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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

dd (nearly 1) has never watched TV ..

35 replies

DippyDora · 26/10/2008 14:06

I've always assumed she is too young.

What age do most children start watching TV and has dd been missing out?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

dismemberingdora · 26/10/2008 14:09

Hallo fellow dora! my dd is 2.5 and still doesn't watch tv. She will watch 5 mins of tv max!

themildmanneredaxemurderer · 26/10/2008 14:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

DippyDora · 26/10/2008 14:12

I feel bad as I haven't even given my dd the option of watching TV. I never have it on in the daytime and we never watch childrens programmes.

I wouldnt even know what channel they are on

OP posts:

Original poster

DippyDora · 26/10/2008 14:14

I am honestly not trying to be the 'best mum in the world'

I genuinely thought she was too young. Now I've read another thread about youngsters watching TV I feel as if dd has been missing out and maybe I've been hampering her devolpment in some way

OP posts:

NomDePlume · 26/10/2008 14:17

Small children watch television at whenever their parents allow them to.

It is unlikely that you have damaged or deprived your child of anything, she is a baby. Babies don't need tv to develop normally.

By the same token I don't think it is the end of the world if a baby has seen some TV in its life.

Can't get worked up about it I'm afraid.

BTW, I suspect DD has see some TV, or do you never have it on when she is in the rrom with you/DH/friends/relatives ?

MrsBadger · 26/10/2008 14:17

she isn;t missing out

dd gets 10min a week while I cut her nails

it doesn't come into its own imo till they are 2-3 and it can show them things they don't see in real life (wild animals etc)

Original poster

DippyDora · 26/10/2008 14:21

It goes on when dh comes home. I dont bother in the daytime as its mostly rubbish IMO.

Thanks Mrs B, thats what I thought about 2-3 years old

OP posts:

dismemberingdora · 26/10/2008 14:26

I suspect mildmannered was aiming at me dippy, (as if it is an insult!) I don't have a prob with my dd watching tv at all, she just wanders off after a few mins...

UnfortunatelyMurderedMe · 26/10/2008 14:30

Some people dont have a telly, at all, ever
She isnt missing out on anything, however, you may be.
You may find when she is really ratty and tired that she would fall fast asleep to cbeebies bedtime hour.
Also good way to learn rhymes etc.

Smee · 27/10/2008 15:06

DS didn't see any until 2.5 (roughly). Then I put it on to give him (or do I mean me!) a bit of a rest. For sanity's sake 20 minutes just to sit with a cuppa is sometimes essential... I think CBeebies is pretty good. No adverts and the programmes are mostly imaginative and inventive. Can't see the harm myself.

Cheesesarnie · 27/10/2008 15:09

shes not missing out.i will admit that the tv at times makes my life easier(bad mama).ds2 wasnt interested until he was almost 2.

lilibet · 27/10/2008 15:14

Exh and I didn't get a tv until dd was past 2, we had then gone for 8 years without having one

When the ds's came along I wondered how I had ever managed without it

different strokes and all that!

Iloveautumn · 27/10/2008 15:25

Hi - I have to post as my first ever post on mumsnet (a few namechanges ago!) was about whether I was harming ds' development by not letting him watch tv (he was about your dd's age!)

I got a million and one people telling me that it's only marketing that makes us think kids need to watch tv and actually the advice is no tv at least under 2. (Also a few people accusing me of being smug... guilt trip maybe?)

Now ds is 2.5 and still doesn't have tv and isn't interested in it at other peoples houses. So we will just keep him away from it for as long as we can. We have another ds on the way so will try to avoid tv at least until he is 2, then we'll see.

It is better for your dd's development to be in the real world, not the tv world! Plus she is not being exposed to all the heavy marketing.
That is one thing I am glad about - ds doesn't have a clue who any tv charactors are so no pester power - long may it continue!

carocaro · 27/10/2008 17:57

I don't think it is a good or bad thing, and that you gain or miss out on watching TV or not. It is there like so many other things, to be used in moderation, DS2 (aged 23 months) loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and to see him and his older brother who is six, sing and dance to the song, it's so lovely and funny!

Sycupatree · 27/10/2008 18:09

Ha ha, well, obviously you only have one child!

