Limiting TV for younger DC

[drspouse]

OK I know this is going to come across as desperately PSB but we didn't really expose DS to children's TV, or adult TV apart from things like the dressage (timing of his birth in 2012!) which was slightly luck more than judgement because he never sat still in front of the TV for more than about 2 minutes until he was about 22months, ill, and I discovered he liked Mr Tumble.

But of course now he likes TV and we let him watch an hour or so at a time, usually in the afternoon.

DD is 5 months and has started staring at the screen when I watch TV when I feed her. If we're watching with DS she usually falls asleep or smiles at me on my lap, but unless she's as fidgety as DS she'll start staring at his programmes, and we do take seriously the research on ADHD and early TV watching, as there is some evidence of it in their birth family.

So far I've come up with:
DS watches during DD nap (except they both nap at the same time now, and I tend to use it while feeding DD to keep him out of my hair).
Take DD into kitchen to feed/play with radio on instead (fine while she's not very mobile).
Put on radio instead of TV while feeding/while I need peace and quiet (but it's not as good at keeping DS out of trouble)

Ideas anyone?

I used to limit TV time but I still let my kids watch quite a it as none of my four used to nap. What I tried to avoid was mindless watching of the TV rather than actively choosing to watch a particular show.

Before they were school age I used to have quiet time in the afternoon when they could watch a movie and play quietly. This gave me a scheduled break (4 kids under 6) and it gave the kids time to unwind and relax.

I was far from perfect in enforcing this but it was roughly what happened.

It's brilliant if you can get them listening to the radio - I never quite managed it with my kids but I had plenty of friend who's kids loved listening to books on podcasts.

Thanks, DS doesn't listen to stories yet but we have a good bop to Simon Mayo most Friday afternoons. It's more effective than TV in that hour when we're all knackered. And he likes a couple of CDs of nursery rhymes/children's songs we have.

Could you let your older child watch the tv on a laptop or iPad? That way your baby will still be able to hear it but won't be spending time staring at the tv.

Oh that's a good idea! He's at the stage where he can play a Ceebeebies episode again on the ipad without help, but not do much else, and it would also mean we didn't have to fast forward through the announcements etc. which he finds a bit boring.

Then I can play with DD or she can nap while I mumsnet