how do I stop 2yo dd whining for cbeebies all the time?

[painfullyhonest]

She wants it on all the time. She does play a bit while it's on but also does the glazed eyes look and no response when I talk to her....

Very annoying when there are lots of toys around. I have an entire kitchen to clean and she is currently plugged in again because I don't have time to sit on the floor for another 20 minutes building towers of blocks. Well I do have time but then the kitchen will continue to look disgusting (made a curry last night).

I've offered her kitchen bits, I've read her a story, I've done blocks. I just want to get on without having to keep the tv on.

I have such mixed feelings about telly. Surely she is going to grow up using computers/screens more than my generation does, she only watches educational stuff - but I know it's not good that she'd rather be entertained than entertain herself. She is very bright, very articulate and very lively. I don't want any of that to change!

i have to take my dd out or in the kitchen and bake or something. So i always think if i do something ie take her swimming or to the aquarium or bake once a day for a few hours she'll be fine. I think you have to physically do things with them and turn the tv off for longer so they get used to it

Turn it off.

Agree. Turn it off, and tell her she can watch x amount per day. When that time is up, it's up. Don't think this will stop her whingeing in the short term, but she'll get used to it.
Give her a bowl and some soap and water, and she can "help" you do the washing up.

It is so hard isn't it, once you fall into it it gets hard to stop turning it on. The only way is to keep busy, busy, busy and just refuse and put up with the tantrums for a few days until they get over it. Been there, done that with ds when he was 2 and dd was born so I kept using cbeebies while feeding. Now back there again, dd is 2 and they keep scrapping and fighting over toys and it is easier to turnt he tv on. Yesterday I added up how much they had watched :(. New start next week.

I find it easier to work housework into short bursts. Clean sink and loo while they are in the bath so you just have bath to wipe round afterwards. for example. To clean the kitchen though could you sit her at the worktop with some playdough? Or with a bowl and some plastic plates etc with a tiny bit of water to wash up while you do your washing up?

Turn it off. TV robs my ds of all ability to amuse himself even at the age of 9, so I monitor how much he watches very closely.

You don't have to turn the telly on - she will get the message eventually.

we tended to put it on in the afternoons - something about putting it on first thing just seems to start our day off badly. I seem to remember using a kitchen timer as well when ds was small so he knew that when the buzzer went off so did the telly.

There is NOTHING wrong with kids being bored imo - we are far too used to thinking they need to be entertained all the time. I am sure after a couple of days she will start finding things to do, or wanting to help you ( I used to find little jobs for ds)

It isn't really practical to expect a 2 year old to entertain herself.

You have to take her out and about, play with her, read to her etc, then do the cleaning etc when she is asleep.

Ration the Cbeebies to a small amount of time per day.

Lesson learnt : clean up after dinner each night when she's in bed!

Haven't you got anyone else in the house who could help out?

All children will choose to watch pretty colours and Justin Fletcher rather than engage with real wooden blocks that require thought and effort. We are a species that learns from watching as well as doing - chimps do this too.

Switch the television off if you don't want her to watch it. Unplug it if you have to. She weill stand and scream at it for a few minutes, then she will find something else to do. This 'something else' will probably be following you round in the kitchen asking for snacks.

I think at 2 they are quite able to entertain themselves in short bursts. I do think it's about managing your time though like 3littlefrogs said. I used to start off playing with ds then nip off and do something in the kitchen, nip back and check he hadn't wrecked anything play with him a bit more.

I do remember we used to go out every single morning regardless of the weather, so he would nap in the afternoons and then I could catch up on housework.

It is hard, but looking after a small child is a full time job. If you were paying a CM or nanny, you would expect them to be focussing on the child for most of the time.

Like valiumredhead, I used to take mine out every morning and walk them to the park and the shops, round the playground, feed the ducks, etc, so that when we got back they were worn out and would sleep for an hour or so.

Then I would dash round doing the most urgent jobs, then repeat the process in the afternoon.

Once they were old enough for playgroup/toddler group, we didn't have to walk so many miles.

We didn't have Cbeebies when mine were small.

I am appallingly bad at managing my time. DH has been working like a dog this week, and is working again today (unusual) so I'm on my own and a bit fed up. Last night I just wanted to snuggle up with him for a bit, not stand at the sink for another 20 min!

I am trying to focus on her as often as I can, and sit down and play with her, but there are lots of times throughout the day when I just need to get on with jobs.

I guess I do need to just cut back on tv and maybe restrict it to afternoon. She has just started pre-school this term so I guess I've been letting her watch a bit more when she's tired.

She also seems to have quite a short attention span! I set her up with an activity and then start doing my jobs and in 2 minutes she wants to do something else!

Re: the water and soap, last time I did that I had to mop the entire kitchen. Fine in the summer but...

Cbeebies isn't 'educational' (though they'd love you to believe it is...)
It's been shown again and again that children learn by interaction with other humans much more effectively than from tv. This is particularly marked in terms of speech development.

I would guess the reason she has a shot attention span is in part due to the tv watching - the way programmes are made they don't need to pay attention for more than a few minutes at a time.

Turn it off. Better still, get rid completely.

i have rules about when it goes on and for how long.
these rules are for me as much as DD1, so i don't fall into the all day telly habit. it makes it easier for dd1 to understand as well, and so she doesn't mither as often, as she knows when she's allowed.

