what are your views on tellytubbies for my 12 month old ?

[Deecee]

I vowed I would never do it, and last week I gave in and after hiring countless videos, that my daughter took no notice of, I bought a tubby video!Standing in the que in Woolworths I found myself justifying my actions "because she loves animals" and this video was about animals too! I only use it for 20-30 mins a day Mon.-fri. if hubby isn't home ( he usually isn't) for that awfull half an hour, when your'e tidying up the mess from her tea, trying to prepare our meal, and all she wants is my undivided attention, or to crawl through the mess on the floor as I'm cleaning it up! Am I taking the easy way out? Is it really going to affect her speech development?I would love to hear from any mums with slightly older kids who have grown up with tellytubbies!
Also any other videos that might keep her busy for that short time? It's the only t.v. she watches I'm just a bit worried about the affect it might have on her speech, as it appears to be so controvertial.

Deecee don't worry, it's fun, they love it and it gives you half an hour.

Our best videos when they were little were The Fun Song Factory, all the singing and dancing and children. The first one we got was FSF Farm, lots of real animals. They are the only videos in our collection that are actually worn and fuzzy!

Hear hear about not feeling guilty. My two and a half year old is still a big fan having watched the tubbies since she was very young. Another good one is Maisy which might drive you less insane and Pingu. Now the Tweenies on the other hand.....she adores them and they make my head hurt just thinking about 'Bella' the bossy irritating one!!

I don't know about any controversy surrounding the Teletubbies and speech but do know that they were developed after a great deal of research into the language development of children and mimic the way in which kids learn to talk. Also the repetition which forms part of the programme structure is also based on a firm understanding of childrens' development. So in theory they should help not hinder your childs' development.

Totally agree Emmagee about Bella. Love Pingu though, it really makes me laugh sometimes as the baby one is always going to the loo on the floor or something. Are we meant to understand them speaking? Is it French?

Teletubbies, definately don't worry, my 4 year old loved them when they first came out and she has no problem talking! 2 year old loves them now too. I actually think tv helps a lot towards their development.

Many thanks for easing my guilty concience! I'll close my ears to the "wikkle wam" (little lamb) next time I here it, and remind myself that we both need some time to ourselves even if my time is spent scrubbing potatoes! I like the sound of FSF Farm,thanks Ems I'll try and locate a copy.Oh dear nap time is over thankyou all, bye.

As someone who was brought up with the clangers (high pitched whistles) and bill and ben (flubber etc) and still manages to talk fluently, I don't think you'll have too much to worry about. In my view most of kids tv today is much better than it was when we were kids, it's the adverts that cause the problems! For those with OnDigital - long live BBC Choice!

my 11 month old daughter loves the teletubbies. She giggles at the baby in th Sun and dances along to the music. I'm sure it does her no harm. As for the Tweenies, she's not allowed to watch them as they really irritate me.

My son has loved the Teletubbies since he was very tiny (although I will admit I had misgivings about them myself!). He spoke early and very fluently (other Mums remarked on this, so it's not just me being biased) - at 15 months he had over 40 words. At 3.5 he has a wide vocabulary and rarely shuts up. So don't worry about your child watching the Tubbies - just make sure you chat away lots too.

debsb - bill and ben AND clangers? that would have been your second childhood?

emmagee - there was a big controversy when tellytubbies started - i wrote to the beeb myself 2 or 3 times - it replaced playschool in the schedule and as my son was then about 3 i found it a very inadequate substitute.

for tinies i can see that it's brilliant as it has lots of repetitive stuff that they can do and anticipate, bright colours, music etc and of course it does have proper human speech as well as eh-oh....but it did my head in then, and still does, and i STILL don't believe that babies need tv at all (though having said that i used to put a 6 monther in her bouncy chair in front of the muppet show many years ago and she was engrossed for the whole half-hour....so maybe i'm just a hypocrite!)

but as far as speech is concerned pingu must be worse!!! ( nicer for adults though...)

deecee, you didn't say how old she is but have you tried bagpuss? it also has music, lots of colour and activity and you could probably bear to watch it yourself too!

janh - yes, I used to watch them both (now I'm showing my age), and I can cheerfully say it's had no affect on my communication skills apart from a tendency to whistle at odd moments, and flubber a lot in the evening (after a few glasses of the old vin rouge)!

debsb - you must be nearly as old as me then! (slightly younger than the archers...)
so as well as b & b you had the benefit of the woodentops, andy pandy and 2 other things - monday to friday - what were they? - and does ANYBODY out there remember twizzle ("TWIZZLE twizzle!!!") and torchy ("torchy, torchy, the battery boy, i'm a walkie-talkie toy!")???????

My three and a half year old daughter loved the tubbies except for the lion and bear - other parents I've mentioned this to have said 'mine too' when I explain that Maisie freaked out over them, she still does. In fact she tried to bury herself under a cushion when it came on the other day and was still talking about it in bed that night. 'Can you write and ask them not to put the lion and the bear on anymore' - as I say she's not alone, anyone else had this experience?

