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Upstate NY Babies
Two*True
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Toddlers and TV
Two*True
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LO has had very limited tv viewing. This is mostly due to our schedule. There hasn't been time in the morning for her to watch it and when we get home, it's dinner, bath and bed.
However a few weeks ago she started showing a real interest. She would pick up the remote and say "on-on" (I will sometimes have the news on while we eat dinner or while I'm cooking so she knows what the tv is obviously - oh and I watched it a TON when nursing her). I decided let her watch a few kids-on-demand shows to see if she even had the attention spam for it. Turns out she does and she really likes it.
The problem is that now she wants it on before work (while eating breakfast) and afterwork (while I'm cooking). I don't know if I want her watching it or not. On one hand knowing that she is sitting on the couch makes my life easier because I can cook with out having to chase her around. On the other hand I like that previously she was up and about and playing with her toys.
So I guess I have a few questions. Is this a phase? Will the newness wear off? Do I limit it to just morning or just after work? Does it really not matter? Is using it as a babysitter while I cook worst-mom-of-the-year material or completely normal?
I don't have anything against tv viewing in general. The only shows I put on are ones I'm okay with her watching by herself. I need some perspective here and I think you all can really help so TIA! :-)
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Re: Toddlers and TV
Well I probably definltey qualify for worst mom of the year. We always have the tv on. While the kids are awake it is either Disney or PBS. Ethan just started to like Sprout. I know tv doesn't substitute teaching but Ethan has learned alot. When he watches OSO he learnt how to make a PB & J sandwich, repair a book, and a bunch of other things. I watched TV when I was younger and I am just fine. He doesn't sit and watch it for 12 hours a day. He will watch a show lose interest go and play, bring us a book and then go back to the tv.
I admit I used the tv alot as a babysitter when I had to take care of Sophia.
I always feel guilty about the tv watching!!! However, unfortunately both my boys love tv. Justin more than Dylan, but I'm noticing Dylan liking it more now that he's getting older. We let them watch it for about ten minutes in the morning while we're packing everything up for the sitter and work. And then we sometimes let them watch a show when I'm cooking dinner. And then if there's time at night after they get a bath and we've read. I would not want my kids in front of the tv 24/7 but I don't think some tv watching is bad. It's nice when they're playing while the tv is on because then it doesn't really seem like they're just glued to the tv. I think it's definitely less in the summer because we can go out and play. Winter is hard!!
I guess I just try to be mindful of it and offer some crafty activities if I think they're watching too much.
Evan watches a moderate amount of tv, and I'm fine with it. He mostly watches it while he plays... rarely will he just sit on the couch and watch a whole show. So he's definitely getting enough exercise/playtime too.
Now that he's in daycare 4x's a week, he watches way less. Usually a show or 2 in the morning (while he eats breakfast and we get ready for work), and maybe one after school. Then we usually have the news on, and he likes to watch Wheel of Fortune with us!
I know the "experts" say that too much tv can limit a toddlers vocabulary, and ability to speak... for Evan that is so not the case. He is a chatter box, and may have been a bit of a late talker to start, but has caught up and then some. I think he learns a lot from the shows he watches. I also like to sit with him and watch and ask him questions, point things out etc.
On the days I'm off, (and back when I stayed home full time) I always make sure we have the tv off a few blocks of time a day. Like this morning- he watched a couple shows while eating breakfast, then we turned the tv on and played w/ stickers and playdough. I turned the tv on while I cleaned up the bathroom and made his lunch, and then turned it off while we ate. Now he's napping and I plan on running to the store as soon as he gets up and then I'll probably put a movie in (he's been asking to watch Lion King all week!) while I prep dinner... then once DH gets home I'll turn it off and they will probably horse around until dinner (the tv is always off during dinner) and then I'm going to get my haircut so who knows what the boys will do... watch baseball I'm sure (Evan loves to watch sports w/ daddy!)
Justin likes TV but it's usually just background noise. It's on all day. When he was an itty bitty and before the babies were born I wasn't nuts about him watching it so much but a loooong winter and then 2 newborns changed that. Oh and Ditto with NikCole said- about TV and speech...Justin's vocab is awesome. He also has a super good imagination- plays pretend/"reads" stories really well.
Actually, Justin is much more into video games than TV now- how's that for bad parenting, lol. It's one of those things I always thought, "I would NEVER let my kid do that"- but he loves it. I try to look on the positive; it's teaching him coordination, patience, problem solving...We've never taught him to play and he's incredible... like beats adults at Mario Kart and could get to the 3rd board on Super Mario since he was 2 1/2.
R loves TV, and it only has gotten worse. He is usually limited to 1 hr in the a.m. and that is Disney Jr. He watched 30 min before bed, and that is typically Diego (the same freakin' episode! lol). Sometimes he watched SuperWhy while I cook dinner, just to keep him out of the kitchen.
When the TV goes off, he begs for more. He only watches more if the weather sucks and I am stuck, he (or me) is sick, or he is watching a movie. He has yet to sit through an entire movie aside from the theater when we saw Pooh.
We limit his shows to Disney Jr, kid movies, or stuff on demand (Sprout, Nick Jr, etc). He has learned a lot, he prefers to count to 10 in Spanish....I didn't teach him that! lol His vocab has been amazing since he could talk, so no problems there! He has been speaking in sentences for a long time. I can have a full conversation with him and he understands everything.
