September 2022 Moms

Unpopular Opinion 1/27

2»

Re: Unpopular Opinion 1/27

  • I would say the biggest disadvantage would be trouble participating in conversations about common media.  But there are so many things to do other than watch television, too, so....
    Current pregnancy -
    First BFP on 1/4/22.  Due date 9/13/22.

    Four prior losses, no living children - 1 first trimester miscarriage, 1 blighted ovum, 1 chemical, and one extreme premature live birth daughter who died at 15 days old.


  • I’m sure it’s not just not watching television. I do think the most important is being aware of what your kids are watching. 

     I personally think most things in moderation are ok. I think you can even overdo the sensory play/reading/sports etc. at the end of the day to quote the Beatles,  all you need is love. 
  • Loading the player...
  • @chelsraec I grew up without a TV or watching movies for entertainment. We had a computer but it was strictly for homework. I'd like to think I turned out ok😜 but seriously, screen time is completely unnecessary for development. Nowadays we do need technology for many parts of our life but children do not need it until school at the earliest IMO. Im thankful that we don't have a TV and are not in the habit of using screen time as entertainment. My daughter is 14months and other than facetiming my family who lives on the other side of the world I try to avoid using my phone too much when she's around. I don't forsee that changing even when this baby is born and I don't want it to ever be an option. It might be tough but I can do hard things and figure out how to juggle 2 kids without technology. I know lots of parents who have done it so I can too!
  • @babywiik I love that attitude!! 

    @chelsraec to clarify, I don’t plan on never allowing television for my children, just not while they’re babies. Once they are past the age of 18 months/2 years, I don’t see a problem with screens in moderation. 

    I also just don’t want to ever be that family that goes out to dinner and the kids sit there on their iPads and the parents sit there on their phones. I want to actually interact with my family! 
  • chelsraecchelsraec member
    edited January 2022
    @theblondebump totally understandable. My LO is 22 months. She started watching about 30 mins a day of tv about 18 mos. I work from home and SAHM so I use it in the moments after breakfast to log some time for my job. They are so nonstop starting at about 15 months that it’s hard to get them focused on a task. 

    We only do tablet if we go out to eat or have a road trip and didn’t even start that until a couple of months ago. 

    It’s very hard to eat at a restaurant with a little one.  We never have screens at our dinner table and sit down for 20-30 minute meals 3 times a day.

    I used to judge people for having their kids on tablets during meal times at restaurants. But, when you don’t.. get ready to nix the idea of eating out or accept walking around with baby girl at restaurant.

    I also used to judge people for putting kids in front of a screen. Well, I work from home and need to do it sometimes unfortunately. Most of the time I get the perks of being a SAHM, but it does come with a slight time sacrifice and LO has to do independent play. But, I still think my baby benefits from so much time with me.

    if I’m being super vulnerable sometimes I’m hard on myself about the screen time and a lot of other things. But, I think it’s super easy to be rough on yourself and I try to give myself affirmations. It would honestly be impossible for me not to use screens. 

    But, at the end of the day…I think everyone does the best they can and worrying too much about anything does nobody any good. I also don’t want people to feel like I’m saying their kid will be a weirdo without tv. I was just trying to throw out a different idea. 

    Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
  • @chelsraec haha the ted talk comment made me laugh. Agreed, we’re all just doing the best we can and what works for some doesn’t for others! 