Janh - yes, I'm in there with you - there are still some of us about you know! Woodentops was my favourite, with spotty dog. I can't remember offhand the others, but one of them was a big stuffed rabbit (hand puppet). And then there was picture book with the dog called sausage. I have to confess I didn't remember all of those, but we have got a BBC video showing a weeks worth. I shall check it when I get home & find out what the others were called.
Oh, and no, I've never heard of torchy boy either, but there were definately regional differences, as my hubbie hasn't seen all the ones I have & vice versa (the north/south divide again)

OK I'm convinced, half an hour to do the tedious tasks, and my daughter wont suffer as a result.I had forgotten I was raised with clangers and bill& ben and woodentops etc.Now I just have to persuade her to stay sitting down for the duration and not try to snog the screen. By the way Janh she's just turned 12 mnths.

deecee - i have JUST noticed that it says 12 months at the top - oops - creeps away redfaced...!

debsb - i am a southerner, well, i was, which end are you from?
i can vaguely remember picture book - there was that riverbank thing too, with a guinea pig or hamster or something???? and a rabbit? but i'm sure that was a bit later...

Did it really replace playschool Janh? I loved that programme! I thought playdays replaced playschool and it's no swap! Lets go through the square window ..... Actually I really miss rainbow, I would watch it today if it was on!

Janh, I remember now when they replaced Playdays with Teletubbies, you've bought it all back! I too was very annoyed as I thought Playdays was brilliant. It is on occassionally now, but quite early I think.

My first hated the lion and the bear, but my second tries to make more of a roar and thinks its funny.

www.urchin.co.uk have got a video called 'Relive your wasted youth' £10.95 and it looks brill! Hectors House, Crystal Tips and Alistair (I still have their annual!) Fingerbobs, Bod, The Flumps, Willo the Wisp, Mary Mungo and Midge, Joe, Mr Magoo, Ludwig and Fred Basset.

Janh - I get the worst of both worlds, as I'm from just north of Brum, but other half was born in Southall, so I'm classed as a northener to his folks. Actually, as we now live in Cheshire we are both classed as Northeners, and the kids accents are completely confused, at least they should be able to fit in anywhere as they grow up.
There was tales of the riverbank I think, but it was completely boring so no-one watched it. My pet hate was Rainbow, probably because then I was too old to watch it, but little sis always used to. Personally I blame that programme for a lot of her problems!
Also went to the Dr Who exhibtion at Langollen last week. It was great, but my 5yrold daughter, whose a real scaredy cat, couldn't understand why both Mum & Dad said the monsters were so scary. Great fun if you want to pretend to be a Dalek though.

My daughter 16 months also finds the lion and the bear (Teletubbies) completely terrifying. But she LOVEs the tapdancing teddy bear.

Her fave tv shows (and ones that I rather like too) are Pingu (v. funny) and Come Outside - Auntie Mabel and dog Pippin flying around in an aeroplane looking at things.

I think as long as you keep telly to a maximum of around 40 mins a day (at 16 months) and do lots of other things with your children there is no harm in it at all. Nothing beats the Teletubbies when your child is dressed and ready to go out and you just need 10 minutes to get yourself ready...

Ems - Playdays is one of our favourites. It was off air Jan-March, but is now back on - 7 am every morning. My boys (c.2 and 4) both enjoy watching it before they have breakfast.

My son found lots of children's programmes scary. He used to regularly cry when watching Thomas the Tank Engine video (when there was a crash)! Most of his friends (aged 4) now watch Disney videos, but he is way off being up to that - they terrify him.

I have to say the Teletubbies has restored my sanity on many occasions. Most occasions involving whinging, whining and general limb flinging - the divine words of "do you want La La on?" are spoken just as the straw that broke the Mummy's back was about to hit the floor. Well, the stillness and silence that is created from that single sentence and the subsequent calm, tiny voice saying "Ess, pees"... Well lets just say it was probably the best tenner I ever spent! I'm not saying bribery is a good thing but surely if it changes Hyde back to Jekyll as if nothing had ever happened AND puts all the straw firmly back on the Mummy then it's not that bad, anyone agree?
On a different note, I too have doubts that the programme should be slated for the speech aspect, for a start my 16 month old's favourite trick is now saying "Onn, Two, Fee, Vor". Something I have never taught her, and although this is just repetition from the start of the 'Tubbies ( said in a clear adult voice ) she is now implementing it in her playtime too, e.g. whilst stacking and sorting, I think it's fantastic and something she may not have done quite so early if she had not seen it... She also has never copied the infamous "eh - oh" sound and can say "hello" with the 'H' sound firmly in place!
So yeah, I agree with the majority - Small doses = life saving properties!

You lost me with twizzle and torchy, but does anyone else remember Hectors House?! My husband christened our sons singing frog Kiki after the same on HH. Sadly I too can whistle and flubber with the best of them and Im still a sucker for Camberwick Green
My 13 month old son, by the way isn't remotely interested in kids programmes (despite many attempts) but he does quite like the orange BBC balloon!