Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

anyone else not have a tv???

48 replies

thisisyesterday · 08/12/2008 23:55

well, we have a tv, but not conncted to cable or anything, we just use it for watching dvd's/

it's great and dp and I are very happy with the arrangement, as are the children atm.

but, ds1 is at nursery now and he keeps coming home and talking about kids tv shows that he can't watch. i mean, he doesn't know they are television shows, but today for example he said to me "I don't know about ben 10. I know how to say it, but I don't know what ben 10 is"

i said we could have a look at ben 10 on the internet but we forgot.

so, I guess what I am asking is, do your kids find it difficult at school and stuff when everyone else is talking about tv showes and things that they can't watch? do they feel left out?
I can remember pretending I had watched he-man at primary school so I wasn't the only one who hadn't seen it. and there seems to be so much peer pressure these days.

then again, i kind of feel that kids have so much choice of things to watch on tv, esp if you have cable or satellite etc that maybe they don't all watch the same stuff anyway???

am i worrying over nothing?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Clary · 08/12/2008 23:58

errr I think it might be a pain later.

If you didn't watch Dr Who this year and you were a 6-7-8yo boy you were probably a bit left out.

Yes there are lots of channels but there are still some things lots of people watch. DD's pals (7-8) all love Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor etc.

TeenyTinyTorya · 09/12/2008 00:00

I never had a TV until I moved out at 18 and went to live with my boyfriend. Now I'm rather addicted to it, so it would be better in a way if I didn't have one! I never found it affected me in any way when I was growing up, and I don't feel at all left out when my friends discuss old TV programmes that they watched as kids. However, I was home-educated, so didn't have the whole peer pressure at school issue.

Ds currently doesn't watch any kids' TV, and I don't intend to get him hooked on it and its inevitable merchandising either.

Lockets · 09/12/2008 00:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General parenting

Original poster

thisisyesterday · 09/12/2008 00:05

lol lockets.

he does have dvd's and stuff, so it isn't like he is totally cut off from children's entertainment.
there is much talk of power rangers (which i wouldn't let him watch anyway) and superman and spiderman and ben 10
bless him
he goes on and on about superman and power rangers and he has no idea who they are at all

OP posts:

Lockets · 09/12/2008 00:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

thisisyesterday · 09/12/2008 00:09

have just looked up ben 10 on wikipedia, seems a bit old for 3-4yr olds no????

ho hum

OP posts:

UnfortunatelyMe · 09/12/2008 00:12

We havent got a telly, my girls are 8 and 11, they don't seem concerned at all. They can watch BBC iplayer/channel four OD/itv catch up if they want, im not stopping them.
The only thing at the moment they are interested in is Merlin, once a week.

Clary · 09/12/2008 00:12

Actually we have never seen Ben 10 (on some cartoon channel) so it's not essential to modern life. I always thought it was for 3-4-5-6 yos, based on the kids I kno wwho like it (ie not DD's 8yo pals).

I think a TV is tho (controversial).

But then I love TV and I don't mind saying so

Clary · 09/12/2008 00:13

I mean that TV is essential IMO, sorry my syntax got muddled there.

Original poster

thisisyesterday · 09/12/2008 00:18

do you clary? why?? (if you don't mind me asking)
we had always had one, and I don't have a problem with ds w2atching it per se, hence having a wide range of dvd's/

we mostly got rid of it because we moved the tv and couldn't plug it in stragiht away and we realised we quite liked not having it.
means dp doesn't get up and turn it on all day. or get in at night and switch it on.
we have more "quality time" together, which is nice.

we really haven't missed it that much, and we're saving money too lol

OP posts:

TeenyTinyTorya · 09/12/2008 00:31

Apart from things like America's Next Top Model I could do without TV. I really only use it at night to give me something to do when I'm knitting, and the shows I really want to see are mostly on internet catch-up.

rowingboat · 09/12/2008 00:45

We didn't have a TV growing and I am aware of missing a huge chunk of popular culture from when I was around eight or nine. I'm not saying it harmed me, but when I see programmes now about certain eras it's as if I wasn't there.
We do have a TV now and my DS has a friend who watches Dr Who - my ds is too scared (4). Oddly, DS now knows all of the Dr Who characters via his little mate, so doesn't seem to have affected him, not actually seeing the programme.

cory · 09/12/2008 07:54

We only use ours for DVDs. Though they do see some stuff at the childminders and some at their friends' house. Don't think it's a major problem.

I didn't have one as a child and I'm not addicted now; I'd rather read a book or Mumsnet.

Tortington · 09/12/2008 07:58

we dont have a telly, but our kids are older, and we decided this last year.

i woldnt have done it when the kids were younger, becuase i think the telly is a highly excellent babysitter.

Clary · 09/12/2008 08:51

I think it is essential because so much of what goes on in life comes via the TV.

And if you have nothing else to say, you can always discuss Corrie (the Queen does it y?know).

A friend of mine doesn?t have one and frankly it?s odd. She is very unworldly and I don?t think it?s a Good Thing.

