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Going TV Free - Have you done it with your kids?
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Anonymous
| I was at home with my daughter full time this summer from April to August and don't watch TV. I do think part of this is just getting used to it. I forgot about it, too. When I am cleaning up or making a meal my daughter is really good about amusing herself - she was 16 months in April. When I am really busy doing things she is fine to amuse herself and this actually improved when I was home. Sometimes she would bring her things into the kitchen and play with me. But I also include my daughter in cooking and cleaning (putting food into the pot or holding onto the vacuum with me, and unloading the dishwasher is a favorite). She loves doing this and of course I encourage it. It is much harder this time of year as I used to go to the park every day over the summer. But drawing, playing with her animals, making food for them, giving them milk, and now putting diapers on everyone. Again, I am so encouraging this as we are expecting her little brother in two months! |
Anonymous
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Our TV died when I was pregnant. We just didn't replace it. 3 years later we have no problem. We have Netflix and watch movies sometimes at night, after the little one is in bed.
BTW, when I'm cooking or cleaning, he "helps" or plays with his toys. |
Anonymous
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Parents interested in this thread might enjoy Susan Gregory Thomas's book, "Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds." She has a lot of discussion about the rise of "educational media" for kids.
I think it was this book that describes results of having tv on in the background. Even if the children seemed to be ignoring the show, the quality of their play (as the researchers defined it) was diminished (e.g. they moved more rapidly from toy to toy and became less immersed in what they were doing). I'm not a SAHM, but I do know that it is more difficult to do household tasks without tv as an option to occupy kids. I shower at night (my preference, actually, but not convenient for everyone) or when dh is watching the kids. My cooking is much less elaborate than I'd like, especially since our kitchen doesn't provide a good view of play areas (though now that kids are 2 and 4 they're better about playing together in another room while I cook). Also, my house is definitely not as clean or organized as I'd like, since we do most of that work in evenings or when both parents are home. However, for us, largely avoiding tv has been well worth it so far. Our kids watch the occasional video when sick or on very long car trips. But it's so nice that it's not part of their daily routine and that they don't ask for tv at home. (As the pp suggested, I'm sure things will change as they get older, and we'll figure it out as we go.) |
Anonymous
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I'm a SAHM who posted earlier about not having TV until ~3ish. To answer a PP question, how do you shower/clean/make dinner/whatever .... the short answer is, I personally cut a lot of that out when DS was younger and needed me more, or needed closer supervision.
So, for example, I can take world's shortest military showers, <3 minutes. I didn't blow dry my hair. There were many days where there was no shower. "Dinner" is/was often yogurt, toast and fruit. Or frozen Trader Joe's. ie, no sauteeing or de-boning chicken. I didn't do housework per se (think, dusting, mopping bathroom floor), because we paid someone else to do that. I found that in retrospect, it's a really short period of time when you "feel like you can't get anything done" because your toddler/baby can't or won't occupy herself. Now my child doesn't even notice that I'm taking a long, luxuriating shower and exfoliating, because he's absorbed in putting together a puzzle, etc. Point being, and feel free to call me a dowdy sanctimommy, I'm not sorry I didn't take the time during those very early years to do chores and apply lovely make-up while our toddler was watching the tube. |
zumbamama
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| I'm not a SAHM nor I have I completely done without the TV, but I do keep it to a minimum. When I need to shower or cook and DH is not home, I give the kids paper and crayons, or open the piano. That entertains them for about a half hour. Legos keeps them quiet too. Now that they are 6 and 3, the older one can read to the younger one. As far as background noise, I have music on more than the TV. It makes them dance and builds their appreciation for different types of music. |
Anonymous
Are there any links or books I can read on this topic? I'd like to learn more. Also, how is this different than listening to music or talk radio. Background noise from the tv is different? |
Anonymous
A quick search on google turned these up. Try them out. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3110483/ http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/article-faq.html |
Anonymous
I'm the first PP in the above quote but I have wondered myself if having, say, The Game on via radio in the background might be equally disruptive as background TV...it tends to mess with my own concentration sometimes, and theoretically adults can concentrate better than tots. But it seems it is sexier to do studies on TV than on other kinds of background noise. I think there are generally positive studies about music for little ones. Anybody got better answers? |
Anonymous
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I googled "infants and tv" and came up with several articles and opinions stating an hour is ok. Apparently babies take in speech, color, emotion and many other positive things from tv. Common sense should be not to let the kid sit in front of the tv all day.
