So, that compares with the rest of the time of something with Mother / being out / groups / activities / playdates /park/ shopping then 2 hours of tv or screen time (iphone here).

I also count music videos / nursery rhymes. I think they are great for kids - my DD loves dancing and has learned quite a few routines by now. You know things like heads, shoulders, knees and toes which I have to join in with :)

isla for me personally it is just adds more variety to the things my DD loves and enjoys, along with books, baby classes, many many toys etc etc. As soon as I discovered Baby TV and realised how much she loves it, i think it would be mean of me to never let her watch it on the basis of zero evidence that it harms her (if someone can of course show me evidence to the contrary I will keep the TV off). When her favourite songs are on we all sing along - some her daddy sings and some we all sing and she looks to us in anticipation. It's lovely and it can and often does involve interaction.

Ds (11 months) watches loads. He has favourite shows and has had them from about 5 months old. I've made him a birthday card to be shown on cbeebies. Must get it from his dad as I'm not much of a telly watcher.

He has toys and books everywhere, spends 3 days at nursery being run ragged, goes somewhere every day with me that I'm off (yoga, sensory play, swimming, walking, shopping, playdates) and somewhere with me and/or dh at weekends (park, town, museums, restaurants).

No doubt I've damaged him for life with his telly watching. But then I've also apparently damaged him for life by being injected with numerous drugs when giving birth, mixed feeding and then just formula feeding, using jars in lieu of always making home made blw style food and going back to work and using a nursery for care. C'est la vie.

Ours just turned 2yrs....he watches no tv at home during the week (but I suspect he watches at least 30 mins at daycare ), then on sat and sun morning he watches up to an hour during breakfast while we do house chores. when baby #2 arrives, I'm hoping to limit it to about 2x30 min sessions during the weekdays....we'll see.

We limit it to certain shows that we approve of - Backyardigans, Zigby, 4 Square, bit do Seasame Street.....we are in Canada though so I don't know if you'd get any of these ones.

DC1 refused to watch anything at all until he was well past 2.5yo & I was pleased for the distraction as I had baby DD, too. We didn't even own a telly in those days.

DC4 watched heaps & heaps from newborn with older siblings and sometimes with parents, not to mention tonnes on his own from about 3yo (helped his speech develop a lot).

I guess what is too much depends very much on what they do the rest of the time.

ds (just turned 2) watches about 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening, when he's with me. Tuesdays DH looks after him and I am told they stick to the same rules but who knows. We went back to the rules because when relaxed them and let him watch more (when he was ill) he then started to whine for the tv a lot. Now he accepts when he can watch it and doesn't fuss the rest of the time. He has learnt new language and ideas from tv, and also gets great enjoyment from it sometimes. I like to sit with him while he watches (to steal some cuddles!), but when Dh is away with work those ten minutes are extremely helpful! He loves stories too though and will happily sit with me for ages reading stories, and always wants (and gets) loads of stories at bedtime. I think its all about balance really.

I don't like the idea of tv on in the back ground all the time, but maybe its what you're used to. When we were in a & e with ds a few months ago they had tv on loud and constantly and ds could see all these toys we wanted to play with but he couldn't focus for more than a few moments to play with them. At home he can get absorbed in his railway track/ cars/ causing general destruction for long chunks of time now.

The only screen time my little one gets is when the 4 year old has a tv programme or screen time. Maybe half an hour a day if you average it out.

Yah, you're all right. It's a totes dilemma. But I find if I'm really focused I can usually make sure my smalls fit in at least 5 or 6 hours a day, thus ensuring a complete exposure to all subjects of the NC. NumberJacks for Maths, Zingzillas - Music, I Can Cook - Home Economics, Waybaloo - Yoga. Is Yoga on the NC curric these days? Must write to MP to check. Littlest one ( 11 months) is annoyingly disinterested but am confident that with some hothousing, he should be up to speed by 24 months, if not 18. We're usually quite ahead in this house.