Plus trivial TV is the only way to get the ironing done

(I am being slightly flippant here but I do think it?s OK to like TV. I find it is rather demonised but I suspect mobile phones for 7yos are more damaging. I don?t have a mobile phone actually, and I am aware that I am rather strange. )

Gateau · 09/12/2008 09:26

Why do people make the decision to not have tvs? I'm not asking this in an interrogative way. I'm just interested in what their reasons are.
I see no harm in it, in moderation. I enjoy watching children's porogrammes with my LO and do feel he would miss out a bit when he's older if he didn't have one.

MascaraOHara · 09/12/2008 09:29

We've not had a TV for about 2 months now (not by choice to begin with), DD is 6 and has not asked to watch TV once.. I only occassionally miss it tbh.

That said I will be getting it fixed and we still do have DVDs.

Sad as it is, I do think TV and being in the know re. the latest TV programme aids greatly in social inclusion at school

TeenyTinyTorya · 09/12/2008 09:52

Gateau - my parents never had a TV because when they first married, they couldn't afford the TV and licence. Then they never bothered to get one, and we found that it made us do loads and loads of outdoor, imaginative play, crafts, etc.

When they got a computer to watch DVDs on, my younger brothers started to spend hours vegging out and stopped reading, so they had to limit TV time.

I think there's some great stuff on telly, but also a lot of rubbish that you can tend to watch just because it's on. I know I am guilty of vegging especially late at night - it's the same with Mumsnet, actually

MrsSeanBean · 09/12/2008 10:02

I never watched TV growing up. I had to read for entertainment.

While this did have the potential to make me feel a bit isolated (no internet in those days), I found that - especially into my teens - you could read up on all the crap in magazines etc. So if someone said "Ooh what did you think of x" I (having read rather than watched) could say "Oh yes, shocking what they did to y" etc etc.

It does stultify your brain if you watch too much I find. MN is far more stimulating!

MrsSeanBean · 09/12/2008 10:04

Btw: my parents didn't have one 'on principle' - thought it would impede our development as children.

zazen · 09/12/2008 10:14

Interesting. and LOL Custy!
we had a very old TV set when we were growing up and had to change the channel by using a screwdriver round the back. we stopped the picture from rolling by banging it on the side - fun and games indeedy! Took away all fear of electrical gadgets for me to see the Wizard round the back.

Now that I'm older I see the logic behind my Dad's insistence that we 'read a book instead of gawp at the TV', besides the fact there wasn't much on - even if watching snooker was a greyscale challenge!

However, I remember the feeling of being 'out of things' and not up to speed with my own peers in school and this was also for a variety of reasons - we had an self sufficient organic garden (when white bread was a luxury) and my parents were barterers - they didn't really believe in money as currency. So my Other Worldness is due to a number of factors, not just having a very old and unreliable, black and white TV when young.

Now, we have no telly, and we have broadband and DVDs and I think that DD is well adapted - most of the kids in her class have no TV - she's 4.

We bring DD round a lot of artists and creative types - we are friends with a lot of people who work in TV production companies and graphic artists, theatre companies and artists in residences - all primary producers of 'art' and DD enjoys the eccentricities there. We have two visual fine art artists, a TV production company and an architect sharing our office space - across the road is an international Fashion house and we are friends with the designers there also. It's quite a hub

MY DH and I haven't had a telly for 20 years and we consider ourselves out of the mainstream broadcast culture - both of us are very creative and totally au fait with technology - and if I was to say with my hand on my heart, that if my DD could only be one thing in life then I would wish that she was free to be an artist, and that most of all she was creative - and that definition includes curing cancer.

IMHO being on the receiving end of all ready defined and delineated broadcast culture is like being a hare caught in the headlights - you're Lamped, and it's difficult not to be roadkill in a creative sense from that position.

And so we have no telly, but we do have the internet and DVDs and I enjoy reading about clebs and mainstream popular culture whenever I choose. I think it's a good balance Yikes! an essay!

broguemum · 09/12/2008 10:22

We have a TV for watching DVDs and I do not miss TV programmes at all.
To answer the question why we have no TV, well one stormy night about a year ago our satellite dish got trashed and it was an active choice not to get a new one. However, I suspect that come the next major football event our TV will somehow come back on line.

Pruners · 09/12/2008 10:30

Message withdrawn

littlefrog · 09/12/2008 10:31

No tv here. DS watches at bit at CMs, and LOVES it... To the extent that I feel that the decision not to have one is hardening: I don't like the way in which littlies become glued to the screen, mesmerised.

I don't want a TV because I'd only watch it if I was depressed and tired, so it's associated with depression and tiredness for me. DH doesn't want one because he worries he'd watch it all the time. And now there's iplayer etc., I really can't see why we'll change.

Egede · 09/12/2008 12:57

We've never had a TV and have two boys, 6 and 2. I didn't have one growing up and quickly learnt that you didn't actually have to have seen Dallas/Grange Hill to contribute to a conversation about it. I've never been on Facebook either but I know how to have an opinion if the subject comes up! Because we never had one, we never had to decide to get rid of it so it's a situation rather than a decision and so far it's a situation everyone seems to like. I like the fact that the children never see any advertising and are able to build up ideas about the world from books and conversation (not that I'm saying families with TVs don't have books and conversation as well).

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread