How much tv does your toddler/preschooler watch-honestly!

[SuperAmoo]

My DD1 watches so much tv and I'm always reading about how watching more than two hours of tv per day is bad. But the fact is after being out at preschool or a friend's or the park etc in the morning, she watches tv for the rest of the day because she's too tired to do anything else, even play on her own. Does anyone else have this problem?

Mine (2.2) watches a fair bit, but she does loads of othr stuff as well.

I have a random belief that children need to be taken out for a good walk/run every day so she gets that, plus all the usual stuff.

But she also gets cbeebies in bed with me when she gets up at the crack of dawn and I'm not yet ready to drag my arse out of bed, maybe a bit after lunch then it goes on for bedtimne hour and maybe a little before that as well.

She is bright happy vocal learning well friendly etc so I can't see a problem although I do feel a bit guilty.

But then I think, we watched shit loads of telly in the 70s - DB and I were always slumped in front of masters of the universe or whatever although admittedly we were a bit older. S0o it's not the end of the world - other things are much more important.

My nearly 21 one month old watches loads but only on certain days. Mon-Weds she's at nursery or gparents while I work. No tv there. Thurs we have groups so out and about. She watches lots of TV (CBeebies) on Fri because that tends to be stay in and housework day. Weekends we're quite busy so odd times then.

I'm not really too bothered. She runs around and plays at the same time, very rarely sits glued to it.

20 minutes after her bath.

However, she probably plays mariokart on the wii for about an hour a day!! She thrashes me!

It depends on the day. My 2 year old goes to nursery on Mon, Tues and Wed, so very very little on those days. Thursday and Friday we're in and out of the house, so will watch it then. It's interspersed with baking, play dough, reading, painting etc etc, and then when the other 2 come home from school he'll watch it whilst I'm helping with homework and getting dinner ready.

It's no big deal - as long as they are also doing other things with their time I don't get stressed. On the plus side, he now knows his shapes from Mister Maker!

Weekends, 1-2 hours a day, sometimes less if we're out for the day somewhere. But no more than that (they're 2.5 and 3.7yo).

Weekdays, half an hour, the last bit of Cbeebies in the evening, before bed.

My 3 yr old probably watches (in the current weather) an hour in the mornings, half an hour after lunch and an hour in the evenings. He toodles around at the same time too and I watch it with him and we talk, etc. In the summer, it is rarely on as he is outside, but in the winter between 2 and 3 hrs.
A lot of fuss is made about TV being 'dangerous' for kids, but so long as they do lots of other stuff and are not shoved in front of it all day, then I don't believe it to be harmful. Tbh, the studies into it produce a huge variety of results and are usually deeply biased, depending on the funders.
Personally, I never watch daytime TV. When the telly is off, we have the radio and sing along.

Dalrymps - I never watch TV during the day, so when it's off, it's off. My DH is an absolute addict so it's often on all evening though.

The computer, on the other hand....

As a child I was allowed 30 mins each evening and 1 hour at the weekends....I am a complete and utter TV addict now. I watch pretty much any crap. Which is awful and I do feel stupid for doing it.

But I feel that it is possibly because 'I can' after the fairly strict rules of my childhood. So I'm not being as strict with my DC. I try to keep an eye on it and make sure they don't overdo it.....and it's easy enough with my DS to get him to stop - I just need to offer to play endless board games/lego etc.....and force myself to leave my laptop!

My children watch none. We don't have television connected to the house.

My dd (3.8) probably watches a 5 minute dvd once a fortnight- she isn't really that bothered. She never sees us watching television so doesn't really consider it as an 'activity'.

I am very lucky- she has always played nicely by herself from being fairly small, and will play while I cook dinner no problem- with lego, her farm, dolls house, play food etc.

She has no issues with concentration, and can listen to 2 or 3 chapters of the Moomins no problem, or play with lego for an hour and a half.

Oh... and she has always needed a lot of sleep, so no early morning hellish starts- I appreciate there are days when by 9am you have done everything... but she tends not to be like that.

dd 3 watches on average about an hour a day, fifi and peppa in the morning whilst I'm getting ready(slowly regaining consciousness) and half an hour before bed usually a peppa dvd as a wund down as she's a bit frenetic.

Even if it gets left on she loses interest after 20 mins or so (unless it's peppa!).

I expect she'll be watching more soon though as i have a 1 week old ds and dh will be going back to work soon!

Don't think it does any harm though, my dd wants to interact all the time and struggles to play alone and I cannot mentally or physically play bwith hre endlessly without going slightly mad.

I'm a strong beleiver in children learning to occupy themselves (prob cos I was v good at it) rather than being over scheduled with various activities.

Will do baking, painting etc. but only for a couple of hours a day. the rest of the time I expect her to entertain herself and/or "help" me whilst I'm doing chores etc.

Hello, personally ( and this is totally personal), I wouldn't let my DS who is 2 yrs and 4 months watch 2 hours or more of telly. I have been really strict about telly for his short life, so he is used to not watching it. I let him watch 2 episodes of Charlie and Lola a day (about 20 mins), and on special occassions, something longer. Maybe when he's older then he'll inevtably watch more, but for now I am happy with this amount.

