be honest - how much TV does your toddler watch?

[milkyman]

My ds is 18mth and sometimes its 1.5hrs overall on bad days! Usually postman pat dvd and cbeebies. Feel sooo guilty!

Loads, doesn't seem to do any harm though and he also plays outside, goes to nursery, does activities etc so I don't feel in the least bit guilty.

Its very refreshing to see people being so honest about the amount of TV their children watch, and if anything it sounds like it may actually help with development overall.

Mine watch around 2-3 hours a day - lots of Mr Tumble mainly and some signing DVDs. They have learnt a tonne of makaton signs and i'm sure their language has improved because of it too. And like others have said, they do lots of other activities as well.

I used to feel really guilty about it when they were even younger. I wish I hadn't.

Hmm actually I think it's more like 1.5-2 hours a day. I wouldn't feel guilty if it was more though. Anyway OP, please don't feel bad about it, as long as he does a variety of other things then 1.5 hours is nothing!

30 minutes a day. We don't have a TV so he (3.9yo) gets 30 minutes of computer time, which only goes to Cbeebies, so he might watch a cartoon or might play games. Once it is over, that's the end.

DS watches Postman Pat and a couple of other programmes in the morning whilst having breakfast and I'm loading the washing machine and having a shower etc. Not much/ any in the day time normally, maybe an occasional dvd if it's too nasty to go out. Then ITNG and bedtime story before bed.

When he's at his dad's though.... whole other story....

My 14mo DS hasn't shown much interest in CBeebies or equivalent which is good although I do occasionally put the TV on when we're playing in the living room on Saturday mornings before we've got dressed but he doesn't pay a lot of attention to it. Like other posters, I work full time so during the week he's at nursery and then in the evenings he might get 15 minutes of whatever we're watching before he goes to bed.

My main concern isn't so much the TV as iPads/smartphones etc as he shows way too much interest in ours!

God I must be a terrible mother! TV is often in the background while kids are playing. I've got a three and a one year old i'm at home with. 1 yo is breast fed. oldest often watches stuff quietly while I'm sorting her out. but they don't just sit there only watching for hours on end. we go groups/park post with duplo/cooking/painting/ play in the garden.

The kids watch 1h every day except Saturday when they watch a film in the afternoon after swimming. And if they are poorly the 'treat' is to spend the afternoon on the sofa watching TV (we have a rule, no TV in the morning), I have very healthy kids thankfully! I'm in awe of how much Stardust fits into her day, my kids are abandoned to play by themselves much more.

I think some kids are more negatively affected by TV watching than others, partly that might be, e.g. parents who let 4 year olds watch 12 rated films, and partly it is personality. My DD2 (4) got scared by the idea of seeing a pirate in a play (Peter Pan) and regularly watched U rated films from behind the sofa/the hallway. If I was the kind of parent who let her watch anything, however inappropriate, I think she would be badly affected. DD1 (6) on the other hand has watched Dr Who and been completely happy with the idea that it's grown ups pretending to the extent that she finds it all quite boring .

DS is almost 3 and watches anything from 0-60mins of TV in a day. probably 30mins average but sometimes none. Mostly peppa pig/thomas/shaun/bob/octonauts on cbeebies or dvd. He won't just sit and watch anything, it has to be a specific programme. His max per session is about half an hour and then he gets bored.

I watched about 2hrs of kids tv after school everyday and later about 2hrs in the evenings. I played two instruments and practised most days, swam, got good exam results and went to medical school. Now i watch 1-2hrs of tv most evenings to help me relax after a day of being a doctor. I like reading and get through lots of books.

I don't think it has done me any harm and i feel strongly that if i banned tv it would make it much much more attractive.
We find that when DS gets very overexited it helps to calm him down before bed.

See, now I feel a bit abnormal in that my 22 month old ds doesn't watch any TV, and hasn't ever done so. The TV isn't on when he is around, only after he's gone to bed. I don't think that he's missing out on anything, or that watching TV would add to his life particularly. Hadn't realised how out of step we are in comparison to everyone else.

