Is there any TV at your daycare?

flyer23

On occasion, when we pick DD up in the afternoon, the kids are watching TV. We're not big on TV in our house and so I'd rather not have DD watching TV during the day either. I let it slide because I know it's just during the "extended care" part of the day (they move into an entirely different classroom after the "school day" ends at 2 PM -- the regular classrooms don't have TVs) and we LOVE her preschool aside from that.

I'm just curious if this is normal at other daycares, especially for older children. (DD's preschool starts at age 2.) I remember visiting a very well-regarded, VERY expensive daycare in my area, and being a little surprised to see kids watching TV as one of their "activities" during the day.

MAprincess

DS is in the toddler room and there is no tv.  I don't believe they watch tv in any of the rooms, though.

dpdw

My kids go to an "in-home" daycare & they watch a video most days between lunch & nap time.  According to the provider it calms them down & allows their food to digest before nap.  Originally I was a little miffed about it, but now I'm fine with it.  It's only for 20-30 minutes anyway.  

EliseB0323

There's an occassional movie and popcorn on rainy days, but it's not a regular thing.

Printergirl

Not at ours (a center) but the one in-home we were thinking of had one. Not sure what her time policy was for watching was as we decided to go with the center.

madhatter2003

EliseB0323:

There's an occassional movie and popcorn on rainy days, but it's not a regular thing.

Ditto this. On rainy days they have 'movie time' in place of one of their outdoor sessions. They watch Thomas the train, elmo, etc...just short 20-30 minute cartoons.  It's not a daily thing though.

lewis514

EliseB0323:

There's an occassional movie and popcorn on rainy days, but it's not a regular thing.

They have this in our facility as well. They also incorporate it with their lessons/holiday. Yesterday, they had Beauty and the Beast in one of the older rooms but it was very interactive.

azuremama

I was surprised one day when I picked DS up and they were watching tv.  But it was a day that it rained, so they were doing it instead of their outdoor activities.  Even then, they don't do it very often.  I think it had just rained for like a week straight and they needed to mix it up.  Even then, it was some show with songs and the teachers and kids were all singing and dancing to the video.  It's not my favorite thing, but I guess I don't mind once in a while.  My kid wasn't paying any attention to it anyhow.

jellybean529

There's no TV in our toddler room or 2 year old room. I'd be okay with it if it were just at the every end of the day (like after 5:30 or so) but after 2? That might bother me a bit.

jenuine

That would bother me.

DD doesn't watch any TV at home so if she did at school where I pay them to teach her, I'd be miffed. I did not see a TV in any of the centers we toured though. Maybe you can ask to have an alternative activity during TV time, like coloring or reading? I understand needing down time, but there are activities that still incorporate learning in down time.

momofolivia

no way. this would be a deal breaker for me.  we are a no tv family when DD is awake.

Taylor44

No, there isn't a TV at my son's daycare.  I guess I won't be too upset if it was used on rainy days like mentioned above, but how do you know it is only during certain times?  My son watches very little TV and/or videos at home.  I don't think it is a good idea, but at the same time, they do need to entertain for an entire day.  Not completely sure what my opinion is on this topic.

soccermom-to-be

There is TV now that DD is in the 2+ room, there wasn't in her earlier classroom unless it rained for like 3 days in a row and they couldn't get outside.

I don't mind it as it's maybe one time per week and they try to pull it into their weekly learning activity.  For example, this week is 'Camping Week' so they watched a 30 minute Dora video about camping.  Next week it's 'Western Week' so they will probably do an Elmo video about him being a cowboy.  They tell us when and how much TV they watch so I am not concerned.  If it was everyday I would find a new daycare.  

In all honesty, my DD is 2.5 and has little to no interest in TV at this point.  She will ask to watch an Elmo video which we allow once per weekend but after 5 minutes she's bored and playing with her dolls or in her kitchen.  I don't think the 30 minutes/week is melting her brain :-)

flyer23

mrs.tbc:

There's no TV in our toddler room or 2 year old room. I'd be okay with it if it were just at the every end of the day (like after 5:30 or so) but after 2? That might bother me a bit.

Just to be clear. The TV is not on from 2 PM straight till pickup time. I know for sure that they have naptime in there, as well as a snack.

It's also not every day. DH does most pickups, so I should probably ask him how much he sees the TV on. But I've picked up at least 5 or 6 times in the ~5 weeks DD has been there, and I've seen the TV on twice. Other times, DD has been playing with trains, sitting in her teacher's lap reading, coloring, playing with the parachute (THAT was fun, I stayed about 15 mins to play with them ), etc.

jenuine:

Maybe you can ask to have an alternative activity during TV time, like coloring or reading?