I gave up on Cbeebies for the same reason in the OP. Whenever it went off, cue massive tantrum which seemed to last most of the time the TV was off. Which was a lot. It was awful. In the end I stopped letting him watch any telly whatsoever because he was just turning into this VILE child who I didn't like much. Ditto the slack jawed, vacant gaze. He now watches a few hours a week of kids videos at his dads when he is there, and that's it. Peace reigns in our house. Mostly
(DS is almost two and a half.)

I skyplus prorammes DD1 likes, so there is less of a chance for the TV to end up on all day. So after lunch she'll usually watch one programme and it gives me a 10 minute window for rushing round and tidying up. She knows that when it's finished it's naptime which gives me time to watch my own skyplussed programmes start on dinner and play with DD1 if she's awake.

Don't beat yourself up about TV it's inevitable they end up watching more in the winter. In the summer we were outside all the time and she hardly watched any. I find the afternoons after naptime the hardest but again I'll usually limit it to one programme and say 'right, we'll watch one octonauts and then we'll do some drawing/build a tower/ do your jigsaws' etc.

She also loves to 'help' with housework like folding washing, dusting etc so that's how I get most things done - child labour!

sorry, I meant play with DD2 if she's awake, obviously!

Restrict it to certain times of the day , for us it was after tea. Tell her she can watch x and y and then the tv will go off. Stick to it. It's not hard, really!

With dd I only let her watch when she need to wind down.

I settle her on the sofa with her blanket and tell her she can a prog (I record ones I don't mind her watching; something special, come outisde, I can cook and mister maker) when that one has finished the tv stops as the recorded prog. is finished so she knows its over

If I was to actually put the cbeebies on she would never do anything other than watch TV.

My DD (2.8) and it has taken a lot of repetition to get her to understand that TV only goes on at certain times - just before bathtime and mornings when Mummy and Daddy are getting ready and clearing up.

She does like to help with tidying and sometimes I give her a duster or the dustpan and brush and she also helps putting washing in the machine. She has also learnt that if I am in the kitchen tidying then she needs to find a toy and she can wander in and out.

I think a certain amount of carefully chosen TV is fine - it certainly hasn't affected her speech or her interest in other toys and books. It probably reinforces these interests in some ways.

yeah I pretty much just had to ban tv at all apart from a tiny bit in the morning and after tea otherwise ds would just sit in front of it all day with a glazed brainwashed look on his face.

Put up with the whining as once they realise it only goes on at certain times they stop asking for it. I just repeat..its finished now, all gone

now for the messy bit....I used to get a washing up bowl and foam or suds in and let him play around my feet on kitchen floor

or...playdough just let the area get messy don't interfere and tidy up give them all sort of tools like spoons and stuff to stick in it or cars to make tracks

bits and bobs to glue

a bath while you're cleaning the bath room, repeat suds in bowl but in the bath

ermmmmm outside, painting the wall with a wet paintbrush

now he has the tools to get on and play himself - a year on hes very good at amusing himself but obviously with encouragement in the same room.

Hope that helped ! I really found it difficult to get stuff done so try to get them to help hoover etc

yep while my home is not exactly spick and span, most housework is done with my 2yo's "help"

Let's face it, kids whine about everything at some point or another, and you can't just give in!

We have routine TV times. After tea until bathtime, and after lunch for max one hour on the weekend (DD watches whilst DS naps and I chill!). And that's still more than I'd like really.

Agree with getting inventive with cleaning. Clean bathroom when DCs are in bath. Clean kitchen whilst DCs do colouring at kitchen table (in highchair if small enough). Get DCs involved with 'easy' chores like dusting, with their own dusters or even better, feather dusters! When I do hoovering, I give DD and DS some of the hoover accessories to use!

I stressed about this for ages, until at 2yo I realised DS loved "helping" with the housework. Now both DS and DD help me out. It does mean it takes 3 times as long, but I don't worry about that at all, as, to be honest, it's less time to stress thinking how to entertain them! - they've got toy hoover, mop, cleaning spray (toy, empty obv!), sponges etc. DS loves washing the bath with me, and they love following me round, especially if I give them "very important jobs that will help me" - i.e. mop that corner out of the way over there, that's a really good job.

I used to stress about getting it done nipping back and forth to whatever they're doing, then one day, just started explaining what I was doing and why and that was it.

But equally, nothing wrong with a bit of cbeebies, amybe just make sure it goes on for her to watch, rather than as background as well. Maybe put a nursery rhyme CD on in the background, or audio CD of a favourite book to wean her off?

I find DD might have a wee strop and then I would direct her to something to play with - doll house, painting or colouring, puzzles etc and she'd forget about the TV & move on.

We try & stick to Cbeebies too but DD watched recorded and DVD Dora's from an early age & she actually has Dora addiction issues I swear!!! If she is watching Dora and can't have another or I turn it off, she gets into total fury. BIL just brought her 3 more DVD's for Xmas - just as I'd weened her off it. I avoid it at all costs now and her behaviour is better.

From about 2 they get better at playing by themselves. DD is now 3 and she spent about 3 hours painting quietly by herself a few weekends ago - gee that was fantastic.

just to add getting out of the house daily is essential for EVERYONE's sanity I agree, and don't give in. If you say it's off then it's OFF.