I can definitely qualify for worst mom of the year if it has to do with watching TV. We only let him watch NickJr or Preschool OnDemand, but it's on quite a bit in our house. A lot of the times, it's just me and him after I get home from work, so in order to decompress from the day, get some chores done and get dinner going, etc., I need him to be otherwise engaged. He may sit and just watch because he needs the downtime himself, or he'll play with his toys and basically ignore the TV.
Go with what you're comfortable with. Set limits when necessary. It's not the worst thing in the world.
Chelsea gets to watch tv usually one morning on the weekends. We'll let her watch for about an hour, sometimes two if we are trying to get chores done while Molly is napping. She likes Sesame Street, The Berenstain Bears, Olivia, SuperWhy, and Wonder Pets.
We didn't let her really watch any tv until she was around 3. We only have one tv in the house and it is in an area of the basement where we just don't tend to spend much time. Between playing upstairs or in the playroom, doing crafts, running errands, preschool, library time, etc we just don't tend to be there. I have noticed that once she gets into it, she doesn't want to stop. So by limiting to just one day a week it has become a lot more of a 'routine' for her and she knows not to beg for it the rest of the week.
I'm late to the party but you know L is a tv watcher - he fricken loves oso and you know how chatty Lorenzo is the TV didnt hinder his vocab at.all.
I have been letting him watch a show in the morning then I turn on the music channel so noise is on- then I let him watch when he wakes up from a nap- if he wants and then he'll watch before bed...(not wild about the pre-bed viewing but oh well)
If I were you, I would say no to the TV in the morning while eating breakfast, etc. But I would certainly allow if in the evening when you are working on dinner. Of course you would pick and choose her shows carefully.
I confess we do TV in the car on the way to and from school everyday. If I don't, brianna falls asleep in the car then doesn't take a nap at home.
Talk about mother of the year... We watch football on Sundays, so the TV is on for about three hours and she watches it on and off! One of her words is football and she can pick that football is on epsn or ynn out of the house if it is on television - like a restaurant - or when we put the televsion on to DVR our shows. It's pretty cute that she likes football but she definetly watches more television on Sunday than any other day.
During the week, she watches the Price is Right with my mom and Dino Dan with my DH.
That is the same exact way in our house, too!
M is obsessed (like his father) always has to have it on. although there are times when when i'm home alone with him, i will turn all the tv's off. i have caught him standing in a certain sopt in the living room where he can see both the living toom TV and the one in his bedroom- watching both at the same time. nice.
i'm not anti tv, just anti having it on all.the.damn.time. DH never turns it off. but i have to say that the programs that we let M watch have been benifical to him, esp with his speech and learning his letters & numbers- he knows them all. Word World being #1. he loves it and thanks to netflix we had some 46 episodes to watch instantly till they pulled the plug on that-bastards. now between WW and the LeapFrog frogs M has quite a few DVD's to keep him occupied. he'll sit and watch for a spell then take off and play and go back and forth.
I think kids in daycare are already at an advantage in the tv department (assuming they don't watch tv at daycare). Your kid is already playing all day, learning, and interacting with other kids. I find that unless I have things planned and leave the house, she watches a lot more tv. Summer isn't bad bc she was outside all the time. Now that the weather is starting to get worse though, we have the tv on a lot more. And really, I know that is only going to get way worse when the baby is born AND we are stuck inside. The sad thing is, that she would much rather be playing - blocks, reading books, whatever with me than watching tv. It is one of us offering to turn on the tv about 90% of the time, she doesn't really ask for it that much. She gets excited when we offer, but really she would be more excited if we were offering to do something else I'm sure.
Leah could care less. She's watch it when there is something new on or a song or something that catches her attention..but that's about it.
Evan *could* sit and watch it for hours on end if we let him - with play breaks here and there. Last winter we watched too much. Over the summer we watched a lot less - and I don't put it on in the mornings that we have teachers coming because it's hard to turn it off in the morning for him. But we do put on a show while we are dressing them for nap/bed and brushing teeth and all that. then it's one of Evan's jobs to turn it off before we go upstairs...and he is totally fine with turning it off mid show (and like a pp mentioned...if that started to be an issue I would cut back to almost nothing. I'd love to have it on even less. But I stick to SuperWhy and other shows on PBS, little einsteins..and a couple others. I never plan to put on nickjr ever. and I can take or leave Disney most days. I'd rather him watch 2 hours of PBS then a Disney movie that doesn't really have a lot of educational stuff going on - but we do watch a good amount of movies too - if I go out after DH gets home from work...he'll usually put a movie on for them.
Me too. Since being on bedrest with my pregnancy, DD has been watching more and more tv...especially movies. It used to be just Sesame Street and then maybe Clifford right after...but now it's Wall-E, Beauty and the Beast, Nemo, Toy Story...you name it, she's watched. Every time she gets up, and I go to get her out of bed, the first thing out of her mouth is: "Watch Tangled???" Soooo, um, yeah. I was one of those moms raising my ONE child and really never turned the TV on, until it was necessary...while preg, and now while I feed babies. Some days I just don't turn it on at all. She might spend an entire hour grabbing at me and BEGGING to watch it...but because of how much she does watch...I feel like a bad mommy, and stick with a TV blackout for one whole day. (only have done this a couple times so far) DD sits for MOST of the time, but not all of it...so she's not constantly parked in front of the TV, but yeah, she watches way too much, but she's very smart and knows so many things that I didn't even teach her...so I feel like a little in the AM and little while you're cooking...won't hurt.