They do have alternative activities. The first time I saw the TV on, DD was off coloring. The second time, she was watching. I suppose I could ask them to try and engage her in another activity when the TV is on, but I also don't want to turn TV into something "forbidden" that other kids can have but she can't, you know?

Taylor44:

I guess I won't be too upset if it was used on rainy days like mentioned above, but how do you know it is only during certain times?

I suppose I don't. All I know that the TV is in a separate room, which the director said is only used during extended care. I've dropped in midday before on multiple occasions and never seen any kids in that room.

I just don't know whether I should raise a stink over this, especially since it sounds like a lot of other daycares aren't 100% TV-free either.

fIowerchild

No, none.

YellowBride

We use a home daycare so there is a TV there, but they do not watch it that often. It doesn't bother me though, b/c when they do, it is just a cartoon or movie and DD doesn't pay attention to it anyway!

Mjmksb04

I have an IH daycare so I know occasionally she has the TV on. Honestly, it doesn't bother me. Everything in moderation. If you aren't watching it at home and she isn't sitting them in front of the TV all day, I don't see the big deal.

NWIbride

Not at all at my DD's. They even sent a note home one day saying they would be showing a 30 minute Eric Carle cartoon in a week and if we didn't want our child watching it, they would find an alternate activity in another room.

jlw2505

Mine does not but I know that the daycare that my sister used had movie days and the kids would sometimes watch a short movie or TV once or twice a week towards the end of the day, especially during the winter when they could not always go outside.

blondie75

No televisions at all. 

spunkielexis196

There are 2 TVs in the center, one in the training room and one in the staff lunch room. They did tell us that the "older" kids 4-5 year olds will occasionally get to watch a movie during very slow times, i.e. around Christmas etc. other than that no television is watched by the children at all and I like that.

spider-monkey

Our daycare does not have TVs nor do any of the others that we had considered in the area.

DS watches a little TV at home.

jennynorene

i haven't seen any tvs at our daycare.

AlisaS

No tvs

sara1104

not in DDs room, but I think I they show movies in some of the older kids rooms from time to time

I would be pissed if TV watching was a regular activity

 

Erika&Brian

Yes there is. I'm assuming the other daycare you're referring to is Creme, which is where we go to in Houston :-).

I don't have any problems with it. It's occasional and it can be relaxing to them. Those kids are there for many hours a day, and I think everyone needs some downtime.

I watched TV growing up, and I turned out just fine! 

 I personally would not worry about it, especially since it's not used during hte primary portion of their day.

 

 

Emmasmom30

Yes, they will put on a short Elmo's World or something to that effect on rainy days.

Lulu0802

There is a TV at out daycare.  Yesterday when I came to pick DD up they had the kids watching some singing and dancing cartoon video.  DD was in her bouncy chair not really paying attention anyway. 

It doesn't really bother me though.  We usually always have the TV on in the background at home and we let DD watch Baby Einstein videos once in a while.  She loves them!

I think as long as she's not spending all day every day in front of the TV, then I'm ok with it.

flyer23

Erika&Brian:

Yes there is. I'm assuming the other daycare you're referring to is Creme, which is where we go to in Houston :-).

That's the one! When we visited, we peeked in on a group of slightly older kids, maybe age 3 or 4, in one of their regular room rotations -- it was the theater place, I think. They were watching TV and the director explained that yes, they do that regularly in that particular room. It just surprised me because I never expected to see TV at a daycare center. And like I said, Creme is so well-regarded -- every parent I've talked to loves it.

BTW, I talked to DH about TV at DD's preschool last night... he said the TV is on about 2-3 days/week when he picks up, and DD is usually not watching it.

Angela814

There is no TV at DD's daycare or any of the daycares we toured.  Well, actually one day during Christmas break they watched the movie Babe.  Oh, and another day during the Christmas break time frame (so there weren't many kids actually at the center) they had some kid's program on and had all the kids up and dancing.

TV is not used on a daily basis.  When they break down the classrooms at the end of the day, the kids either have free play inside or outside if the weather is nice.

ruthie oct3

I have worked in several daycares in several different age ranges.. here is my experience.

1-2 and 3-4 yrs old. The kids would watch TV while they were laying down for nap - just for a litttle while to settle them down and then the would nap. They would also watch it around 5:30-6 for any of the ones that were left. They would combine rooms and ages at that time so there were different age ranges.