Am I depriving ds ?

[bensmum3]

Hi, I've just read the whats your toddlers favourite video message, and am shocked at how many younger children have favourite videos. ds is 19 months and although we have a couple of younger childrens videos he's never watched one, or the tv. We have the tv on for the news and the older 2 like to watch blue peter etc sometimes, but he never shows any interest, except to try and turn it off. Surely this can't be too unusual at his age ?

Nah, you're not depriving him! My mum and dad din't let us watch much TV when we were little and now I have a job where I watch TV all day, so I think that I'm just catching up

This is a GOOD THING!!!!
Be happy that he isn't already a four eyes like so many other kids!!
(My dd was the same-likes some now but not to the extent of some kids I see)

no they dont watch tv till they are at least 2 ime

I'm with you bensmum3. DS is almost 18 mos and has only watched a DVD once on a long car trip (that was a life saver thought). I let him watch teletubbies but he mainly just runs in to see the baby and then goes off to play. Otherwise we keep the TV off until night when dh and I may watch a movie.

I dunno - ds3 is only 5 months and was gripped by the football this afternoon!! Or was it just cos it was Man U?

our tv doesn't go on until 6.30pm and DS 13 mths is in bed by 7pm.

He is more interested in ejecting the video, pushing it back in, ejecting the video and pushing it back in, until he gets caught and stopped

Thats great your son hasnt watched tv. You cant interact with a tv, you learn nothing from a tv and be thankful he has no interest. Its not out of the ordinary and undoubtedly he will find books a real treat soon.

My 18 month old occasionally watches the Ribena berries ad, but that's it. In fairness though, my 2 year old was mad about the Teletubbies from the time he was 10 months old.

Message withdrawn

I wouldn't agree that you can't learn from a TV - I'm quite addicted to Something Special and have learnt lots of signs from it DS seems fascinated by Mr Tumble too

It's one of my favourite programmes That and Desperate Housewives!! (DS doesn't watch that though!)

Our TV is on ALL day, from the moment the first person gets up until the last person goes to bed (children are 4 and 14 months).

However, as a result of this they don't really watch that much. DS1 watches a lot between 4 and 6pm when he gets home from nursery - but even if I switch the TV off he doesn't have enough energy to do anything more 'exciting' so I don't really see the point LOL - he's knackered by then.

DS2 watches a bit here and there - likes Bob the Builder and Neighbours

I'd agree that children CAN actually learn a lot from the TV. DS1's teachers at nursery have commented on how he 'links' experiences from nursery with things he's seen happen on the TV - and he learned all his letters from Countdown.

Also when I've got time I sit down with him and talk to him about what he's watching and he's picked up a lot that way. If kids couldn't learn anything from TV.........why has it been used in teaching for YEARS?

Thankyou, feeling reassured now, ds has an incredible vocabulary (150 + words).I guess this is helped by the interaction he has with his family and everyone else where we live as he is always centre of attention.He's just started coming to me with a book and saying" story, read it".

oh and DS1 also LOVES his books - he's got over 300 on his shelf in his room - although he obviously can't read them all yet - and some of them are too 'advanced' for him.

pre-school programmes what are they

We only have 2-3hrs of kids programmes on during the day (and sometimes it's only CBBC rather than Cbeebies). I know I'm a terrible mum, but seen as thought 99% of time the TV is used as 'background' rather than actively watched I don't fancy kiddy stuff drivelling on in the background while eating lunch (much prefer Neighbour, Doctors, Flog it, Countdown etc etc LOL)

I used to "watch" Tweenies with DS while trying to get him off to sleep before he was a year old. Don't think he really watched it though.

Mandy

He now loves Balamory and he's just over 2

DS watches Countdown quite intently when the clock is going - he LOVES the music! Looks like he's trying to do the word or sum though - LOL!

Yes - my one loves Countdown too. His favourite bit is the clock and the music to which he dances. It's so sweet.

Forgive me but I'm a bit sceptical when someone asks if their child is being deprived because they don't watch tv/only eat organic food/have only handcrafted wooden toys from co-ops in Africa etc etc. I do suspect, and I may be wrong, that there is a teensy bit of halo-polishing going on here. We are all prone to. Eg, my ds doesn't have tantrums, which I have felt smug about, but you know what, the more I see of children, the more I suspect that's just his nature rather than the result of my super-wonderful parenting, just as other people have kids who are potty trained at 2 may well think that other people - like me - with an untrained three year old are a bit crap, or how people whose kids sleep through think they made this happen, until they have a non-sleeper. Actually I think 19 months is a bit young for TV for some kids - not sure my son was that into it at that age - but just wait until he's three. My ds now worships Cbeebies and so do I. He's learned lots of signs from Something Special, sees people of all types, black, white, old, young with special needs and without, dances along with Boogie Beebies (and does performances for us), and also absolutely adores books, makes up his own poems and songs, can add up and take away, recognise most numbers up to a hundred, read some words blah blah blah ...... TV and books aren't mutually exclusive.