Toddler keeps asking to see Baby Signing Time DVD

[beingmommy]

I don't let me 16 month old watch tv but I have let him watch the Baby Signing Time DVDs. He loves them and is signing a lot more now since I got them. I have only showed him one on any given day and not every day so he does not accumulate too much screen time.

BUT in the past few days he has started making the "baby" sign and pointing at the tv. I know he is asking to see one.

What should I do? I want to let him know I understand him and that he is communicating his thoughts and wants. But I do not want him to watch a DVD more than once a day.

Should I let him watch it once if he asks and then distract him if he asks multiple times? What if he won't be distracted?

Edited to add: he is nowhere near talking yet so the signing has been really helpful as he is starting to communicate with us regularly.

[lolar2]

I'm lazy, but I let DS watch TV if he asks. However, if I think he might soon want to watch TV but he hasn't asked yet, and I don't want him to watch, I pre-emptively distract him.

[CEVmommy]

I understand. When my dd started signing, we wanted to give her whatever she was asking for to reinforce that we understood her and that her signs were effectively communicating. Somewhere along the line it turned into giving her everything she wanted as soon as she wanted it though, which we didn't know how to deal with. Then it was the same way when she was starting to say "please". We wanted to reward her for using her manners, but that didn't mean we always wanted to give her everything she wanted!

I guess my advice would be to still reinforce the sign by communicating that you understood it - "Oh, you are asking for Baby Signing Time! Good signing!" But not necessarily give it to him - "I'm sorry, we already watched Signing Time today - we'll watch it again tomorrow!" or something.

We are huge Signing Time fans here too. Last night we got the two new ones in the mail - Baby Signing Time 3 and 4 - and we did watch them both right away!

[nighten]

I think it depends on why you're wanting to avoid the exposure. For us, it was about things like controlling content, and ensuring it wasn't replacing human interaction, etc.

So watching the video again later in the day on occasion wasn't a big deal, as long as I was there and interacting with her the whole time. I was comfortable with the content, and she and I were actively interacting throughout it.

But if it's simply you're wanting to limit the actual time the TV is on in front of him, then what if you just showed the review? I know that's an option on the regular ST videos -- just to have a sign review. Or just the songs, etc. We didn't watch the BST as much so I don't remember if it had those options in the special features.

It's up to you. There's nothing wrong with you telling him it's a once a day type thing, but it wasn't a big deal for us. Though we still do no TV of any kind after a certain time, because it winds her up too much and is harder for her to get to sleep at night. Some LOs aren't as affected, but ours is, so that's the main reason we say no to a second viewing these days. It just depends on how long after lunchtime, really.

[dawncayden]

If you let her watch it once a day and she has already watched it that day then you can say 'I know you want to watch your show but we already did, so lets do X instead'

[lolar2]

Oh that reminds me-- sometimes when he asks for a particular show and we don't want to turn on the TV, we sing a song from the show instead and that satisfies him. Especially if we also dance.