Tv

[Honey693]

How much, if any, TV does your toddler watch? I know the AAP recommendation, but I'm not their biggest fan in general so it doesn't help me. It's been raining for a week straight here and we're carless so DD has been watching more TV than normal. I'd like to get some perspective on her viewing habits b/c I have no idea if it's too much, about average or what.

[spmamma]

I'm sure I'm on the extreme of things...

DD just turned 3 and does not watch TV at all. Once, when she was sick a few months back we let her watch some Donald Duck cartoons we had on DVD. And she watched Mary Poppins once when I was out of town and one other time. That's about it.

We also don't have a car. Our days are spent reading books, doing crafts, playing around the house, playing in DD's room, going to the park or playing outside (when the weather is good), etc.

I just don't like TV for my little ones. DH and I don't watch it either. It helps that we only have about 10 channels. We (DH and I, not the kids) do watch a DVD once a week though.

[AKislandgirl]

We watch a bit here. My DH has been out of town a lot lately and often by dinner time she's pretty wiped out. Without his help I've been relying on the TV more then usual so that I can get dinner made. Usually its a signing time DVD which I think runs for about half an hour. Sometimes she'll watch half an hour of a cartoon in the morning too. No commercials though! Sometimes I watch HGTV (house hunters or something similar) while she's playing in the room too.

I go back and forth on the TV thing and often think we should pull the plug. But then I decide that I'm over feeling guilty about it. I don't do everything perfectly as a parent. So what. I watched TV as a kid and I turned out alright! We read lots of books, color, free play, and are outside a lot! It all balances out, everything in moderation...

[xekomaya]

We'll usually go about a week without tv, and then a few days with 1/2-1 hour so I can get some things done. However, if I'm sick ds can watch as much as 4-5 hours a day. I feel badly about it, but there is no one who can come watch him. I just try to make up for it with more outside time on days I feel better.

[dividedsky]

i let my boys watch tv for 1/2hr-45min while i'm making dinner, usually sesame street, because as the previous poster said, they are totally wiped by then and need to just sit and mellow out. doesn't bother me.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Im similar to dividedsky. My boys watch about an 1/2 hour before dinner, and then another 45 minutes before bed. They are in daycare and play/learn hard ALL.DAY.LONG. I dont mind letting them "veg out" for a spell. Well, the older one anyway, the younger really doesnt sit still for more then a minute or two.

The weekends or when im on vacation might be a bit more in the mornings or if its raining outside, but I usually try to interact and watch WITH them during these instances, trying to extract some form of education from the shows.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS watches Sesame Street in the morning, and usually one other show in the afternoon when he wakes up from a nap (he is really grumpy when he wakes up). Other than that he is too busy to sit and watch tv.

[Baby_Cakes]

We kind of have the TV on in the living room all the time.

DD does sit and watch Dora (and this week she's been sick so I've definitely let her watch multiple episodes a day) and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Those are her fav shows, so if they're on, she's watching them. That said, she's usually playing w/toys or also coloring while they're on, so she's not 100% completely staring at the TV the whole time.

Then again, I'm a big TV person myself, so I don't have any problems w/her watching a few shows. And I need/like the background noise for myself and for getting chores done.

Oh - and she loves The Princess and the Frog. So if she's being extremely crank-tankerous, I'll put that on and she's lay and watch a good 20 min of that before wandering around.

[marispel]

Nickelodeon Jr, just changed their morning schedule but we were letting DS (22 mo) watch Blues Clues in the morning while he drank his milk (schedule now has Maggie and the Beast, which he doesn't care for). He would watch some and then run around some.

Sometimes at night when we're winding down before bath we'll let DS watch Signing Times DVD, which 1/2 hr. He LOOOOOVVES them!

[JessieBird]

DS (18 mos) watches for a 15-30 min period once every 3-4 days. It's totally random. Originally I'd planned for absolutely no tv ever but in the end it's proved to have it's place. The only time we turn it on is when DS is really at the end of his rope with crankiness or exhaustion - usually morning when we're trying to get ready to go to work/daycare or evening when I'm trying to make dinner. I always try other tactics to cheer him up first but there are those times when nothing works and just 15 mins of veging out will totally change his mood. He usually watches for as long as he needs to perk up again and then gets up and walks away or I turn it off from a distance (so that he doesn't know it's me and doesn't get mad). He has never demanded that it be turned on and I'm not sure what I'll do if we get to that point. I'm not sure if then it will be best to turn it off altogether or schedule tv viewing so that it's on a consisitent schedule that DS can predict.

