Reduce TV time for 5 year old

[Louisa30]

Has anyone reduced tv time for their child (ours is 5 for reference) and noticed a notable change in their behaviour day to day?

Thanks!

Yes. Hard the first few days. Then when we stayed firm they started to get much mor accepting of it, happier to play by themselves, more imaginative.
Practice not getting involved all the time. They say, 'I am bored'. You say, 'Hmmm. That sounds tough. I am just making dinner so go and try to find something to do and we will play together after dinner'. Resist the urge to problem solve for them. Make sure the play time after dinner (or whenever) is you really actively involved.
I read somewhere that a child psychologist actively prescribed 'boredom, three times a day' as being very important for healthy child development. It worked in our house.
Good luck.

Yes. We only do maybe an hour a week- she also knows that the more she asks the less likely she is to have the TV on.... She reads and plays lots!!! She also has no access to a tablet but is allowed to use my phone to phone a grandparent on video call!!!

They will always be better if you get them out doing something, yes.

I’m not massively restrictive on tv (like watching the actual tv), but we don’t allow any small screens (phone, tablet, no YouTube) and the switch is mostly only for weekends and holidays.

But life is always easier when they’re out and doing things instead of being stuck at home. We go do the food shopping after school or I take my older one to sports practice and we’ll go to the playground after. Or go swimming or for a walk. Or we sit in the garden and play with the dog.

They still watch tv and I never stress about how much time. But that’s because we do a lot that isn’t watching tv. And yes, it does make a difference, but you have to replace it with something that isn’t just being stuck at home.

Yes, it does help IME.

The best way to do it if you've got into a bad habit is to prepare - do a bit of a tidy up/sort out of all the toys so they are in groups relating to play theme and the outgrown/broken/random bits that don't fit with anything else are removed out of the way so they can see what they have.

If you already have a selection of things like colouring/puzzle books, pull all these together as well. If you don't have things like these, look at supermarkets or somewhere like The Works and pick up some cheap ones. Go through your colouring pens/pencils and get rid of the ones which are no good (or save this as a joint activity to do). Get some cheap craft type kits or anything like that. Playdoh, Hema beads etc. Balloons are also useful, masking tape, and bubbles.

Stock up with foods which are quicker or easier to prepare so you're not trying to be half distracted away from DC.

Set times when TV is allowed and then do not allow it outside of these times. Take the remote and place it high up out of reach.

The reason though that you might want to prepare lots of activities is that for the first few days DC are going to whine and complain and not know what to do, so it helps to have some quick ideas to pull out to occupy them so that you don't get frustrated, because IME if you are frustrated and unavailable and they are very used to having TV, they will revert to whichever behaviour gets your attention most reliably, which is usually destructive, dangerous or annoying behaviour. You want to be rewarding the behaviour with attention that you want them to repeat. So getting involved with them with some playdoh, or colouring, or board games or lego or whatever is a good investment of your time for the first few days. If you try to back off too quickly and do your own thing, they will often go for those behaviours which are guaranteed to get attention, and then you have to break off from what you're doing so you end up reinforcing the wrong thing.

With DS1 I used to think I needed to get him to play independently at the start because if I always did stuff with him he would never play alone, but I have found with DC2/3 that actually if I start off by doing stuff with them a few times, they usually transfer this experience into starting to go off and do it on their own. But they won't usually be interested to start something without me when they have been used to the very high stimulation of TV.

So day 1-2 expect to be very involved and then by days 3-4 you can start to pop in and out saying something like I'm just going to hang up this washing now and I'll come back and see how much you've done when I've finished.

Yep, definitely. DH and I made a conscious decision to change the rules around screens a few months ago.

Our two DC have no screens during the week - that includes TV and their Kindles. On weekends we might watch a film together on the big TV if we're at home but they have just 30 minutes on their Kindles on a Sat and Sun. Any longer and they tantrum. We also have Amazon Kids set up with automatic timers so it saves arguments when the 30 minutes are up - they accept it.

Both our DC's behaviour have improved tremendously. They're now 6 and 4 and they play well together, enjoy puzzles, games and building things 🙂

My kids are 4 and 5 and have about an hour a day, usually 5 to 6 while I'm cooking dinner. I just put cbeebies on as I don't think it's too addictive. They sometimes get bored of it and come to see what I'm up to.
We used to have the TV on a lot, but I just woke up one day and said it wasn't going on!
It should be easier now as the weather is nice so you can get out lots. My kids sometimes don't realise it's TV time if they are playing outside.
I'd never go back to morning telly with them, but a bit in the evening is how I wind down so I don't seem it as too much of a problem.
If you only have one child and you wanted no screen time you could get them involved in cooking - I'd loved to but mine always end up arguing. I may start altering having them cook with me though.
Just to add my kids both love their Yoto players to listen to music and stories. It can be a good screen replacement 🙌