Toddler moms, are you just allowing screens?

[Anonymous]

Ha! My toddler has been whining for screens for awhile, but I told her she has to pick up first. She has zero desire to do this, so she keeps wandering off and playing independently.

That's what I call winning. By the time she does pick up it will be what I like to call "device o'clock,"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew so in the ‘60’s and watched television every day, as much as I wanted. I turned out fine. I never restricted my kids and they grew up, graduated college and are very successful. You moms are nuts to be so obsessed with screens. I still love television today.

I’m okay with TV but I don’t like iPads. They are more addictive than TV.

Plus, I didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up, and I went to Stanford. What does that mean?

[Anonymous]

Oh my God yes.

No guilt. NONE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. As much as she freaking wants. If she wants to watch Cocomelon for hour-long stretches, we go for it. I actually find that by letting it run ad nauseum she gets bored and wanders away to do her own thing surprisingly quickly anyway so it's not hours of slack-jawed staring, although she notices right away if it gets turned off, ha. So, I've been mentally singing this insane song about "dinosaur rulers" jump, jiving, and wailing for the past week and a half. So it goes.

I’m finding the same thing too with my 2 and 4 year old. The novelty of screen time day in and day out is wearing off although it’s frustrating because my 2.5 year old doesn’t have much attention span for anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew so in the ‘60’s and watched television every day, as much as I wanted. I turned out fine. I never restricted my kids and they grew up, graduated college and are very successful. You moms are nuts to be so obsessed with screens. I still love television today.

I’m okay with TV but I don’t like iPads. They are more addictive than TV.

Plus, I didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up, and I went to Stanford. What does that mean?

It means nothing. I watched a ton of TV growing up, and I graduated with honors from Andover, magna cum laude from Georgetown SFS, and with honors from UChicago.

My sister watched the same amount of TV and has a PhD from Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

My 4 and 7 year olds used to get one show a day on weekdays, and two on weekends. Now they watch fewer actual shows, but get more screen time. My 4 year old has a preschool Zoom that is usually about 15 minutes in the morning, watches a 20 minute preschool circle time on youtube, and occasionally we let her play a game on the PBS Kids app. My 7 year old has 45 minutes of distance learning and usually plays a math or reading game on my iPad for 30 minutes. They both also have a twice a week online dance class, and sometimes do audio/visual books on my computer.

[Anonymous]

I echo what an earlier poster said... I tell my 3 year old she has to clean up her toys before watching TV. She does end up picking up her toys and then I feel slightly less guilty about watching TV in the middle of the day because I feel like we accomplished something to get to that point. But yes, she is watching way more TV than usual. I'm pregnant and I just want to friggin relax on the sofa--turning on the tube is the only way I can do that for a longer period of time. You gotta do what you gotta do!