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 ?

[bensmum3]

aloha, you are wrong, it was a genuine question , after reading the favourite video thread, I can't remember how much the older 2 watched at this age,but we are very restricted now in when we can actually have the tv on by our power supply , which is only on 8am-11am and 5pm -12mn, (we have wind power, but its broken at the moment).Even an ec friendly life's not always perfect !As ds shows no interest when it is on,and I've never encouraged him, I was shocked that others were saying their very young ones had favourites, not criticising them for actually watching,the something special sounds like a big hit, is it on ordinary tv ?

[Casmie]

LOL Caligula - my excuse is that the computer is in the same room as the TV - I'm multitasking (AND I'm in the middle of cooking a roast chicken - more fool me as I've just started feeling at death's door again... sigh )

[Moomina]

Caligula - maybe I should have clarified that ds only gets to watch the shows I can stomach - which definitely means no Tweenies!

[Gobbledigook]

LOL Coddy! Actually, I'm pleased to say that my ds can't really stand Boogie Beebies although he does copy big Cook's ridiculous moves in the washing up song .

Still at least he knows all about poo and sewage courtesy of 'Come Outside'

Yep, summer they barely watch the tele at all but I don't know how I'd survive without it in the winter!

[Caligula]

God, I plonk.

That's why God invented TV. So that bad mothers could plonk kids in front of it and sneak off to have a look at Mumsnet!

I'm not expected to sit through a whole episode of the Tweenies myself am I? I don't ask them to sit through Newsnight, so I don't see why I should do CBeebies (although I do make an exception for 64 Zoo Lane and Wildlife, and we have many quality moments of family life watching the Simpsons together!)

And yes, in Summer they hardly watch it at all.

[lowcalCOD]

like camp dance moves?
lol

[Gobbledigook]

Well said Aloha. I was just going to post the merits of CBeebies myself - it's amazing the stuff my ds's (3.10 and 2) have learned from watching it!!

[Moomina]

Yep, mine too - lots more in the winter. I do feel a bit guilty - ds is 19 months and does probably watch quite a lot of tv some days. Or, at least, the tv is on quite a lot of the time when he is in the same room.

But, as aloha says, tv and books or any other activity are not mutually exclusive. A child is not deprived by not watching tv nor, imo, are they deprived of quality playtime, reading time, rolling-around-on-the-floor-and-giggling time if they do watch more than 20 mins a day. And most of the time he's drowning out the tv with his flippin' Leap Pad anyhow...

One thing I don't do is plonk him in front of the tv so I can go off and do other things - if we're watching, we're watching together, talking about it, singing along, etc.

[lowcalCOD]

I ifnd mine watch loads more int he winter

[Casmie]

I agree aloha.

My 8 month old sees far too much TV for his age really, I would have been shocked if I was still on my first child to think that an 8 month old had more than half an hour every now and then! But ds1 is almost 4, has already had his life fairly disrupted with the newcomer, comes home from nursery exhausted and needs to veg and unwind (and mummy needs to get cooking done in safety!) Hence both get far more TV than is "recommended".

Sometimes I do feel horribly horribly guilty about this. I do try and fit in a wide range of activities in short bursts when we're not all knackered, but I'm sure I get the balance wrong more often than not. I think by and large, though, we do okay - both dses are absolutely gorgeous and don't seem to be suffering horrendously and ... gasp ds1 actually seems to have learnt a fair amount from the TV!

Yes, ds1 still adores books, is very verbal, loves trains and building stuff. Is independant in play yet shares well with his brother and with his friends in nursery. Is extremely active, loves climbing, running, playing on his trike...

For the last week, we've all had flu and been really very ill with it, so the TV has been on almost constantly - it's the only way we could survive. A healthy amount of guilt has set in so I shall be striving to keep the box off outside our set "allowed" times (during meal preparation time) again.

[aloha]

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.

[Amanda3266]

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

[HunkerMunker]

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!

[Amanda3266]

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

[Gwenick]

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)

[Gwenick]

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.

[bensmum3]

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".

[Gwenick]

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?

[HunkerMunker]

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

[HunkerMunker]

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

[essbee]

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