Is this a horrible habit?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I will be the voice of dissent I guess. I don’t think this is great for a weekday. If they are doing activities they probably aren’t home for very long. I prefer for my kids to do things like color and draw, read, play with toys together, chat about their days with us. I instituted a no weekday tv rule this school year and I have noticed a massive difference in their behavior and sleep. It’s a lot harder for the parents but I have found it to be worth it.

I will say I think the actual tv is better than a tablet. Even Disney has some stuff that’s not appropriate for an early elementary kid. My seven year old will watch those shows they are aimed more at a preteen with a friend and the sassy back talk definitely seeps into her interactions with us.

OP- yes I would prefer that they didn't watch tv during the week. But during the week I am pretty much solo parenting. So I end up letting them use their tablets/watch tv when I am making dinner or having to take the dog outside to go to the bathroom.

You asked for opinions!

OP - sorry yes I do appreciate your opinion. How do you do it when you are solo parenting? I guess that is my biggest hurdle.

NP, but there's lots of stuff kids that age can do by themselves while you make dinner. Our TV is out of sight and the tablet is reserved for long car rides (and usually not charged in a drawer somewhere), so it doesn't come up. TV is a family activity, reserved for days with no school. The kids read or play with toys.

I don't think it's a huge deal either way (and it's a lot harder to change once the expectation is there), but it's possible,

Op - yes I definitely think it’s hard to change once you start something.

Sometimes I have to walk the dog up and down the street - so I usually make sure the youngest is watching something so I can take 5-10 minutes to do this. I can see the house the whole time but it is my only option.

I’m not anti screens but this is not the only option. Why can’t you take the kids w you while you walk the dog? I live somewhere much colder than DC (upper Midwest) and we go outside for walks daily unless it’s raining or like below zero temps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be the voice of dissent I guess. I don’t think this is great for a weekday. If they are doing activities they probably aren’t home for very long. I prefer for my kids to do things like color and draw, read, play with toys together, chat about their days with us. I instituted a no weekday tv rule this school year and I have noticed a massive difference in their behavior and sleep. It’s a lot harder for the parents but I have found it to be worth it.

I will say I think the actual tv is better than a tablet. Even Disney has some stuff that’s not appropriate for an early elementary kid. My seven year old will watch those shows they are aimed more at a preteen with a friend and the sassy back talk definitely seeps into her interactions with us.

OP- yes I would prefer that they didn't watch tv during the week. But during the week I am pretty much solo parenting. So I end up letting them use their tablets/watch tv when I am making dinner or having to take the dog outside to go to the bathroom.

You asked for opinions!

OP - sorry yes I do appreciate your opinion. How do you do it when you are solo parenting? I guess that is my biggest hurdle.

NP, but there's lots of stuff kids that age can do by themselves while you make dinner. Our TV is out of sight and the tablet is reserved for long car rides (and usually not charged in a drawer somewhere), so it doesn't come up. TV is a family activity, reserved for days with no school. The kids read or play with toys.

I don't think it's a huge deal either way (and it's a lot harder to change once the expectation is there), but it's possible,

Op - yes I definitely think it’s hard to change once you start something.

Sometimes I have to walk the dog up and down the street - so I usually make sure the youngest is watching something so I can take 5-10 minutes to do this. I can see the house the whole time but it is my only option.

Why is her watching TV the only option as opposed to her drawing or playing with Legos?

OP - mostly because if they are watching TV when I walk the dog I know I have a solid 10-15 minutes where they won't be getting into some sort of trouble or hurting themselves. Probably a bad rationale I know.

Earlier you said 5-10 mins now it’s 10-15 so I’m guessing it’s really 15-20…

[Anonymous]

Looking back on my teens' childhood, I know that they gained a lot from free time doing imaginative play, making crafty/artsy things on their own, writing stories, and reading. It can harder than giving them a screen, so you might not be able to make it happen while you're out walking the dog or whatever. But I do think kids need and benefit from time to think and imagine and create things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be the voice of dissent I guess. I don’t think this is great for a weekday. If they are doing activities they probably aren’t home for very long. I prefer for my kids to do things like color and draw, read, play with toys together, chat about their days with us. I instituted a no weekday tv rule this school year and I have noticed a massive difference in their behavior and sleep. It’s a lot harder for the parents but I have found it to be worth it.

I will say I think the actual tv is better than a tablet. Even Disney has some stuff that’s not appropriate for an early elementary kid. My seven year old will watch those shows they are aimed more at a preteen with a friend and the sassy back talk definitely seeps into her interactions with us.

I agree. But I don’t want to come off as judgmental— especially because you have 3 kids and are solo parenting a lot of the time. That is really hard. But I don’t think this is great or “fine.” My family doesn’t do this— we only have the tv on to watch a specific show or movie, so maybe a couple of times a week. I also agree that tv is way better than just giving your kids tablets and letting them do whatever.

But—Is it the end of the world to watch 1-2 hours of tv a day? No, I think we watched way more tv as kids, and it was fine. We have to make imperfect choices as parents and I totally get why you are making this one! But if you have the means to cut down on it, I would try to.

[Anonymous]

Did people here really watch more tv than 1-2 hours a day in elementary school? I don’t think I did! We watched maybe one half hour show after dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did people here really watch more tv than 1-2 hours a day in elementary school? I don’t think I did! We watched maybe one half hour show after dinner.

I did in early elementary - I remember coming home and watching 3 or 4 PBS shows back to back. Then my mom decided we didn't need that much TV and that was that (pretty much for TV at home ever - she didn't do happy mediums).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did people here really watch more tv than 1-2 hours a day in elementary school? I don’t think I did! We watched maybe one half hour show after dinner.

I watched from 4-6 every day after school. The afternoon funnies is what it was called. Different Strokes, Growing Pains, etc. Cartoons for hours on Saturday morning. I have two Master's degrees and it's all good.

[Anonymous]

When my kids were in elementary we had no screens until Saturday/sunday. I was with them from 3:30-7pm without dh and sometimes later. It’s 100% doable. Your house will be messier, but it’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

My take - we didn’t have a tv in our house until my oldest was in middle school. I’m glad we did it I think we had adventurous kids who loved camping. fishing and we spent time with them that we couldn’t get back. We were super anti screen. to this day (they are in high school now) the kids can’t identify most Disney characters.

I will say I don’t think it gave them any real advantage in school or sports although I think they had a easier time with reading in the earlier grades.

But I can say with certainty that it was really hard and only possible because both of us were committed and had a lot of control over our jobs. Our siblings are more liberal with screen time and thier kids are not any worse than ours were at that age.

The biggest plus of no screen time is that our kids never bugged us about the newest toy for Christmas- they weren’t exposed to the advertising so they never knew what they were missing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my kids were in elementary we had no screens until Saturday/sunday. I was with them from 3:30-7pm without dh and sometimes later. It’s 100% doable. Your house will be messier, but it’s worth it.

The bolded is 100% true. And the supervising-the-kids-while-they-clean-up part is the hands-on part of parenting I hate most, but I agree it is worth it.

[Anonymous]

OP I do this too same as you. I try to monitor if they are getting quality independent playtime. If they are still doing self-driven interesting things during other downtime (not organized) I don’t sweat an hour or two a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I do this too same as you. I try to monitor if they are getting quality independent playtime. If they are still doing self-driven interesting things during other downtime (not organized) I don’t sweat an hour or two a day.

Quality independent playtime. That’s a mouthful.