Those of you without TV, come tell me how you do it

[ibroughtcake]

I would love to wean DD off, she is 2.4 and probably watches maybe 4 hrs on a bad day (if DS is feeding all day) on a good day maybe 1/2 hr which I am not really bothered about.

I am getting her christmas pressies and stocking fillers ready now with a view in mind to getting things that will replace the watching tv.

So what do your children do in the daytime, say when you first get up in the morning and you are getting breakfast ready what will they be doing? If you are feeding the baby and sitting on the sofa for the millionth time that day what would you do with DC? We do lots of book reading when I am feeding but if I am just sitting down for 2 mins she just wanders around looking bored. Then comes the enveitable emptying of the fridge or drawers

I don't think I can stand looking at the blank spaced out look on her face when she is watching tv for much longer.

Any tips appreciated!

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My dd2 is a similar age and we struggle a bit with restricting TV time too, but the things that sometimes keep her happily occupied include:

music CDs
Duplo
Cariboo (a fantastic game; it's designed to be played with others but my dd also enjoys playing with it by herself)
stampers
Aquadraw
lots of small plastic animals - can be used together with building blocks to make a little zoo or similar
Playmobil
making collages (using gluesticks to reduce the mess)
lift the flap books

Ours got stolen years ago, we never looked back.
DD1 4 yo listens to lots of story tapes, we have small hi-fis in living room, kitchen and her bedroom. She 'reads' her books, draws, dresses up and dances about etc etc. You'll find it easier over the next year as your DD gets older and can do simple puzzles etc. We are also not afraid to put a DVD on the laptop once a day, max one hour.

Radio is pretty good for entertainment - we have a couple of apple airports plugged into walkman speakers and just stream the radio from a laptop to various parts of the house. Also below mentioned collage, books, blocks, etc. Oh - and lots of web stuff e.g. www.poissonrouge.com

Hmm well DD has never seen a TV so that makes it easier. I got rid of ours when I was three months pregnant. Never missed it once.

Funnily enough we do all the normal things kids do, in the mornings, she gets her toys out and plays or we read books. If I'm getting breakfast she (ahem) helps (mostly by unloading the cupboards onto the floor). Then we go for a toddle down to the local shops for a paper and to see the ducks (there is a pond there).

She spends at least twenty minutes a day chasing the cat round, perhaps you could get one .

Seriously it's a lot easier IMHO to cut it out altogether than ration it, because once it's not in your parenting repertoire then you don't fall back on it.

Lots of good ideas here

Melpomene, animal zoo one sounds good, I could get lots of little animals for stocking fillers

Hadn't even thought of radio, will go and look at cariboo now

Didn't see your post before WHMC, I am feeling all inspired now

I think I will just unplug it in the morning and see how we get on [scared]

I have only 1 ds so far which obviously helps

we use story tapes a lot - ds will listen to them for ages if allowed

when little I used to put him in highchair pushed up against table and put things like playdough / colouring on tray of highchair or on the table

can you play games where you are playing with her verbally and she has to do certain things,, but you don't have to move? Like, put on music and give instructions that she can follouw out - eg, jump up, touch your toes, spin around etc

or send her on a treasure hunt. "can you find something in the room that we use to keep our hair tidy? Here is another clue - it is black. it is on a shelf" etc till she finds the hair brush and brings it to you

If it's of any help, I think I'm now a lot thinner because we don't have a telly. So I have no excuses for not walking to the shops or doing stuff. There is very little vegging out goes on in our house these days. Consequently we are all knackered by 10pm and go to sleep earlier too - so no time to miss House (which I seem to remember was on about that time).

Also you start realising how shit TV is really.

BTW, one thing I started doing with some older kids I was looking after was a story roll. You just buy an roll of cheap wallpaper and get some pens and let them draw a story frame by frame, and you just keep rolling it up so each day the story gets longer and then eventually they unroll it (we did it in the garden) and read/act out the story.

Was actually hugely funny to watch the girls and boys get in the bits they wants and I've never seen a fairy with a tractor before but hey, it kept them out of trouble ALL WEEK!

Just found the cariboo on amazon it looks really so thats one present down.

She might be a little too young for audio tapes but the treasure hunt idea is really good

It is going to be very peaceful and quite tomorrow without cbeebies on

DS 2.7 has just started to want to get involved with cooking so he stands on a chair and helps mix "things" while I get dinner etc ready. Also, have just started doing ironing while he is awake and if he wants me to read him a book I get him out a well known one and get him to tell me what he thinks the story id by looking at the pictures. Other than that it's just normal toys. We spend an awful lot of time outside on walks or just pottering in garden. Agree with what someone else said re easier to not have it at all than to ration it. DH used to put TV on for him but then DS nagged for it constantly - since I banned it it never occurs to DS to ask for it.

We have a toy kitchen which although big and plastic and rather ugly, is fantastic when I'm getting breakfast; DS (2) loves his cut and play food and the tins and putting pasta everywhere (my sister picked it up for £10 from the free ads about 9 years ago so we've definitely got our money's worth out of it).

