TV at childminders

[ksmum]

I have a bit of a thorny issue and am not sure how to bring it up with my CM. It seems whenever I go to pick my DD up the tele is on. It is worse at the moment because her son (8) is at home on half term so he is always watching it but my DD does seem to be staring at the screen quite a lot (though also playing). She has also started asking me to put the tv on at home, which she never used to do as she knew she was allowed to watch 20 minutes after breakfast and then 20 minutes after tea, and I would watch it with her.
I don't know what to say really as if her son is watching it that is up to her but it also means my daughter is (daughter is 2)

[smeeinit]

i agree with strawbs that its proberly just taht it just so happens that when you pick up its their tv time.
i know at mine that tv time does coincide with parents arriving for pick ups so its on 9 times out of ten. although we are out all the rest of the day so a little bit of tv....half an hour or so,doesnt imo hurt.
also i think that so many childrens tv programmes are a mine of info for children taht they can actually learn a great deal from it. c beebies is gr8!

[ksmum]

Thanks for all the advice. They do definitely go out every morning until lunchtime but it seems tele is on from when her son comes back from school until pick up, which is a long time. he seems to watch programmes about cars, almost exclusively as far as I can tell. I will see how it is when he goes back to school and then ask her how much they watch. I don't have a problem with her at home asking I just ay oh no this isn;t a tele time of day for us and she accepts that, its just that that makes me think she must be getting used to it being on a lot. I really like her so I don't want to P her off.

[StrawberrySnowflakes]

i think if the cm is plonking him in front of tv all day that is def wrong, but a little, like you say if they have more children to be helping...ask her for a typical day, ask what days out/groups the children go to and when..this is what you need to know so that if he is watching a bit of tv, she is also getting him out and about in fresh air and keeping his mind active

[beansprout]

I have a concern about this as well, but appreciate that I have one ds and CM has 3/4 kids to look after. As long as there is a balance with other activities, I think it is ok and agree with the point about the type of programmes too.
Ds knows that the rules are different at home. He still asks for "Beebies" but knows that he rarely gets a "yes". I tend to use it as a last resort, but keep an open mind. If I had more than one, I may well use it a lot more, at the moment I have the luxury of only one child to look after.

Ds is 2.4 btw.

[StrawberrySnowflakes]

or maybe the tv is on less than you think but just at busier times ie: when shes getting everyone/your dd ready for home time, to keep it calm..so all art/messy/physical games are put away and the children are calm and ready for home.
if my mindee comes early(6am this week or even 7-8am) i have a cartoon on so i can prepare breakfast for us all and not worry about them bumping/banging or damaging anything/one...same at home time, i f i havent got a calm game out ie drawing, guess who, that kind of thing, i put a cartoon on..things like something special(my dd/mindees love!), Dora, numberjacks etc

so all in all, they see about 1/2 hour of cartoons, but it just so happens its when the parent arrives to drop off/collect???

[giraffemad]

I think it's fair to say that if her son is watching "learning" tv then it's not too bad. But if he's watching certain things eg Power Rangers, Pokemon etc then you might want to say something. Prehaps the tv is on more than you are led to believe... Let your dd know that the rules for watching tv in your house are different from theirs, and the things you choose to watch are more fun coz you watch together. Maybe ask your cm for a day by day plan of her week with your dd and suggest places for them to go, mums and tots etc, it may cost you a little more but at least you'll know your dd is not watching too much tv