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!

I nanny for a family without TV, at first it felt strange... but now after over 2 years, I'm quite used to it.

Breakfast - the 3 and 4 year old's help by getting spoons, bowls. They sometimes pour their own milk, if the bottle isn't too full.
Sometimes they will be getting dressed, while breakfast is got ready.

For audiobooks, old ones can be downloaded from www.kidsaudiobooks.co.uk - bit of mixed bunch, but you may find your DD likes some of them.

The children like musicals, we have them as audio and some as DVD's as well - such as Joseph, Bugsy Malone. We also sometimes watch clips of musicals on YouTube - some of the school productions are great.

We spend a lot of time out and about, visiting places, country walks etc. Great now that 6 month old fits in the back carrier, as have had to avoid country walks the past few months - buggies and styles don't go - luckly we have woodland with reasonable paths near us.

Cutting paper keeps children amused for quite a long time... gets a bit messy, and you need to have the rule that they only cut things they have been given to cut - not wander around the home finding things to cut!

Teach her to mumsnet! LOL- sorry

Echo what many have said (esp WMMC)- tis probably much easier if they've never seen it in the first place! We moved when I was 8mo pg, and never had an aerial installed. Dh and I don't miss it at all (except for House too funnily enough) and dd has never seen TV.

She has seen a DVD at a baby-friend's house (hungry caterpillar) but didn't watch it, as she wasn't/isn't used to sitting down and staring at a screen.

She likes to 'make breakfast' for her bear and doll while we make her breakfast (using toy pots and pans/tea set). Sometimes she draws (erm, well...scribbles, she's not an art genius trust me ) or plays 'shopping' ...mostly for apples and peas (this is something she loves doing at any time of the day)!

We usually have radio 4 on in the morning, and she asks to have it on if we forget to switch the radio on, she likes to have music on to dance to late afternoon too, usually whatever random cd is in the machine.

She has her own little table and 2 chairs ( from ikea) in the dining room (middle room in our house) so she can eat or draw or do jigsaws easily. All her toys and books are within reach for her- she loves looking at books.
We let her have a foam football in the house, and usually a balloon to kick/throw around.

I read a great idea on another thread about how to occupy your toddler whilst feeding your newborn- have a basket of things that just come out specially at feeding time, things like a jigsaw, duplo, a snack for toddler, special car or teddy, they can choose themselves. Lots of people mention in passing that their toddler 'feeds' teddy or dolls when they feed their baby- even the boys. As you move to weaning, a spare plastic spoon and bowl for dd to feed teddy might go down well.

Really for blank, spaced out look...HTH

I realised that I mentioned CBeebies Radio - but didn't give any link to it. You can get it via their website here and I believe it's also available through freeview as BBC Radio 7.

I also grew up without telly - and have always been an avid reader. But here's a question for discussion: will your child feel left out when they get to school and haven't got a CLUE about any of this TV stuff that their peers are talking about? I know I used to get the mick taken out of my from time to time...

BZ I remember being at school and often not having watched all the things my peers had watched. I don't know why this was - I don't know if my parents made a deliberate decision that we were not going to watch eg Blakes Seven, or whether they just had different tastes. Anyway I just used to pretend I had watched it too. I notice my son joining in with TV type games at nursery without knowing what the hell they are on about - eg Spiderman, Dr Who. Children learn quickly! I'd rather teach my child that we make the decisions about our lives we feel are best, and stick to what we think is right, rather than running our lives to make sure we fit in with other people, and so as not to inspire any criticism from other people.

Oh and thank you for the link which I am going to try. Nick's looks interesting too.

Lots of people told me I was being cruel for not having a tv for DS, and somehow depriving him, because of that reason exactly, that he wouldn't be able to join in discussions at school and would be out of the 'loop' and that he would be teased by other kids, anyway, I ignore these comments, it's usually by telly addicts who couldn't imagine what else one could possibly do apart from watch tv

I don't believe DS will feel left out, he watches cbeebies sometimes at grandparents' house, so knows a lot of the characters, and goes to the cinema, watches dvds and uses the internet. (I limit these activities to the weekends though).

