If you said you'd wait til 2, did you (TV)?

JenniferTCU · September 2011

Some parents want to wait until their children are two before they watch TV. Did you do that? If so, how did they respond once they hit two? Jace has always watched TV (insert really ashamed girlie pic here)- about 30 minutes a day (okay maybe an hour). But lately, he's OBSESSED with the Bubble Guppies. It's a big time obsession- one that doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

robynlesley · September 2011

That is the ONE thing I said (no tv) that I broke almost immediately.

Aaron has always watched TV and more than 30 minutes a day. More than 2 hours a day. He watches WAY too much TV.

He's OBSESSED with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. BEYOND obsessed. I can't even begin to tell you.

So don't worry about the hour or the Bubble Guppies. Jace is fine.

Edited to add: Aaron is in therapy with EI and his DI therapist feels that since he interacts with the characters and isn't just staring slack jawed at the TV that it's not doing him any harm and may be teaching him things (ie. shapes).

Pesky · September 2011

Ah, yeah. Started out with the best of intentions. Quickly caved as it meant I could sleep in for at least another 15-20 minutes (bless you, Elmo). I do try to keep what they watch to things their level -- Elmo, Caillou and the like versus Spongebob and cartoons designed for older kids.

BrideBuddies · September 2011

I was one of those, too. And DH still thinks I only let him see bits of Dinosaur Train. In reality, he gets a bit of Clifford, Cat in the Hat and Sid the Science Kid, too. Oh, and SuperWhy.

Fortunately, he mostly just likes the music parts and goes about his "business" when it's just talking and stuff that doesn't interest him.

Unless he's tired. Then it's just Zombie Boy staring at the television.

It beats him being constantly underfoot, which drives me bonkers sometimes. Mommy just needs a minute to pee, okay!

mwd · September 2011

Sesame Street is the only way I am able to get dressed in the morning! Both kids watch it , yeah, I feel guilty. On Sunday mornings the local PBS station has angelina ballerina, thomas, then mr. rogers. I love it.

gimmietimmies · September 2011

We caved, but L wasn't interested until he was 2. We have the TV on with the girls, S isn't interested, but the others are. Usually they take off after 20 minutes to go outside to play, they don't sit still much.

rsrn02 · September 2011

I thought we would wait. But how on earth can I get anything done. I do limit it though. If dh had his way the tv would be on all day. And he's only allowed what we've recorded nothing on live tv so I can determine content is appropriate. Def no sponge bob here much to dh dismay.

Piranha54 · September 2011

We have pretty much stuck with it and it's been easier than I expected. DD gets about 30-60 minutes of media time a week and usually it's pretty close to 30. We have been using an on demand episode of Yo Gabba Gabba to distract her and trim her toes for a while. Sometimes we will watch a show that has gotten a lot of buzz here and see if we like it. And DH likes to play on pbskids online for a bit while he wakes up on his morning with her on the weekends. I guess we've been really lucky - we get up and ready before she does during the week, and she will entertain herself with books, dolls, puzzles, or whatever toy is hot that day while I cook - as long as I talk to her!

vanverth · September 2011

*raises guilty hand*

Michael will come in after daycare and go to the computer and yell until someone puts on Sesame Street or Wiggles on demand videos for him. And I am too tired to argue with him.

superaunt · September 2011

mmm i didn't say i'd wait till 2 so much as i said NO TV before 1. and that i stuck with- very easily. after she turned 1, i still tried to keep the TV off (though she did watch Wiggles videos on youtube since she much smaller- 10 mins here and there), but at about 14 months, when i couldn't take the whining and crying the moment we walked in the door after school & work (because she was tired from school, yet didn't want to nap), i turned on Sprout and we've been hooked on Sprout and Nick Jr. every day after school since. her current obsession is Team Umizoomi. but they teach numbers so i'm ok with it.

Peppernut · September 2011

Margaux is an addict. Word World. Oh MAN!

I didn't mean to, it just kind of happened.

stever · September 2011

M is uninterested in TV(knock on wood). Which is surprising since I'm totally addicted to it.

Puckchick07 · October 2011

Fiona hasn't shown much interest. I usually don't have the tv on during the day and now with #2 on the way, I prefer she doesn't get into the habit of watching it. She loves her books and playing with her dolls...so I'd like to keep it that way for as long as I can.

ScoobyM · October 2011

We were pretty good with Ellie. She did watch from a pretty young age, like 5 months or so, but it was only one half hour video of Baby Einstein and that was it. When she got a little older our nanny would bring back videos from the library - Baby Einstein, Elmo's world, or Brainy Baby, and she'd watch some while her lunch was being prepared, but she usually didn't sit still long enough and would get distracted with her toys. I guess maybe after about a year old she started watching more and now she LOVES Fresh Beat Band. We have about 20 episodes on our DVR and I admit I turn it on for her while I'm making her dinner in the evening. She also occasionally watches Dora and the Cat in the Hat and some of the other Nick Jr shows like Olivia or Franklin, mostly on weekends when she gets me up too early and I'm unable to function, lol. The bad thing is, Noah is now very into the TV. He will sit and watch her programs when they are on. So we have completely blown it with him.

Oh, and now that it's college football season, they are getting to watch that too. :-(

UsedToBeGoldie · October 2011

nope... with DS1 we wanted to wait until 2yo - and then at 9mo he got a stomach virus that he'd puke a lot more when he was moving around- so to keep him still we put on baby einstein - and it was all over from then on

with the twins- it was impossible to keep them from seeing TV b/c DS1 was watching it....

but i'm very picky about what they watch - only shows on Nick Jr and Disney Jr - without commercials - i feel commercials are really the devil... many of the TV shows teach a lot - but ads screw them all up

Griffin watches a few shows now that have commercials- but only on DVR so we skip over them (Batman, Super hero Squad, etc) and i do not let them watch total crap like Spongebob -hell no.

SFAug07 · October 2011

We planned to wait at least until 2. She has still not watched TV, at all, and we are not planning to start it. I am sure she'll ask for it at some point when other kids start talking about TV but right now we are happy that there is no TV on in our house. We also never watch TV ourselves, so she is never exposed to it.

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