Do you ever feel all alone?

[cagirlintexas]

DS is 2 1/2. We are waiting for television. He has watched a slide show on youtube a few times and a couple of 3-5 minute clips of things when he had the chicken pox but basically he is tv and screen free. I want to wait as long as possible. I feel so alone sometimes though. How and where do you find support?

[guestmama9920]

We're hippies in most senses of the word. Funny enough though the think that freaks people out most??? The no TV bit. Sometimes I think I could tell people we eat dirt and drink acid and they would be less shocked than the no TV stuff


Support? IDK, I just want you to know your not alone

[cagirlintexas]

Thanks!! Good to know I am not alone. I know its weird but sometimes you just need to hear that. Some days are just harder then other. I totally respect other peoples parenting choices even if there aren't ones I make myself and I don't judge them for those choices. I think we all deiced whats important for our own children. But sometimes I just feel so judged by the television decision. Like I am hurting my child.

[yogafeet]

Same here! My ILs think we're crazy! I think they're crazy for thinking it's ok that their other grandchildren are obsessed with movies and that their grandson cried when he learned about death from Finding Nemo when he was 3 and started asking everyone if they were going to die soon. (Sorry about that run-on sentence!) Keep on keepin' on! Or should I say keep on keepin' OFF? LOL

[Holiztic]

Yeah, we are the only people we know whose toddler doesn't watch any TV, videos, computer etc.

However, I know people who:

homebirth
UC
no vax
uncirc
EC
co-sleep long term
nurse well past infancy
drink raw milk
and on and on

These are seriously outside the mainstream things, but no TV at 3?

NO ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[marie1080]

Are you me? That's exactly what I was going to say. I have a lot of crunchy friends, but no screen time? We're just STRANGE.

Honestly, I really don't think about it much anymore.

Maybe Im slipping though, cuz I've been letting her watch homebirth YouTube videos this week

Originally Posted by Holiztic

Yeah, we are the only people we know whose toddler doesn't watch any TV, videos, computer etc.

However, I know people who:

homebirth
UC
no vax
uncirc
EC
co-sleep long term
nurse well past infancy
drink raw milk
and on and on

These are seriously outside the mainstream things, but no TV at 3?

NO ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Elizabeth2008]

yeah, it is funny. Most of the moms I know are more on the mainstream side, but one or two are not. But even they don't do no-tv. DS is 3.5 and we don't know ANYONE else who doesn't do tv. I try not to talk about it, but if it comes up people either look at me like i'm a saint, like i'm from another planet, or like they think i'm lying.

[cagirlintexas]

Ya the majority of people we know our totally not your main stream parents. I really try not to talk about it. The hard part is that TV is starting to show up in more places now that he is older. Then I end up saying something and some parents are offended that I rather the TV not be on. Its finally cooled down here so we are outside more which makes it loads easier. Its definitely not an issue at a play date at the park!

[estercita]

You can always try moving to Ithaca, NY, where, as an acquaintance of mine once joked, people have to make up excuses for having seen something on TV (e.g., I happened to be walking through the department store's TV section, when I saw... I was over at a friend's house & they had the TV on...)!

It's very common for kids there to be screen-free. Friends of ours have a 7 year old who has never watched TV & just recently saw her first movie. In places like Ithaca, the counter-cultural thing is to *let* your child watch any TV. But that kind of town is clearly the exception.

[ja mama]

Wait until your boys are 7 and almost 10 and then see how shocked people are. (that's where we are)

[guestmama9920]

I was remembering after reading this thread. We usually get strange looks for BF'ing in public and having DD in the sling in the UK, Even DS's long hair gives us some second looks. But when I said....

Who is peppa pig?

I think the guy in the toy dept almost fell over. LOL

I don't think people get it. it seems more off the wall than anything else crunchy you can do.

[dogretro]

We used to get way more flak about being tv-free in the first couple years after we got rid of it (a few years before dd was born) & now people really, truly do not care. I am honest about it and say we are a tv-free family. I used to not mention it, but now after having a kid AND SOMEHOW SURVIVING W/OUT TV, I am more open about it and just dont care. It's just another part of our lives & I think if you are nonchalant about it, other people are, too. I do not ask other people to turn off the tv when we are at their houses. It is their house, their decision. Unless it was v distracting to an activity we were doing, I just dont think it's v polite.