Actual sitting down watching tv and doing nothing else around 1 hour in the morning and 30 mins in the afternoon which has replaced his nap it's his down time to have a rest. The rest of the day the TV is usually on but he rarely watches it it's mostly back ground noise for me emmerdale or something. He really likes the programs that require some interaction like Mickey Mouse guessing the mouskatool?? or tree fo tom where he does the actions. I don't think TV does much harm tbh from what I've seen in RL the harm is from people ignoring the kid and using tv as a babysitter more than anything.

4 year old DD, not so much these days as we're always so busy. Couple of hours a week or thereabout

DS watches no TV with me as we don't have one but I don't know how much he watches when he's with childminder. I know she has it on to calm them down if they're tired but I think DS often ends up wandering off to play with other things.

Too much probably but I do try to avoid it going on too much in the morning. DS2 finally dropped his nap 4-5 months ago - he is 3.6 but I do find he (and me) are usually exhausted after lunch (we try to go and do something vaguely constructive in the morning such as the library,duck feeding, playgroup etc) so it often goes on for an hour or two. We have to pick DS1 from school at 3pm so that means it goes off. Now the weather is better I have found it easier to avoid the TV - except after lunch.

DS2 is obsessed by Octonauts and knows more about marine life than I have ever done (says a mum making excuses for two much TV! perhaps I have a marine biologist in the making)

DD age 4.2 has always had a lot of TV. it used to be on cbeebies constantly since she was a baby, even if she wasn't watching it was on in the background.
Now she is at nursery but probably still has the TV on about 3 hours a day.
obviously I do other activities with her and she plays with toys quietly without TV and has a good social life too.
I don't think it's dumbed her down at all, in fact she's learned a lot from the shows she watches.

I used to limit DD to about 30 mins a day, but it slipped to about 2 hours when I was heavily pregnant with DS and to 3 hours-ish while we fought some tough feeding problems. Now it depends on the day. Sometimes we don't have it on at all, sometimes we're back up to 3 hours. She's 2.6 and DS is 6 months. I don't worry about it because we do activities out and about every day, loads of reading, singing, "helping" round the house, jumping on beds etc as well. I guess it depends on how you feel about it, but I'm a stay at homer without any family nearby and sometimes I just need to occupy them for a bit to get stuff done or for a bit of sanity.

2 yr old DD watches 30 minutes in the evening before her bath during the week. Very rarely any more.

At the weekend it's a lot more. We have lazy family breakfast on the sofa in the morning with tv on for hour or more. Plus she will still have her pre bath Peppa.

DD is 20 months. None.

mine are not too bothered in the day as they play mostly but they watch tv in bed til they go to sleep,they are 4,5 and 6,and watch the regular show or sometimes a film like tangled or wreck it ralph.The

18 month and 5 month old not interested in it yet,18 month will watch it if i put him in his highchair and stick him in front of the tv but ive only done that a couple of times,otherwise hes usually in the garden or were out somewhere.

Ds watched 'loads' because of 2 older siblings

Dc1 didn't watch much

Dc2 got into it at a much younger age than dc1

Dc3 from birth

2.7 years. Roughly 2 hours a day - at breakfast and dinner.

He does loads of outdoor activity plus creative stuff and reading and cooking etc. He also only sleeps 9 hours a night an 1.5 hours nap so we need lots to keep him occupied! (Btw hes always been a bad sleeper - nothing to do with tv)

DSis 2.5. He watches about 1h in 20minutes bursts at different times of the day:
Over breakfast Spongebob and Dora
While cooking dinner Shaun the Sheep and Bob the Builder/Fireman whatsit.

He does 4hrs nursery a day, runs around the garden/neighbourhood/local town/Grandad's house, helps out in the garden, helps cook (today pancakes), plays BOING on the sofa, runs up and down the stairs like a loon - he's got lots of energy and tv means we can actually get something done without him trying to break stuff!