Be honest - how much tv do they watch?

[bonkersplonkers]

As the title says - how much tv/ipad/phones do your kids watch and what ages are they? My two are 2 and 6 and they watch about 2- 2.5 hours per day 😑
Is this really awful?

Mine are Age 8 and 10. Our screen times varies massively, from 30 mins per day to 3-4 hrs (if they have a film and play games).

I do notice that some “screen time” seems more detrimental to my kids than other types of screen type. I think this is to do with how stimulating it is. Eg you tube has a negative impact on my kids behaviour, they struggle to come off watching it and throw tantrums after. Where as writing a story on the laptop doesn’t have that effect.

We are working on reducing screen time at the moment. My 10 yr old doesn’t get impacted by screen time and chooses himself to come off and do a wide range of other things. Our 8 yr old however seems addicted at times and if not directed to do something else will watch all day. I’ve bought a visual sand tome and we are now doing 30 min of a TV programme and 30mins of a game most days, with the occasional family film.

My 18 mo watches about an hour while I'm getting dinner ready. But I show her something in the second language we're trying to get her to learn, so I kid myself it's linguistically beneficial. In actual fact, she becomes completely passive, occasionally pointing at stuff but saying the words in English.

My DD wants to watch screens first thing. However I have found avoiding screen in the morning helps massively. Even with myself if I stay of my phone for the first few hours of the morning, im less drawn to it through the rest of the day. I read it was something to do with dopamine and seeking a dopamine hit.

I think I'll get a chromecast for the living room tv and put it on (or not if I can help it) while some toys are laid out. I'd love an open plan kitchen diner where i could keep an eye on them when i cook, unfortunately the kitchen is quite closed off so they are normally at the table like zombies while I do jobs, most evenings we don't enter the living room.

We do plenty at the weekend which makes things a bit better, swimming with both, drives, walks if it's not too cold, meet friends and have playdates. I am lucky to work term time, so we have lots of days out in the holidays.

The tv is usually on most of the day whilst we potter about. Peppa, CBeebies, diy programmes, sometimes my older 2 put a film on, animal programmes. We play, and cook, do jobs and chat around it, always have done! He doesn’t obsess over it and if I find him wanting to play but getting drawn in then I’ll turn it off but it’s usually on 4-5 hours out of habit

great tip thank you.

It's quite stimulating what they watch! Peppa peppa and more peppa for the littlest. My little pony type stuff for the eldest with the occasional educational deadly 60 type thing

I think you need to give your children a chance to learn to entertain themselves without screens. Great advice on here, I would like to add: audiobooks. Alternatively, you could try involving them in whatever you are doing around the house.

Do you have a toy library near you? They can be great for having a steady stream of new things available without having to spend a fortune.

Oh I agree with audio books, also my kids have an Alexa in their room and both listen to podcasts or music while they play

My 4.5 year old watches about 30 minutes while we're making tea on a school night. We have a 'no TV in the morning or after tea' rule and always have done.

At weekends she watches a short programme before lunch and maybe one after depending on what else we're doing. She can also watch a film before tea on a weekend if we're at home (mostly in winter), so about 2 - 2.5 hours of TV per day.

I watched loads of telly as a child and I'm not against it, but we find that our child plays much more creatively when she isn't expecting the TV to go on. She's not a child who will potter about with it on in the background. If she was, I'd be more relaxed.

My son is 2 and watches anything from no tv to about 20 minutes max. This is only because he is really not into tv what so ever. I wish he'd watch it a little longer to allow me to get some jobs done or have a cuppa in peace haha.

I was meant to add he loves his Tonie box a lot more than any screens and they are brilliant.

I try to balance out screen time with play time.. So for every 1 hour screen we do 2 hours of other things. Don't beat yourself up about it.

On nursery days we sometimes have about 15 minutes in the morning. In the evening about 30-45 mins. On my non-working day, we tend to do something in the morning and we’ll have a quiet afternoon with TV on and DC will play with toys or read books while it’s on. At weekend we try to do more of the same, so something in the morning and TV in the afternoon. On non-nursery days the TV probably is on for about 3-4 hours but won’t be watched for all of that. They do a lot in the week and TV is a bit of downtime.

Screen time outside of TV is very limited to one YouTube video, which they fortunately get bored off after about 10 minutes.

Eh, it’s quite a lot to me.

They got half an hour/one programme at that age, before bed.

At weekends for the 6 year old maybe 1.5 hours - hour in the morning, half an hour before bed. Not at 2 though.

But I am not saying this is good or bad, it’s just what we did

probably going to be slammed but when we are at home, say 3 days a week, my tv is on in background all the time. my little one will watch for a couple of minutes but then potter off doing other stuff. hes 15 months old but been walking since 10 months so he loves running around. he doesnt really sit and watch anything, its just background noise and the odd interesting pictures. its little einsteins usually

None of mine watched TV/screen before they were 3.
8yr old gets about 7hrs /week
13yr old gets about 10hrs/week
others are too old for this discussion

I didn't find it hard because they never expected screens & became good at entertaining themselves (& obviously once they can get lost in a book they did/do that). I did read stacks of picture books for years & used to recite the ones I knew by heart while they turned the pages so I could make dinner 😂

I don't think screens/tv are bad for anyone but I do think nearly everything else we can spend our time doing is more beneficial- plus different things work for different families so I'm not sure comparing yourself with others is that helpful. (Background noise from a TV all day would make me go bonkers!)

There's a reason i'm always on mumsnet😂😂

🤣
see I'm just so awful with background noise & have been known to hide at the bottom of the garden to get away from it the electric keyboard was a mistake

Mine are 1 and 4. The 4yo has three "watching days" a week when he watches about 40 minutes of Paw Patrol / Treehouse Detectives / Go Dog Go / similar on Netflix. In addition we usually have 'family movie night' on Fridays where we watch 4 or 5 episodes of Bluey or a Julia Donaldson film or something together. So probably 2-3 hours a week. The 1yo sort of wanders in and out while he's watching but she's not super interested.
BUT a huge caveat is that I only work 2 days a week. So, although the kids do take up a lot of my time, I'm pretty sure I have more time to do housework than someone who works full time. If I was working 5 days a week I would rely on the TV more in order to get things done at home.
@Bladwdoda Super interesting about screens in the morning. DS wakes up every day asking "Is it a watching day?" and if it is he wants to watch straight away. I might try moving it to later in the day (and for my own phone use, too!)

Oh believe me, when he is old enough to be on his own in a room for any length of time, i will be hiding in my kitchen😂

Oh at least 2-3hrs a day usually, mixture of watching disney/netflix on their kindle as well as the tv, so usually a film most days after school.

We're not too worried about 'screen time', kids do plenty of other activities, playing with toys/puzzles/colouring etc

DS is 1 and he watches daily but more at weekends. Usually just a bit in the morning and a bit after nursery during the week, at weekends the TV is usually on most of the time but he isn't always watching.

He watches cocomelon, bluey, peppa pig & ms rachel generally.

Ours is on all day. It's habit from being an isolated sahm during COVID with newborn twins and a key worker DH who was never in the house. It was a comfort background noise for me.

As a result, they don't really sit and watch it at all. I'll put a midsomer murders on and they pay no attention, and just play with their toys. If I put kids programmes on, they might pause and watch a few minutes if something particularly interesting/noisy happens, or a song, but then they're off again playing whatever game they've chosen.

Films they are starting to enjoy, now they are 4. They like Jumanji, and a lot of Disney sing along stuff, like Beauty and the Beast, Encanto. Minions though. That's the exception. Anything minions and they sit virtually glued to the screen.