My DD didn't start watching until about 18 months (teletubbies) but my DS has been goggle eyed since birth

SongbirdScreamsInTheDeadOfNite · 27/10/2008 18:15

'No TV before 3' I thought (aged 3, not 3pm I think ). Dd (3.5) watches a lot though ! I prefer DVDs personally - no ads!

apostrophe · 27/10/2008 18:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

nappyaddict · 27/10/2008 19:12

so you don't ever have the TV on when she is in the same room?

MilaMae · 27/10/2008 19:31

Like Apostrophe all 3 of mine have a fab attention span,imagination,don't pester,spoke and one has started to read very early. All 3 have watched TV from a young age-programs I choose and when I choose with very little other screen time(I prefer it to time on the computer as rather anti social IMHO)

They lead a very full life with plenty of books, craft and the outdoors. If managed properly screens(TV,computers et al) really are nothing to get your knickers in a twist about.

Obviously all day every day would not be good.

Ivegotaheadache · 27/10/2008 19:45

When the dd's were little there wasn't any cbeebies or freeview, we didn't have sky and the kids programmes were only on for about an hour a day on bbc2 or something, so they watched videos of teletubbies ect once in a while (when I needed some peace).
It wasn't that long ago oldest dd is only 8 (I'm sure I remember it correctly).

Now, ds is 18 months, he's glued to all sorts of crap the dd's have on - he can sing the spongebob tune .
I let him watch cbeebies as I think that it's a bit better than some of the stuff that's on, say, Nick Jr.

I'd love him to not watch any, but wtf would I do with him when I am cooking the dinner? .
The pots and pans in the cupboard only work to excite him if you only fling the cupboard door open very rarely.

Bumperlicious · 27/10/2008 20:14

Goodness, I think I might have shot myself with boredom were it not for my BT vision recorder so I could watch endless crap (but crap of my chosing) while being stuck on the sofa with a feeding DD so she was certainly exposed to it. But it is only really in the past few months (DD is 16mo) that we have put it on specifically for her, and then only cbeebies. It's really handy when I am trying to cook or wash up in the kitchen and she is bored.

Hasn't done her any harm. She loves it when it is on, but when it's not she is very self contained, happy to potter round palying with her toys.

Fennel · 27/10/2008 20:18

None of my 3 really watched any til they were about 2.5. I don't think they'd be missing out if they weren't watching any now either. It's useful for tranquilising them, and they like it (too much) but I don't see it as educational.

MrsBumblebee · 27/10/2008 20:53

DS (13 months) has only ever seen adult TV (the Simpsons most evenings, plus the occasional bit of weekend TV like Saturday Kitchen or some sport - all DH, not me!!). Our reception is too appalling to get CBeebies. He's never shown any interest whatsoever in adult TV, or in the bits of Beebies he's seen while he's at other people's houses. But the laptop, on the other hand - he's totally obsessed..... I'm not at all bothered that he never watches TV, but equally I don't mind if he starts watching a bit when he shows an interest.

EachPeachPearMum · 28/10/2008 16:13

DD (2.8) has never watched television- we don't have our set connected to a receiver so she couldn't.
I think we may start to introduce DVDs in 6 months or so, though no idea what tbh.
She has seen the first 10 minutes of The Snowman at a christmas concert last year, which she loved.
DH and I don't watch television though, so it's not really part of our family's 'culture'.

poisondwarf · 28/10/2008 17:05

DS (18 months) watches far too much telly - just recorded stuff. Something Special mainly (we do signing), plus In the Night Garden, Thomas the Tank Engine, Louie & Pocoyo. The recordings are either CBeebies (no adverts) or we edit out the adverts. Some do slip through on Thomas though, and very sinister they are too (and mostly aimed at girls).

Even though I feel guilty about the amount he watches, I am constantly amazed at how much stuff he has picked up from it, particularly Something Special - he's always coming out with words we've never used with him (e.g. he picked up a watering can at a museum the other day and said the word). I think it helps that it's all recorded (we have a freeview recorder) as kids of that age love repetition, and I can see that the more he watches the same programme over and over the more of it he's understanding. I think his vocabulary & comprehension are pretty good for his age (not that that means anything in the long term, but I certainly don't think the TV is holding him back).

So I do think that there can be an educational value in TV - it's just one of the many sources of knowledge about the world they can have access to. I just wish we were a bit better at moderating it! BTW he gets to do plenty of other activities and we read to him loads.

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