Since I have been having my butt kicked by the first trimester, dd has been watching a lot of videos in the morning. A lot. I was feeling v guilty about it, but w/ the second trimester coming up quickly, I figure it's only another two weeks or so before we are back to our old selves. Dh and I also watch a couple of our own shows on Hulu, so that makes us seem less weird, too, I guess, but whatever.

[PiePie]

holiztic, you know me

but i totally know what you mean.

we do not expose our 2 yo to tv.

[PiePie]

and yes people who self-identify as crunchy accuse me of denying her learning experiences, and having her not participate in our culture. it makes me feel very alone.

[Elizabeth2008]

Originally Posted by estercita

You can always try moving to Ithaca, NY, where, as an acquaintance of mine once joked, people have to make up excuses for having seen something on TV (e.g., I happened to be walking through the department store's TV section, when I saw... I was over at a friend's house & they had the TV on...)!
.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohmygod, that's so funny. I have to say, it would be nice to live in a place like that. LOL!

[GoBecGo]

I do give DD screen time now, but when i didn't i just hung out more with some anthroposophs i know, who have been tv-free since tv's were invented. Maybe a Waldorf toddler group would put you in touc with no-tv'ers?

In general i used to steer conversation away from tv, and then we'd talk about other stuff and our lack of screen time was irrelevant - really there's only so much you can say about bob the builder anyway...

[vegcatlover]

You are not alone. We are just a very tiny minority

Every once in awhile I think about caving and pulling the tv out of the closet. Inevitably something happens that makes me so happy we are tv-free. My husband has been dying to watch football and the World Series, so I was thinking of setting up the TV in the living room as a surprise for him. Then on Friday we had a playdate at the park with a boy from my son's preschool class. The boy played for about 10 minutes before he started whining to go home & watch Batman. It was a gorgeous, sunny Autumn day, and this kid wanted to watch a Batman episode that he's seen a million times before.

The 10 minutes he did play on the playground involved him running around & shouting, "I have machine guns in my butt!" Apparently this is a quote from the movie Astro Boy. I was so incredibly happy to be tv-free.

Hang in there!

[Holiztic]

Originally Posted by vegcatlover

You are not alone. We are just a very tiny minority

Every once in awhile I think about caving and pulling the tv out of the closet. Inevitably something happens that makes me so happy we are tv-free. My husband has been dying to watch football and the World Series, so I was thinking of setting up the TV in the living room as a surprise for him. Then on Friday we had a playdate at the park with a boy from my son's preschool class. The boy played for about 10 minutes before he started whining to go home & watch Batman. It was a gorgeous, sunny Autumn day, and this kid wanted to watch a Batman episode that he's seen a million times before.

The 10 minutes he did play on the playground involved him running around & shouting, "I have machine guns in my butt!" Apparently this is a quote from the movie Astro Boy. I was so incredibly happy to be tv-free.

Hang in there!

I totally hear you on being able to tell right away the kids that watch TV from the ones that don't! My son has been able to play with something SOOOO much longer and with greater attention than other little ones since he was 1.

But I am confused about the World Series thing. Are you glad you didn't pull it out because you don't want DH watching? Or are you thinking that if its out DS will beg to watch it?

I don't know your DS's age, but mine is 2.5 and I think he knows what TV's do (from sports bars and occasionally glimpsing it at someone's house before they turn it off because we arrived). But ours is out in the open in the office, which he is in everyday while I'm on the computer. He asks for "kid music" (cable channel that I play through the receiver with the screen off), but never asks about the TV.

Maybe I was reading your post wrong, or maybe you know having it out would lead to issues with DS. Just thought I'd share our experience!

[Mama Shifra]

Originally Posted by yogafeet

Same here! My ILs think we're crazy!

Yeah, my in laws also think that we are depriving our children if they don't have a television. I think it's a generational thing. In the 1950s and 1960s, television was promoted as an educational tool--it could introduce children to things that they have no immediate access to, like other lands and cultures. Unfortunately, it hasn't turned out that way, has it?

[Nazsmum]

Originally Posted by Mama Shifra

Yeah, my in laws also think that we are depriving our children if they don't have a television. I think it's a generational thing. In the 1950s and 1960s, television was promoted as an educational tool--it could introduce children to things that they have no immediate access to, like other lands and cultures. Unfortunately, it hasn't turned out that way, has it?

And smoking well healthy