is it normal for a 3 year old to want to watch the same film (or bits of it) every day?

[madamegazelleslover]

DS is allowed about 25 mins of TV a day. It has been DVDs - Peppa Pig, Thomas until now. But since he's discovered Toy Story he wants to watch either a bit of the beginning, or the end, every day. At weekends he wants to watch the whole thing.

He just loves it.

But it seems to be verging on obsessive - can't handle the TV going off even though he's given lots of warnings. Cries, shouts.

Talks about watching it a lot

Should we be indulging it?

I hate the lure of the TV and if i had my way, he wouldn't watch any. Maybe our time constraints on it have encouraged him to want it even more. Hard to say

Advice please!

[MillyONaire]

oh and, at 11, rarely watches any television. So letting her watch the same films over and over (and over) didn't create a complete tv addict!

[MillyONaire]

Yes! I know "Babe" and "The Grinch" off by heart as they were my dd's favourites. She (at 11) does not remember them at all!

[mrshunkermunker]

At 3 my ds was obsessed with The Lion King. He's now 5 and not interested in tv or dvds at all. Id actually quite like him to enjoy a bit of tv once in a while, when he's obviously tired or poorly, but he just doesn't like it. So obsession at 3 doesn't mean they'll turn into telly addicts!

[matana]

Oh and I don't think it's stunted his development at all. He does many varied activities at his cm, nursery and at home, other than tv.

[matana]

Ds's first obsession was Coraline. A dark film for dcs but we all enjoyed it, even after the 50th time! He then loved watching the same 10 minutes of an Attenborough wildlife documentary about turtles. His latest is Despicable Me 2. In the summer we rarely watch tv so I don't sweat it so much in the winter. It keeps us all sane!

[Sid77]

Mine does this. I sky + his favourite programs so we can have a tv hour after lunch and he will request the same episode of something over and over. Afterwards we often have to act it out over and over. The way I see it, tv gives him a bit of downtime - he doesn't nap, but will sit quietly and watch tv. It really stimulates his imagination too and consequently inspires play. He's 3 as well and I think that he needs direction; he will play alone, but not for long before he needs some input. It's not surprising. That at this age tv is one of the few things that they can enjoy independently

[Innogen]

Back in the 90s with DD it was Rosie and Jim

[PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice]

Almost 3yo DS does this with Wall-E. It gets to the end, he puts it back to the start. Obsessed.

And books too - Stick Man, oh Stick Man, do bugger off.

[iloveweetos]

I wouldn't worry OP! There's a lot worse out there they could be watching

[Blu]

Yes!

DS watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks on a daily basis for weeks and weeks, and then moved to Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

I think it is fine as long as that is not all they do.

[UniS]

yes

[notso]

DS1 gets obsessive about things.
It started with spinning things, he would sit and spin things or stare at the washing machine for ages between 10 months and 2 years.
Then it was Cars he would want to watch it all day every day,
Then Wall-E,
Then it was the wii,
Then he found Lego,
Then Star Wars Lego,
At the moment it is the history of Lego and Horrible Histories books.
He knows everything there is in them and reads them constantly. He quotes historical facts all the time.

[BurnThisDiscoDown]

I hope so, my 2.5 yr old DS is currently obsessed with Paw Patrol. Before that it was Peppa, then monsters inc and then the gruffalo. Didn't mind the others but the films get on my wick after a while!

[Misfitless]

Completely normal.

It's Frozen Fest in our house at the moment.

At 3yrs old my DS was a Fireman Sam addict.

On the ferry to Ireland on our summer holiday, I had a sickening feeling and a knot in my stomach as it dawned on me that I might have forgotten to pack the DVD.
I had packed it, afterall, so I never found out which of us would've had the biggest meltdown...DS or me!

[HelenHen]

Be careful though... My nephew started turning into shrek, roaring and walking like a monster

Another nephew developed an American accent for a while!

[Notify]

Oh yes, and hear the same story, eat the same food, wear the same socks....

[madamegazelleslover]

haha! These are funny stories. Yes, I suppose 25 mins is random, but it meant 5 Peppa Pigs...so it stuck

I know TV is not the great evil. But still, he's little, and there's other stuff he could be doing

Actually, it is Toy Story 2 that he's obsessed with. I didn't go into that much detail as I didn't think it was relevant but clearly you all love ya Toy Story!

I bought him Toy Story 1 but he's fixed on 2. 3 is a bit scarier so i'm reluctant yet, but I actually saw that at the cinema and thought it was brilliant.

[ilovesprouts]

my grandson whos 3 watchers cloudy with a chance of meatballs all the bloody time .

[Moreisnnogedag]

Oh god yes. Pixar have a lot to answer for.

[myitchybeaver]

My sister is a barrister. She is considerably younger than me and watched 'the care bear movie' every day repeatedly for years. No brain rot. Normal relationships. Normal development in every way. Drove me bonkers though!

[TiredFeet]

Ds (3) is like this, but after a month or so he moves on to watching something else obsessively. He only gets about 40 mins of tv a day in total (in 3 slots, first thing in morning, after lunch and before the bedtime routine begins), if its a film he knows he only gets a bit of it each time.

[Pascha]

Oh yes. Cars, Cars 2, and Planes here. Its tedious but at least I know I can get half an hour to tidy up and cook dinner if he's settled brumming races with his own toy cars while its on.

[teenagetantrums]

It could be worse, My DD was obsessed with a barbie DVD at 3 and my DS watched the same Pokemon film for about 2 years, honestly the worst DVDs ever made, I had to put a DVD player and tv in their room i just couldn't stand it.

[threepiecesuite]

Cripes, 25 minutes. That's a random amount, not half an hour?

DD (4) watched about 5 hrs yesterday, Tangled then some Ben and Holly. It was raining out and she was tired. We got the duvet down and had a snuggle, it was lovely.