Do you think it is better if your child sits still to watch half an hour of telly or plays while it is on in the background?

Dd (3) watches a fair amount after lunch as she no longer has a nap and as ds (1) is asleep it is the best time for me to get anything done. However, if I don't think she's really watching it, I'll turn it off and do something else with her instead.

Personally I'd rather have it on and be watched than on and ignored. But interestingly, a few people have commented on how they have it on and the children just play with it on in the background. Just interested to hear different perspectives...

DD is 2, I don't really restrict tv watching, but I put on the early morning programmes on channel 5 or bbc 2 which come to an end at a certain time and she then toodles off to do other things or we go out.

She watches more than usual if I'm doing housework, but even then she doesn't sit glued to it, she potters about playing & 'helping' me.

I think they do learn alot from it though. The other day she said to me 'Hello Mum, mum, mum, mum' getting quieter and quieter and I was like, 'er Helloo DD' and she giggled and said 'oops - that was my echo' - she learned it from Winnie the Pooh! I was impressed that she'd taken it in enough to be able to copy it! I'm not sure it would cross my mind to teach her that.

I think it can give them a look into places and show them situations that we can't always - I don't think that's a bad thing tbh.

My 3 yo has a maximum of 1x30 min session per day. He probably watches about 4/5 days out of 7. The rest of the time, if he's not in the mood to play by himself, I rely on talking books to keep him entertained so that I can cook, etc.

twopeople - I find that discussing the programme immediately afterwards is the best way to get him to agree that it's the end of viewing time, because he enjoys re-telling the action and doesn't mind me switching off. Then we move onto something else very easily.

CaptainNonentity - I you!

It really varies. Some days none at all if we have people here or if we're out and about.

The days when we are at home just me and DS and I need to get jobs done then I do have it on as background a fair amount. I find that he will watch something, and then head down the other end of the room to where his toys are for half an hour or so, at which point I turn it off.

He can happily amuse himself playing for about half an hour at a time, and he doesn't tantrum to get the TV turned on.
We always spend a proportion of the day reading or playing with no TV or music in the background, so I'm happy with the balance.

I let my dd watch loads of television. We always seem to be v. busy form 9.30 ish onwards (when I am not at work) and she watches tv from 7 till we go out, well it's on anyway. She is playing. I can shower etc. Not really worried or bothered tbh.

dd (3 1/2) watches about 30 mins each day at the weekend - along with ds (5 1/2) - we don't turn it on whilst they're awake in the week.

One of those things I guess - having never had it, they don't ask for it (although they are fanatical about their weekend slot )

I do notice that they can't use TV as background noise, though - if it's on, they are utterly frozen...

DS is 2.10 and DD is 13mo, some days they watch an awful lot of it (2.3 hours), other days its only goes on for a few minutes of Night Garden at the end of the day so we can have a few minutes of wind down time. They went to a crazy soft play birthday party this morning and have had Cbeebies on since they got in at 2pm and it went off at tea just after 5pm.

Mind you, they are still dashing around and doing other things when it's on, certainly not sitting still . I talk to them about what they are watching and insist on us all doing Boogie Beebies and Waybuloo yoga .

I only let them watch Cbeebies as it has no adverts and they don't watch DVD's, I will save Disney & co for when they are older.

I've never timed it or restricted it but i suspect its loads!!!

Cbeebies on in the morning before getting ready for school (a godsend when they get you up at 5am!!), at lunchtime briefly with DS and after school when dd is shattered and I make dinner. They don't sit glued to it all the time but have their favourite programs Mister Maker, Something special etc and i see no harm. Lots of educational stuff and songs etc. The rest of the time we're out at playgroups, the parks, visiting friends and family, shopping, in the garden, playing toys, drawing, play doh, reading books, dancing and singing etc.... DD often watches a DVD (disney film) or something when DS has his nap. DH and I are film mad and a telly addicts to some extent.

I'm really not sure what the harm is as long as you monitor what they watch and aren't left infront of it, on their own for hours at a time.

Interesting thread as tv is always something I feel guilty about for some insane reason. When my ds1 was born I used to turn his head away from the tv incase looking at it burned the images into his head and cried if my DH sat with him watching the news incase the violence scarred him for life! I know I was mental. And for some reason though sport was always ok as I considered it educational, despite the fact that I forgot to feed my ds twice due to the rugby world cup...
Sorry I digress. DS1 prob watches nearly 2 hours a day now. This is more than I would like but he is 2.4 and won't sleep at luchtime but needs to sit still for a while. Story book idea mentioned by someone else sounds interesting and I think I might give that a try. It's always sky+ or dvd so he doesn't watch adverts (not ready for the mummy I want that one phase yet) and I never have it on other than when I want him to sit down. Unfortunately this also means I usually have no idea what is happening in the world until the 10pm news.
Ds2 on the other had has been a nightmare since he was born and if tv would keen him amused (it doesn't) I would put it on 24/7.