    Our 10 month old is a pro at eating out at restaurants, she is extremely food motivated lol. We have brought her to several “fine dining” restaurants and I can tell the staff and other patrons are like outraged that we’ve brought a baby, but then we order her food off an adult menu and she’s a peach and they are like oh ok. Maybe I’ll come to eat my words when she’s a toddler though! I just take everything one day at a time and don’t worry about it. I also could care less what other people think about my kids when I’m out. Like on an airplane, for example, zero apologies and you can suck it if my baby bothers you. Lol
  • @theblondebump Yeah, a lot changed from 10 months on 🤣 But, my 3 year old is pretty great at eating out. Even when he is not being great (ahem, last night) he follows rules and we are prepared. He was having a rough afternoon yesterday and my husband and I really wanted to go to this very nice pizza place. My son didn’t want to go. It’s called Pizza Mozza. I finally got him on board by calling it Sneeza Snotza. He thought that was hilarious. We had 5pm reservations(the moment it opened). He got to bring 2 trucks and some crayons and paper. He ate a bunch of salad and then refused the pizza. We still had a great time. It’s tricky and all about being prepared! Sometimes he’s great! We don’t eat out a ton, but we try to do it enough to keep him in the habit of how to behave. A lot of his 3 year old friends do not eat out well. It’s rough. 
  • @theblondebump our first was the perfect continue to eat out baby. When she was 10 days old we were able to even go to a movie with her. You could give her a boob and she'd pass out for 2 hours. It was perfect. Even after she was a year old, you could give her a boob she she'd just chill. She'd try any food, and most of it she would eat more of. Every parent would have a second after her.... Our second.... Would only fall asleep is walked and rocked no matter what do there was no boobing her at meals. She had reflux and cried often and puked over everyone. She would scream if my husband held her from like a month on, so I had to get food at eating with only 1 hands. Once she was bigger around 6 months she got a bit better, but became one of those babies who demands boobs but pops on and off the whole time flashing everyone. I spent many a restaurant trip in the car nursing her because I didn't want to flash my students in our small town. As much as I hate being that parent, we became the parents who hand over phones while we wait for the meal to arrive. Our first was fine with magna doodles, books, and bead mazes. Our second took them looked at us and threw them. She's a completely different kid. It also doesn't help that she's super picky too. Which is likely just traditional toddler pickiness (beige food and fruit is her go to) , but compared to her sister that would eat anything it's such a hard thing to deal with. I'm hoping the third will be a bit easier, but I feel like I'm a pro at the difficult baby so I'll get one of those. 
  • @jhysmath sounds like you’ve handled whatever’s been thrown at you (even literally!) like a champ! 
  • Amphibious22Amphibious22 member
    edited January 2022
    @chelsraec I completely agree with your whole Ted talk!!! So many people make comments about kids with tablets at restaurants, but you know what? Babysitters are expensive, and we don't have family in the area, so if MH and I want a date night, we bring the tablet so we can actually talk to each other. Some nights we don't bring it and focus on him and interact and talk and enjoy each other's company, but other nights, I want to talk to my husband and that's not an option with a 3.5 year old who literally doesn't stop talking. Again it's all about moderation and doing what works for your family. If you hate screens, great, if not, great. I personally love watching TV at the end of my day, so why shouldn't my kid get to do that too? 
    Me 30 Him 30
    Married
     August 2015
    DS born 5/23/2018
    TTC #2 July 2020



  • @Amphibious22 to each their own! If it works for you and your fam, that’s great! 
  • @scimomma that is awesome! 😂
    @theblondebump I never judge other moms either! You do what is best for you and your children. 🥰
    @jhysmath my imaginary children were much better behaved than my real ones! 😂 
  • We managed to keep my son away from screen time until he was almost two, but then again he also just didn’t have any interest in screens until then too.  Now I feel like we use screen time way too much but it’s hard not to because it is the only way to get him to sit still. And with another baby on the way I’m sure we are going to be getting more lenient with it.

    All kids are different and are going to respond differently to things so the way I see it you never really fully know what another parent is dealing with.
  • I had friends growing up who weren't allowed to watch TV and a few of them were odd, but I don't really think it was because of the lack of TV and more because they were living in extremely controlling environments where they were never allowed tv or junk food and their exposure to things in "real life" were strictly controlled. Then they'd come over my house and they wouldn't be able to control themselves and would eat like all of our snacks haha. 
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"