We have a basket of musical instruments which he can get out whenever he wants.

We have two large boxes of duplo which have been accumulated over the years. I do try to make sure he puts one thing away before getting another out - which also takes time and keeps him busy.

We do colouring at lunchtime while I'm getting lunch.

We do have a television, but I honestly can't remember the last time DS watched it.

you can get very simple story tapes which IMO are suitable for 2 year olds

we had Mog, Little Bear, Winnie the Witch, Alfie, etc

Is it too embarrasing to admit I have no idea where you buy audiobooks from, i'm guessing not itunes

I've never had a tv since having DS, so he's used to it, but trying to think what we do instead:

Waiting for breakfast isn't an issue, I'm lazy so he gets cereal and fruit. When I'm making lunch/supper he just pulls a chair up to he counter and helps/grazes on veg/ talks to me.

If I'm working he plays with his cars/train set/playdough or reads stories, paints, colours, cuts.

All his toys are easily accesible to him, as are art and craft things, so he can get it all himself.

I know my DS is older than yours now, but tbh it has always been like this, I've just added to what he has access to as he's got older.

I work from home 75% of the time, so he has just got used to entertaining himself while I'm working...

DS does know how to use the internet too to get to cbeebies and also youtube (something his uncle showed him and I'm not happy about, he searches for 'funny cats' and is in hysterics watching the vidoes), and he also watches dvds if he comes to work with me after school, so I know all about that glazed look they get. I just try to remind myself that everything in moderation is ok

Oh I borrowed some from the library and then when I found he liked them I got more from eBay

you can also buy from bookshops eg waterstones but can be pricy

Amazon have good deals sometimes

FandZ - genuine question - why is your preference for audio rather than tv? think I know why, but would be v interested in what you thought.

I also have a basket with old magazines in it (DS especially likes the elc ones) and a pair of kids scissors, DS spends hours sometimes cutting pictures out or just making patterns by folding the paper and cutting it. When he was little he just ripped the pages, he loved it and knew he could only rip paper from that basket, not mummy's books

This activity requires no adult involvement, and when it is finished it leaves another great activity for children: hoovering up all the little peices of paper! They are never too young to learn to hoover imo

OMDB, good idea re the magazines, DD can spend hours looking through old catalogues and loves ripping the pages out

Colouring, jigsaws, story and music CDs, just playing with dolls...

do it TV is evil.....

Story tapes are far better than TV - they allow the child to use their imagination of what characters, settings are like rather than being given it (you know how disappointing it is to read the book after you have watched the film). It requires them to concentrate - TV is addictive and draws them in with the visual stimulation. Tapes are so much slower TV (even kids) moves quickly from one thing to another (and we wonder wny we get kids who find concentating at school hard - watch old TV shows they are much much slower). They allow the child to develop understanding of story language.

We have some DVDs, but they get watched about once a month if they are lucky!

well there are so many drawbacks to tv watching IMO that I can't really hope address them all in one post! I think tv can be detrimental for children mentally and physically

listening to story tapes has no major drawbacks that I can think of, except that it is an immobile activity and involves no interaction with another person (except when negotiating for another tape to be put on )

the obvious advantage is that it involves the child's imagination more than tv watching does, but it is really the medium and the content of tv that bothers me

My DS will be 5 in January and will start school - Kindergarten at a Rudolf Steiner/Waldorf School. It is policy that children in Kindergarten do not watch television - at all (and it goes without saying that computers are out too!) I also have a 2 year old - who frankly is more into TV than his older brother (right now DS1 is playing with Lego and DS2 is watching Cars), but DC3 will arrive in May and I will be sat on the couch breastfeeding for significant periods of time - and did I mention that I am a TV addict?

Anyway - keep the suggestions rolling in please! Some great ones already, and we do a lot of it, but it is just that we also watch TV - or my especially bad habit of having it on in the background!

you do get audiobooks from itunes. classic fm also have free downloads of fairy tales here. ebay is very good for cds because people sell ones that come free in newspapers. there are some great winnie the pooh ones with Stephen Fry and Judy Dench which my dcs (2 and 3) love. They are the real stories, not Disney.

I am watching this with interest.

Before we moved, our TV was on all day - literally, all day. The kids didnt necessarily watch all that much but it was always there in the background.

We moved house 8 weeks ago, and I think in total it hasnt been on for more than about 10 hours in that time.

The girls will occasionally ask for Charlie & Lola or Tweenies DVD on, but watch 10 mins and are bored so go off and play and we turn it off again.

Favourite toys at the moment are supermarket tills with play money, megabloks and books.

THey love having their CD's on too which although SO annoying for us as parents to listen to wheels on the bus 10 times a day, the girls love it.

I cant remember the last time I watched a programme on TV - in fact, it was probably the last F1 race of the season.... or the rugby, whichever was the last one!