The notion that somehow I am depriving him because I'm giving him opportunities to be imaginative and creative instead of zoning out and watching tv is laughable really.

My kids watch DVD's on their personal players, so no arguments there. I don't mind them watching stuff on DVD. It was the midless hypnotic state that extended TV watching put them in that I hated. Yes, there are times when I wish we still had one, they are useful at times!

Good post FandZ. I didn't have a tv as a child either and definately remember just pretending I'd watched the shows or going along wioth the games anyway, but never felt "I wish I had a tv so I could watch these things...".

Just tried the link to the Cbeebies radio badzelda, but no sound is comming out, what am I doing wrong??!

Hmm - I'm not sure? Are you on mac or pc? I think it uses realplayer, so you might need to check that you've got that installed?

And I wasn't saying that I think TVless children are deprived - I certainly didn't feel that way - just that even now I look blank when people make TV references - never did get the hang of watching it!

Thanks will try that!

Oops sorry if I implied I thought you thought children where deprived etc BadZelda, I didn't get that at all from your post, some RL acquaintances have made these comments to me though

Ah my misunderstanding OMDB...I was in tesco the other day and the checkout lady told me I was a cruel parent for not having a telly!

Oh and another suggestion r.e. audio stuff for younger children: Dr Seuss recordings are great.

Absolutley agree with F&Z re how childre pretend theat they know about characters.
Dd2 has a fascination woth a boy at preschool who is very sweet to her. He has all sorts of charcter toys, stuff I have never herad of, like Ben10, plus Dr Who etc (he has older siblings).
Dd2 knows nothing about these characters, but will go an d play Dr Who, in their own way, to play with htis boy.
Does that make sense?

I wasn't allowed t watch children's tv when growing up. And at secondary school I can remember knowing nothing about Neighbours, whcih ahd ajust started. But I don't rem,ember being bothered by this at all.

I get story tapes in charity shops, they're usually cheap so it dosnt matter if they don't work. So far I haven't had any duds. Also ebay is good for story tapes and CDbooks.

I do keep toying with the idea of getting rid of the TV but tbh I find the days where I insist we don't watch it so difficult I get really down about it.

We live in a small flat with no garden and not much of a communal garden. On work days when ds wakes up at 5.30am which he generally does, we have 3 hours to kill before I leave for work and ds for nursery

What I don't understand is that I do pretty much ALL the things suggested here and many mornings by the time we leave the flat we have often, showered together (which he insists on doing if the TV is not on) made and 'cleared up' breakfast together and also made robots (his current craft obsession), played with play doh, often baked cakes and played at washing up which in combination with the flour on the floor from the earlier baking leaves usually leaves glue on the floor -all before leaving for work at 8.30am. On top of that I usually leave a flat that looks like a tornado has hit it which needs to be dealt with when I get home.

I find this frankly exhausting and after a few days of good intentions I usually crack and put the TV back on in the mornings again. After a few weeks I regret it again as ds keeps asking for it more and more. Sigh!

DS will entertain himself but only if he can play with non-toys some of which are dangerous (i.e empty cupboard, climb ladders etc. Any toy games have to be played with me or with another child and he is an only child so that leaves me.

Recently I stuck a massive roll of paper on my flat wall and let ds paint on it. the efforet to set it all up in my small flat too about 20 mins (including moving furniture, protecting carpets etc). It kept ds entertained for exactly 10mins and then I struggled to clear it all up without ds smearing masses of paint all over the place.

I frankly spend much more time doing many of the things listed on this thread than most of my RL friends do (In fact I know they think I do too much and that ds should entertain himself more) and yet he still watches a good bit of TV (1/2 - 2 hrs most days)

On the days I am home with ds it is probably easier as I am in less of a rush and the mess can be cleared up.

