Toddler addicted to TV.

[Cherrychristmas]

So far I’ve been strong on resisting getting DD (2y) and iPad/tablet. She has a little bit of TV, no more than an hour, each day and she watches things like The Gruffalo and Zog. When it’s on she’s totally mesmerised by it and completely zones out, won’t respond to her name or anything else in the room. When the TV goes off she has major tantrums.

When she goes to GPs or anywhere house the first thing she asks for is the TV. They do allow her to watch it more than I’d like but I appreciate she can be tiring so they use it for a break.

My question is should I stop TV all together? I hate how she turns into a zombie when it’s on but also feel I’m maybe being ott by cutting it out completely.

2yo? Yes. We didn't watch television at all. No need.

I have the tv on pretty much 24/7 in my house. None of my children are addicted to it. In fact they just watch it for a while then get bored and wander off.
None of them have their own tvs or ipads though.. apart from my eldest who is 10. He has his iPad at the weekend for 1 hour per day. My younger two aren't allowed it.
So it's just the tv in the living room that is on and it's shared so if an adult wants to watch something it gets put on that and then the kids get to pick something to put on after.
They occasionally fight about what to watch but if I switch it off they just go and play.. and most of the time they get bored of what they put on and go and play anyway.

Personally I just think to carry on as you are. Of course your child will get upset at age 2 about any activity stopping which she was enjoying. But you just persevere and keep your boundaries in place. Eventually she will just accept that that's the rule and stop tantrumung when her program is over.

I don't agree with banning tv. Like I said I have very few rules regarding it and as a result my kids aren't particularly bothered by it. It's boring to them.
We do do a lot of other activities and spend a great deal of time outside too.
It's just if we are in then I say its fine to have the tv on.. I even have it on when eating sometimes.
But they are all good kids who do their household chores and spend a lot of time making things and playing and reading too. The TV has never been a big deal to them, just something in the background of life.

An hour a day isn't excessive and actually within NHS guidelines for screen time for two year olds. In the past has she ever thrown a tantrum and then you've allowed more screen time? This happened with my DS (by me my fault entirely) and I had to hold strong boundaries with the TV that once I said it was going off I stuck firm. It soon stopped the tantrums.

There be loads of people that claim they never allowed any screen time until their kids were 35 or something but if you're off with them all day and they don't go to nursery like mine then you need a break sometimes!

Also is it an hour in one sitting? It's better to do say two 30 mins of TV.

I think there are two schools of thought in dealing with this - either ban it completely or just don't have limits. We have always gone down the latter route so DS doesn't see having the TV on as a treat. He'll go days without it on, other days he'll watch lots of videos of people making marble runs. I'm pretty relaxed but he never begs for the TV or watch it at other people's houses.

We have had a 2 episode limit as a boundary since my LO first discovered the TV about 2.5yrs when baby sibling arrived.

Set boundaries and hold the boundary, if you want. You'll have to put up with the tantrums until whatever boundary you set becomes the normal and consistent. "You're sad because you want to watch TV still. Now it's time to do ABC. Would you like a cuddle first or ABC first?"

I believe the key is in being consistent with whatever approach you choose to take: always on, sometimes on or never on. To me - it's everything in moderation.

We have limits but TV isn't seen as a treat in our house. We can go days without it, and the kids never ask to watch it at other people's houses or when we're out generally either.

Yes, she’s addicted.
Try again when she is a bit older.

The key is to provide other options so that TV is not a default. My sister realised her kids were watching too much, they then went on a camping and camping trip with limited electrical plug in so no TV in caravan, the kids played cards, did drawing s, and mainly played outside. When they got home she kept up the other activities as a first offer and TV became something for only limited occasions. It takes effort in the first place but my sister feels the effort was well worth it in the long run.

If they tantrum, don't give in, otherwise that just says tantrum for everything you want. Try screen free Sunday every week where they AND you get off all devices and use your imagination to play with each other and do other things.

I think if you have a set time for it each day and a set amount, that's helpful. My 2 year old has 20 minutes (one episode) of peppa after nap and that's it. He doesn't ask for it any other time.
For people who have tv on in the background all day, there's evidence to show that it's detrimental for children's speech and language development because they can't necessarily hear you clearly,

We have recently instigated a complete TV ban for our almost 2 year old. I was fed up with tantrums when we turned it off. In our experience behaviour has improved immeasurably. It's not just the TV related tantrums that have gone. The other tantrums have too. I'm surprised by how effective it has been and also by how accepting and accommodating my 5 year old has been.

Do you give a countdown and reminders? A 2.5 year old won't understand when a hour's past so I would remind when the TV is going on that it would be an hour, then give 15, 10, 5 then 1 min reminders that it's going off. I used to find my toddler tantrummed at every transition until I started this and it made a huge difference.

Also be consistent regardless of the tantrumming. If you give in it will make it much worse next time.

I'm quite envious yours will watch it, mine will not! He's never really been bothered with tv what so ever and I've never restricted it. It never really goes on. He won't even watch a film with us.
The only thing he does like is cosmic yoga on YouTube and that's because he doesn't need to keep still!
I wouldn't worry personally if it's an hour a day. And how often is she seeing grandparents ?

I have very few rules regarding it and as a result my kids aren't particularly bothered by it.

I think you've almost certainly got that backwards - your kids are not particularly bothered by it and as a result you have very few rules regarding it.
Parental influence is less than you think! I think you're lucky to have "easy children" in that respect.
If your children had issues with TV from an early she then you'd soon start thinking about rules.

Yes. Turn it off. It will be hard. She will loudly tell you she wants to watch. You will need to do more activities to distract/redirect her

but
having had one child who didn’t see any tv until they were 5, and a lockdown toddler who watched for an hour or two per day from 2 so that I could home school etc/save my sanity, I can really tell the difference in attention span, interest in books, interest in self directed play.

shes 6 now and still wants to watch more than I’d like, where eldest brother is more take it or leave it.

We started TV at 2 years old for both of mine. Carefully selected shows, no adverts and an hour max a day till they were or will be aged six. Can't police how much they get with others but if they'd had TV at childcare they got none at home that day. It's very normal they tune into it totally and very passively, it's why it must be minimised as they do nothing else whilst watching; exercise, conversation etc. My second has had tantrums about switching it off after an hour, wanting it as soon as we get home etc but we've been firm about the hour limit and she's getting better about respecting that.

Go cold turkey. No child really needs TV or tablet. Sorry if that's harsh, I am speaking from experience of my DC who got hopelessly addicted. Went cold turkey and now TV is an occasional treat.