Has anybody found out how much tv is ok for 3 and 4 year olds to watch?

[MilaMae]

I don't mean to start a for and against tv thread. I love great kid's tv, there is so much good stuff out there I don't want mine to miss out and to be frank with 3 under 5 I'd go insane without it anyway. Obviously that's just my humble opinion.

However I'm a little worried mine watch too much. They only watch Cbeebies 1/2 hour before pre-school (so I can actually get out with 3 clothed and fed kids)then 1 hour after they return and have had lunch then another 1/2 hour during the witching making tea hour. I've started to realise though, some days they watch over 2 hours .

Can't find anything anywhere that says what I should be aiming for, no idea how much their friends watch. Anybody know or how much do you let your kids watch?

Ds often watches over two hours. He hasn't grown an extra head, school/nursery/nanny have never reported any complaints or concerns, though.

mine watch too much..although it is on most of the day they will sit down at random times and then just play around it at other times. We do go out quite often but days like today where apart from dropping off/picking up ds..about 1hr20minsa in total tv has been on even when they were in the garden for an hour

I think it's worth bearing in mind that it varies and that you can't prescribe an exact time and say over that point it does "damage".

We have some slobby days where the TV hardly goes off (fortunately, they escape to school/nursery which keeps the hours down). However, get to the summer and we can go days without the TV even being switched on.

I also encourage the dses to have lots of other activities and interests. They are bright kids, TV often sparks their interest in something or a play idea or a conversation, they are (generally, lol) well behaved. I cannot see that their TV watching is in any way detrimental.

I have very fond memories growing up of spending Sunday afternoons with my dad watching crap westerns and James Bond movies. We had very little else in common (quite frankly) and it was the one time in the week we sat down and actually communicated.

Ds1 (aged 6) is really into Doctor Who at the moment, and at the weekends we sit and watch an episode or two while dh takes ds2 out somewhere. It's probably our only time together when ds2 isn't there too.

I honestly can't see that appropriate television watched responsibly without excluding other activities and interractions is bad.

My kid watches too much I suppose. But he never just sits and stares at it like a couch potato.

I remember watching that Child of Our Time when one family, I think it was the triplet one, had the tv on loads, but the kids actually only watched a small amount as they'd dip in and out of it.

I think the most recent guidelines were no more than 1 to 2 hours per day, and no TV at all for under 2s

i shall try to google for you, though

Yetanothername, what does your child do if he doesn't sit and stare at it?

I'm quite proud that when DCs are watching TV they are completely absorbed in it. They are obviously learning something from it. We monitor the content by using DVDs of TV shows/feature films only.

We get through many days without it but a feature film helps us through a wet Sunday in winter and the occasional episode of something helps me get tea when they are overtired.

My hat goes off to bigbadwulf

ok Aric Sigman says 30 mins to 1 hour and none for under 3s

AAP say 1 - 2 hours and none for under 2s

all things in moderation. As long as your children have a wide range of other activities in their life then chilling out in front of the tv for however long is fine in my opinion.

There is far too much "don't do this" and "don't do that" in todays parenting-but as long as your children's main source of occupation is not sitting in front of the television-you should relax if on some days they watch more than the currently advised quota

I can go along with the 1-2 hours advice. It does get difficult when you throw a younger sibling into the mix though. (i.e DD2 watches too much as is under 2)

I don't mind them watching C-Beebies if they are watching it. It goes off as soon as they are distracted by something else, I don't like TV as background entertainment.

I dont mind my kids watching C-Beebies or even Nick Jr but they dont watch anything else. I have found that TV has been pretty good for my DS. He has a great vocabulary and it is not all from me. I tend to use it though in that I will tape things like Big Cook Little Cook and Mr Maker and then we will do the stuff that they did on their so it really is pretty educational in that way. DS often asks to make various recipes or plant things he has seen on their. I live in a flat and dont have a garden so probably let them watch more than I otherwise would.

there not their

Thanks for that-what's AAP then F&Z???

Sounds like many of us have a similar approach so I'll quit fretting and try to stick to the 2 hours max thing.

