Feeling guilty about DD watching TV

[Jessicatmagnificat]

DD is 11mo. She watches about 15 mins of TV - CBeebies only - 3 times a day to allow me to get some housework done and eat my meals in peace. We do not have the TV on for the rest of the day. But I still feel guilty and worried that this might slow down her speech development and lead to impaired concentration when she is older. She is my PFB and I don't want to do anything wrong! But, how on earth would I get things done without TV? (Have tried involving her in my housework activities, providing treasure baskets etc, but none of these work as well as TV for buying me some time).

Alternately, have any parents allowed their DC to watch TV and not had any of these problems? I know the general guidance states no TV at all until children are 2; this seems strict and maybe a bit unrealistic to me. But I am interested to know what other parents do.

Cbeebies is great. Please don't feel guilty!

DS watches a lot of TV but he also goes out a lot and we do a lot of reading, cutting out, singing, cooking etc. He watches C Beebies, which I have found very educational for him. He has ideas and thoughts on things that he would never have seen here in a large city. He was telling me all about tractors and crops and farming the other day and it was not something I had said to him because it would just not really come up.

Don t feel guilty. Some of the programmes, like Smarteenies and Mr Maker and Big Cook Little Cook are great for giving you ideas yourself to do with your kids. I find that anyway.

My dd watches disney videos more than anything. We watched a load of them through 2nd pregnancy as I was too knackered and couldn't lift her or anything fun and active. Now what happens is that we role play and I'm always the Beast and never Belle! She has a fab imagination and we have great play, so I feel quite chilled about grabbing time out in between baby feeds and school runs and having to walk everywhere, to just slob on the sofa and lose myself with her.