Comments on: There’s No Such Thing as No TV

By: Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall (Giveaway) « reanbean

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall (Giveaway) « reanbean — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:13:25 +0000

[...] while back, I was thinking about introducing my kids to a few children’s television programs, but shortly after, I found that my kids were just as entertained by their CD of nursery rhymes. I [...]

By: nonlineargirl

nonlineargirl — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:45:33 +0000

I am trying to hold out on TV until my babies are 2. My 4 year old watches tv almost daily, which is too much in my opinion, but also admittedly a good way to keep her occupied while I am taking care of the babies and can't focus on her completely. .-= nonlineargirl´s last blog ..A Friend =-.

By: Terzah

Terzah — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:53:25 +0000

My husband and I don’t watch TV (though we do rent and watch DVDs), so it wasn’t hard to keep it off when the kids were awake as babies, and we’re still doing this now. My 3-YO twins have never watched videos or TV beyond snatches of the Super Bowl and the World Series (because their dad watches these every year), plus the occasional ambient TV in other people’s houses, church nursery, restaurants etc. I don’t stress about ambient TV–they’ve never asked to watch at home, and when they do, my answer will be “We just have different rules.” My plan is to keep it that way until they can read to themselves (age 7?). Then we’ll start to let them watch educational stuff and age-appropriate movies. Why do we do this? The research points toward neutral-to-negative influence from TV, and I think just subjectively that TV (especially ads but also shows) destroys brain cells–so much of it is so stupid. Also, I find with little kids that it’s much easier to just go all or nothing with things–either something is allowed or it’s not, it’s done or it’s not (sort of like car seats; they’re just done, and never questioned; wish I had done this with sugary foods!)–eliminates arguing and whining because they don’t know they have something to whine about! When they’re older and (hopefully!) more reasonable, moderate TV will be fine with me. I, too, am a Gen X-er practically raised on bad TV. I did fine in school etc., but I often wonder if I’d be more creative and less scattered if my formative years had been spent playing outside rather than parked in front of Scooby Doo and the Brady Bunch.

By: Alison

Alison — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:39:36 +0000

Hot topic! I’m putting my two cents in just because I think it’s good for moms to talk about this honestly. Although I have to admit, I usually downplay the amount of tv my boys watch. They are two years old, and started watching cartoons around 18 months old – started at 10 minutes a day, and am now at about 45 minutes a day. Yes, it is probably too much, but as some other posters mentioned, it helps me to keep my sanity and to mother better the rest of the time.

By: Kristin from Intrepid Murmurings

Kristin from Intrepid Murmurings — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:21:42 +0000

I definitely set limits on TV time, but let my kids watch from about 10 months on. At first 30 min or less, but once they were a 18 months or so we went to an hour.

I’ve found working into our routine works best, so that they don’t keep pestering me for it all day long. For the longest time, that meant my oldest got to watch in the morning when I put my twins down for AM nap (which meant my little ones didn’t really watch until 18 months or so) . Now that all 3 are watching, I still usually do it at the same time, in the AM. They either watch one longer show or two half hour shows.

Our favorites are: Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Maisy Mouse DVDs & Signing Time for the little ones, and all those plus Sid the Science Kid, Dora or Curious George for my 3 year old. We sometimes get DVDs from the library with old or new favorites we know from books. We don’t watch anything with commercials yet. Hoping to keep it that way.

I think TV is a great tool to use, to help get some “down time” (sanity time) or to get stuff done, shower or tend to younger sibs. But also not necessary, at all. I’m all for pulling the plug occasionally to “reset” expectations….
.-= Kristin from Intrepid Murmurings´s last blog ..A Post About Puke =-.

By: Quadmama

Quadmama — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:37:23 +0000

We didn’t watch any TV during their first year, mainly because we didn’t have cable. After that our viewing was limited too mainly DVDs (Dora and Sesame Street were top picks for my daughters). Due to my husband’s current job we now have free cable. I’ve had to work really hard to make sure we don’t go on TV overload, mainly because there are so many shows they never knew existed. It’s easy to get caught up in “I’ve never seen this one before.” Fortunately my daughters are easily distracted by other activities, so it has been a major issue… yet.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:58:02 +0000

My 19 month old girls watch some Sesame Street and Baby Einstein about 30 minutes/day, but sometimes an hour. We don’t have the TV on at other times of the day [we don't watch tv] so I don’t really feel bad, honestly. It helps me most days to be a better mom. Most of the time they watch 15-30 minutes before dinner only while in their high chairs because I simply can’t safely/timely prep dinner with them running around or hanging on me.

By: Ellen K.

Ellen K. — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:20:53 +0000

I’m one of the TV-using moms, usually for 30 min here and there. It gives me a brief break to work out and shower while my 15mo girls are in their pack & play and to put one down for a nap without being distracted by the other. One twin is more into TV than the other. My girls liked Baby Einstein during their first year — now they are most entertained by the Baby MacDonald and Neighborhood Animals DVDs — and they like Nanalan on the PBS kids station. Also the opening credits for Yo Gabba Gabba, and if one girl wakes up too early, I know that Blues Clues is on at 6 am.

Now, I do NOT like how much TV they see when they are at my in-laws’ house. It’s on all. day. long.

I know what the research says. But I also know that I both need and deserve to work out and take my 7-minute shower in peace.

By: diane

diane — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:44:30 +0000

My boys (age 29 mos) LOVE to watch Thomas the Tank Engine and so we own many VHS and DVD of Thomas. I think it has actually improved their language skills as they can say lots of words from the shows. I am “THAT” mom who probably allows more TV than most. I also have an older son and they end up watching what he watches and I’m just not sweating it, they are happy well adjusted – talking well- and mostsly are still playing while the TV is on. To moms out there who feel guilty about that 30 minutes or so of TV- my advice is Lose the guilt! You deserve that 30 minutes so don’t sweat it.

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:10:41 +0000

My kids didn’t watch any TV until they were almost 3. My husband and I don’t watch much TV ourselves and our TV is upstairs (with bedrooms downstairs) so they just never saw it. They were always good nappers so I had a break when they napped. Once they dropped their naps, we started doing about a half hour of TV in the afternoon so they could have some down time and I could have a break. I wanted to limit how much TV they watched, but not turn it into some forbidden (and thus extra attractive) thing. No commericals tho! They watch videos/DVDs and Sesame online and sometimes funny things on youtube (that I have screened first). We also have a DVD player for the car, but we only use it on long trips. Now that has been a life saver since we have made monthly trips to NYS (6 hours each way) for the last year. Scholastic makes some really cute animated stories of their favorite books which I love myself. I don’t like Dora, Diego, Thomas etc. tho the kids do watch Thomas sometimes. Spot the dog is good too – really simple and they find it funny.