[Lit Chick]

My kid watches a LOT of TV. But... he also doesn't. In the morning and in the evening, he usually watches 1 ep of whatever is on Nick Jr (sitting still, really watching). When he is at my parent's house, the TV is pretty much always on Nick Jr as well - sometimes he watches, but most of the time he plays. He likes it on in the background though, because he will stop and dance/sing when a song comes on.
I don't have a problem with it at all. He's got a crazy vocabulary and excellent pronunciation, he talks in full complex sentences that you do not expect from a 2.5 year old, and he knows shapes, colors, many letters and numbers, etc etc. But then, the TV is not the babysitter. He's always gotten loads of quality time with us - lots of talking to him, playing with him, and even watching TV with him.

[nolonger]

No TV, but the occasional music video on YouTube and some Skyping and/or YouTube videos with long distance relatives. I'd guess less than fifteen minutes at a time and not every day.

[NanoMama]

DD is 22 months and has only been exposed to TV when at other people's homes. We (DH and I) got rid of our TV and I really can't say that I miss it.

[ASusan]

He watches about 2-3 (10-minute) episodes a day - usually Little Bear. He ODs on WonderPets when we visit with Granny (usually about a week, but it was 3 months last fall), because she is blind, and he sits with her and watches - it's their "interaction."

Now that a 13-yr-old nephew is with us for a month, I expect that DS (2.5) will see a lot more TV for that time, then back to Little Bear once or twice a day.


Last night, DH gave DS a haircut on the deck, and it took about 45 minutes. I think DH must have been promising TV the whole time, because when they were finished, DS came upstairs to show me, and after I gushed over his "summer hair", he came into our bedroom and announced, "I watch LittleBearLittleBillWonderPets."

[LuminosaJane]

We don't own a tv either, but dd watches some youtubed Sesame and some music on a relatively regular basis. Sometimes I worry it's too much as she asks to watch. Maybe 15 minutes worth on the days she watches. Monday we didn't watch anything and yesterday was about 15 minutes. She doesn't watch in the evening because I read in Sleepless in America that tv can affect children's sleep--and we don't need any thing else affecting sleep.

She also likes to "watch the baby" on my phone which means that we look at pictures of her and her videos. She especially likes to do this when in the car (if someone is in the back seat with her) or after waking up from a nap. Recently, she also likes to watch the baby while she's pooping on the potty. Sometimes I worry that this is just more screen time, but other times I figure I'm just making her vain.

[laughymama]

We're pretty relaxed.

This isn't something we really "limit". Some weeks we'll watch a movie before nap time every day. Other weeks the television won't get touched at all unless DH or I decide to play a video game.

It really depends on the day. I have no shame in admitting that PBS has helped me many times when it's just "one of those days".

We watch youtube videos. He likes videos of cats and babies and will often ask to sit with me and watch a few. I don't know if that counts or not.

If I had to estimate I'd say he watches 3-4 hours a week total. Most of that is broken up. 10 minutes here, 20 there. I know at Grandma's the television is on pretty much 24/7 but he doesn't spend much time inside there...so who knows.

We just make sure it's not out of control.

[mamamillet]

DD dpesn't really watch any but I will admit it is on around her a couple hours a week. She seems to have little interets unless music comes on then she will look over momentarily.

[Violet2]

Well, we were TV free up until DD got sick for several months, then I was sick and in the hospital.

For a while, PBS was the only functional parent in our house. 2010 has kind of been all tv all the time. It has also kind of sucked in general but that's a different thread.

We are slowly cutting back. She still gets more TV than I would like but, at the same time, the conflict I have is this is our life and our society. We watch TV. We also play and dance and go out etc...

I anticipate with preschool starting this Fall along with skating lessons and I hope a dance class, that she'll get even less TV as time goes on.

Right now she gets about an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon, and then whatever she catches of what we watch after dinner as well as the occasional late episode of Sesame Street. I'm not thrilled but with all the sick, the TV was on non-stop. At least now it gets turned off for several hours.

I suspect if my energy level was 100% it would be much less yet, but I am still really tired and wiped out.

V

[rightkindofme]

TV free here. She has seen youtube videos. I try to only show her a few and that's once or twice a week. Lately her thing is 'watching babies being born' because we are trying to prep her for the upcoming birth.

[Nicole730]

My initial thought is Too much!

Usually Sesame St in the morning and then depending on how the morning goes, the TV will sometimes stay on until 9:30. We don't have cable, so it is PBS. We usually skip Curious George, but will do Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, and Super Why. PBS doesn't have little kid programming in the late afternoon/dinner time. Sometimes we will pop in an Elmo's World for him. I'd say the tv is on in front of him, an average of 2 hours a day, whether that be for him or me. But, actually time spend staring at the screen? Maybe 30 minutes.