Mine too are on the ball so it's obviously not harming them, they have good vocab skills and general knowledge. They adore books, only complaint I have is they don't play with toys for long(although they play long drawn out make believe sagas) but as they're only just 3 and 4 they are probably still young.

Today they had pre-school in the pm so they played cafes for ages in the morning, we read some books, played outside etc. At pre-school they made Red Riding Hood baskets, scones, models, played outside etc. Then they had nearly 2 hours chill out tv Cbeebies. As somebody said when you look at what else they do in a day it must be fine. A 12 hour day is a long day and 2 out of 12 can't be bad.

Thanks for being so honest-rl friends get very cagey when you ask so it's been interesting seeing what others do.

Othersideofthechannel - he jumps around on the sofa, plays with his toys or colours at the same time, if something particularly catches his eye he will pause and give it his full attention, but I know from experience he's often listening even if he's not looking. Full tv absorbtion actually makes me uncomfortable.

half an hour a day for 3-5's.

Aric Sigman says:

Children under three: No screen exposure
Ages three to seven: 30 minutes to one hour per day
Ages seven to 12: One hour per day
Ages 12 to 15: One and-a-half hours a day
Ages 16 and over: Two hours

30 mins for 3-5's as i originally guessed lol

We use sky plus to record their favourite programs which works really well because once it's finished that's it. They normally watch one program after breakfast and one after nursery so about 30 mins total. If I don't do that it just gets left on and although ds2 wouldn't watch it at all, ds1 would be glued for the whole day.

Love watching dvds or films we've recorded though the week on a wet sunday afternoon though with the duvets and popcorn!

Aric Sigman doesn't live in the real world... so what are you supposed to do with your 2 year old when his 5 year old brother wants to watch his hour a day? Lock him in the cupboard?!

Most of the studies I looked at in depth come to the conclusions of suitable "times" in a completely arbitrary way. Studies that show any harm have extreme TV watching times and some really draw some very dodgy conclusions (eg. the paper that said excess TV causes autism... hmm, did they forget the adage that correlation does not equal causation? Maybe those on the autistic spectrum are more likely to become obsessive about the television and naturally gravitate to more television viewing).

I do wonder if those who rigidly time their child's TV viewing (right, the buzzer's gone off STOP, doesn't matter if you're still half way through a programme...) also time the other activities their child does.

Right, you've been reading for 3 hours today... that's ENOUGH (yes, I was that child growing up, lol... sneaking extra reading hours under the covers at night). That may seem daft considering how heavily reading is pushed these days, but it wasn't that long ago that novel reading was considered subversive and dangerous to our youth.

I try not to make TV the be all and end all of experience. I gently encourage it to be switched off by suggesting an alternative activity if I feel TV use has been a bit excessive that week - just as I would gently encourage a trip out into the fresh air on weeks that ds1 has barely left the side of his lego bucket They have to ask permission to turn the TV on, it's not an automatic right (although I acknowledge, that's unlikely to work with older children).

But mostly I try and avoid setting up the television as the forbidden fruit and both dses (even ds2 at the age of 3) have demonstrated the ability to switch it off unprompted if the show they're watching is boring or otherwise not to their taste.

i think no tv at all for under 3s is a bit unrealistic too. for example what if I want to watch something in the daytime. i don't banish ds from the room cos he's not allowed to watch it!! i don't let him specifically sit there and watch tv intended for him though. if someone else in the room wants to watch something and he is in there and decides to watch it too so be it, i don't make people turn it off but i don't put on say cbeebies for him to specifically watch either iyswim. if i had an older sibling and they wanted to watch something i wouldn't get too hung up about a younger sibling being in the room and watching it too.

Sigman obviously hasn't seen paralysed toddlers whose only fun is watching TV.

my teens watch about an hour a week. Maybe I should force them to do the hour and a half a day Sigman says......

i know i don't watch 2 hours a day ... if only!

yeah. Managed Holby this week. Teens are ok (apart from wanting feeding and suchlike) but dd requires care until about 10pm then I hafta go to bed with her in case she has a fit.
Am dreaming of when she goes to school and I can eat bon bons and watch daytime TV

2 hours a day is fine as long as they get some other active stimulation inbetween I'd reckon.