Message withdrawn

It's a habit and I guess it does depend on the childs temprmant. I also 'use' TV to baby-sit sometimes. And when my DS2 as born there were days when we had it on seemingly endlessly. But a no and distraction of paint/swings/football/story mostly works. The other thing is why all the guilt? We can't all be perfect all the time - there is the ideal of no tv and then there is the reality of life and what works for you at this moment of time. if your posting your thinking about it and if you want a change then you probably will change.

Aussiemum- we had 3 children at steiner school- they were very disapproving of tv, computers, story tapes, and a good many books. I'm sure you've researched it well but the reason they don't approve of tv or computers is because the core of their philosophy and curriculum is anthroposophy- and they beleive the devil - Ahriman - uses electronic media to communicate to humans... BONKERS?- yep- but the teachers are extremely relucuntant to discuss anthroposophy publicly.- Look at the other threads that have been running about Steiner - and if you haven't been on the PLANS website it makes eye opening reading.

I have a TV but don't have it on during the day, dd has never watched cbeebies so doesn't know to ask for it .

I let her watch a nursery rhyme DVD if she's tired after lunch or while I'm doing dinner but over the summer it never came out at all.

I try to do things with her - let her help with cooking & housework. I always try and be out of the house by midmorning if possible. Luckily ds is a really quick feeder and his naps give me special mummy-dd time.

I do use some websites but at least they are interactive and the activities are short.

Recently bought the Toddlers Busy Book off amazon which has loads of ideas for activities. Will try the audiobooks too - thanks for the links everyone.

DS enjoys standing at the sink in the kitchen with some bubbles in the sink and playing for ages pouring stuff from one pot to the next. Also playdoh is brilliant. I keep card/eggboxes/those annoying plastic things that avos and other fruit and veg come in in a box in the kitchen (and on the floor/table etc lol!) and DS loves making things out of them. Also keep an eye out for free posters etc in the papers - the Guardian had a series quite recently and we have posters of animals/people etc which we use to make pics.
I find if DS watches more than about 20 mins of tv in the morniing then he can be a bit of a nightmare afterwards. I also know that sometimes I need to veg out in front of the tv and i assume he does too but we have strict rules - eg turn off the TV after the Tweenies and come up to bed - and he does (most of the time!!)
Check out the library to see if they are selling off audiobooks - usually v cheap.

We don't have a TV, but DD has lots of toys that she loves. She's also very active and loves to play outside. We have a trampoline and a beam, so she loves to pretend she's an olympic gymnast. We go out a lot as well.

Will be back later, but just wanted to say whoever recommended paper and scissors YOU ARE A GENIUS AND I HEART YOU

thanks for all the links, will try them out. We have not had a tv since marriage (8 years) I didn't have one as a young child either. Ds who is 2.5 gets to watch a dvd sometimes for about 20 mins while i am preparing tea, otherwise it is not used much. We only have about 3 kids ones anyway so it is fairly repetitive! We do other activities on the computer, yes the cbbeebies website is great! He watches a bit at the childminders which is fine by me. As to those who miss house - we have it on dvd £24 from Smiths! We have also watch 24 and Lost - the boxed sets are pretty good value, we also use 'easy dvd'. As to entertaining whilst breast feeding, i just read to ds if he wants or sit in playroom with him. As to what to do while getting breakfast ready, we used to give ds a small handful of dry cereal like cheerios, shreddies to keep him going - he was so desperate when he was younger.
I know several people who struggle with their kids demanding to watch it all the time so i think it can have quite a hold.

Well it has been going very well. DD got up the first morning and I am afraid to say that I told a fib and said the tv was broken

She didn't watch it at all day and my observations are thus

By the end of the day my house looking like a tip

She was exhausted much earlier than normal and slept so well that night

We talked an awful lot more

I think what I was most worried about was that I wouldn't be able to find enough activities for her to do, but what I found was that she actually made things up for herself.

The cutting paper things she loves and has spent hours cutting up the old tesco catalogue.

Thanks everyone for the tips and links, i don't think we will go completely free just yet (had a hell of a day today getting home on the bus and putting the tv on when I got home was my saviour) but we are well on our way