What do we think about no TV for under 3's?

[Lilliput]

have a look at this here

We got rid of our telly in the lounge over a month ago. Was the best thing we ever did. We have kept one upstairs and the girls are allowed up there to watch a dvd before they go to bed. I find it helps to settle them down in the evening (after a day of racing around coz there's no tv on) .

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but I think good children's TV for under-fives isn't as fast-cutting e.g. you can really see the difference between Cbeebies and even CBBC, let alone adult telly.

(Not that I'm feeling ever so slightly guilty about the amount of TV ds watches or anything...)

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To not watch TV other than to watch the Boat Race, Queen's Speech and football World Cup will have a greater effect on a child and adults in my opinion. What a choice of things to watch when there is a wealth of artistic, historic and informative TV programmes.

It's not the quality of the tv which worries me, I know there are many excellent programmes. It's the way my children become addicted so easily and want to watch more and more, and the way it's the first thing they ask for in the mornings and after school and when they come in. (not that we let them watch loads, but even so, they are inexorably drawn to it).

None of mine watched any really until they were about 2.5 but that's because they weren't interested even when an older sibling was watching. It's after that age that mine got so keen.

Wow hotchoc I wish it was that simple!

well dd never having the tv on paid off today.

i hurt my foot badly and needed to rest it as i couldn't walk at all. turned tv on and dd was so shocked she sat there and watched midsomer murders and daily cooks without a peep, pmsl not that i had the remote or anything!

ds1 (4.5) heard this on the radio in the car on the way home from pre-school today and apparently said to my mum in horror "no tv for under 3's, but what about teletubbies??? fours wouldn't want to watch that, its for babies"

aww bless. show him the tellietubbies section of the cbeebies site.... we made that mistake last week and you'll notice i've been on MN less since!

Oops sorry Pruni, so you did!

Well, I grew up in a house where, if the telly wasn't on when my dad got home from work he would ask 'is it broken?' in tones of horror...

I got v. good qualifications, have a satisfyingly high-powered job, count horse-riding, pottery, amdram, reading and dancing amongst my hobbies so I don't see that tv made me a couch potato or stopped my brain from somehow working properly.

I confess that dd watches Cbeebies for an hour in the morning and an hour in the night. She will sometimes ask for it on during the day but I can usually distract her with something else (unless I'm trying to get something done and then I succumb) and, even when it is on, unless it's Justin and Sarah Jane, it's very much background noise to her - she only really pays attention to singing and music (and Justin...)

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It isn't always the content of the programmes though, but the medium

I agree Bagpuss is a thing of beauty

has anyone linked Caitlin Moran's article from The Times today?

I agree with her, tv fine

it was banned in my house when I was young and I felt like a huge outsider at school

hey hang on hang on

am realising something here

there are more than several people whose kids allegedly don't watch tv BUT watch dvds

now come on, htf does that work?

so its ok to watch The West Wing say, to take a random work of genius, on dvd, but not if its actually on broadcast telly?

what if its a repeat, is that ok?

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I watched so much Scooby Doo when I was a kid in the 70s that I can still tell my kids whodunnit when they're watching the exact same episodes now, which is a valuable parent-child bonding experience . And Sesame Street taught me the alphabet and my numbers, Grange Hill taught me social skills (and obviously not to take drugs like Zammo), etc., etc.
Re under 3's - it shouldn't be a replacement for parenting/childcare, but a bit of CBeebies now and then isn't exactly going to ruin their future, is it?

so in answer to my question...

is it ok if it is a repeat?