No More TV? In a startling announcement in August,1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics officially recommended that children under age 2 watch no television at all. They pointed to the importance of face-to-face interactions with parents for child development. To me, this new policy underlines the value of each moment with our children, and reminds us that television is a powerful, entrancing influence. Both of these factors should be kept in mind as each family decides what role television will play in their lives. When my children were under 2, they were allowed to watch 1 to 2 hours of selected programming each day in addition to hours of quality time spent with mom or dad. Alan Greene MD FAAP |
Anonymous
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TELEVISION
"My 4-month-old has a great interest in the television and for that he is only allowed to watch Playhouse Disney in the morning while I talk to him about the shows and help him dance. I tried to stop him but he cranes his head to look at it when it is on. I know we all grew up watching TV and we are fine, but my motherly instinct says that if he is this interested in TV this soon it can't be a good thing. Are there any benefits to watching shows made for preschoolers? Are there any negatives?" I think it is a good show if the child is interacting with it, singing along, or dancing along. If the child just "zones-out" and stares at the tube, then you should probably find a different show. This is mainly for older infants that have the coordination to respond. At four-months-old, most infants will just stare, and that's fine, plus it gives mom a break. Dr. Bill |
Anonymous
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I agree. I was thinking about this, and as a SAHM to a 21 month old, esp in the winter, it's HARD to continually entertain. NOt to mention a shorter attention span! Believe me, we do TONS of books, crayons, play doh, blocks, little people toys, My Gym classes, YMCA classes, everything. But honestly, who sings songs for hours on end? My son does not watch much, a little in the morning sometimes and when I'm making dinner. And honestly, he really only watched Sesame Street and Barney... he knew his colors (even random ones like brown and pink), numbers from 1 to 10, whole alphabet by recognition, and a handful of shapes, and I attribute the intriduction of that to Sesame Street. Yes, we do those things together, but he started picking up on that from those shows, and he started watching around 17-18 months or so. Wasn't interested before then.
So what do other SAHM/SAHDs do? We tried to bundle up and walk to the park the other day and he was so bundled that he kept falling over, and couldn't climb up the jungle gym, etc. Maybe it's him and his attention span isn't great, and he isn't that into playing alone for more than, say 15 min. I don't want to constantly hover over him either and do a dog and pony show to entertain him -- I think that could breed the whole bratty notion of he *has* to be entertained and catered to all the time. Just my opinion. Also, seems like the esteemed Dr. GReene and Dr. Sears let their little kids watch... I know to each his own, I am sorry if I'm coming off wrong, but the whole "I sing songs and we play patty-cake all day" seems a little contrived. |
Anonymous
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I am a WM and we do try to keep the TV to a minimum, but not to the extent of most pp's. Most nights and weekends we try to spend as much 1-on-1 time with her not in front of the TV. However, she does spend sometime playing aournd Daddy (& watching a little football) on the weekends. She also watches a little TV in the mornings if she wakes up when I am getting ready for work (6am) and Daddy's not quite ready to get out of bed (usually Disney channel).
She gets no TV at daycare, so I figure were not doing so bad. I don't feel guilty at all letting her watch a little TV while we need to get things done. |
Anonymous
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I don't have a problem with letting my 2 year old watch tv. I let him watch about an hour a day total. On a really bad day when he's very sick with a fever, he's watched more. But usually we're playing with blocks, coloring or running around to shop, playdates, etc.
I think the real problem is when parents use tv as a full time babysitter. The concern is that a child becomes addicted to it and the parent isn't interacting. I've met kids that can name the entire Noggin lineup by age 3. As soon as one show ends, they know what show is next (and can do this all day). That is sad. But if you want to let your kid watch some tv while you make a meal or for some time together (where you can sing and point out letters, numbers, animals, etc -- as we do)...then don't let all these "NEVER LET YOUR CHILD WATCH TV" postings freak you out. Everything in moderation folks. |
Anonymous
| Can I ask what you do when your child is sick? My DD (nearly 2) is currently unwell and not interested in anything. TV is managing to keep her quiet and rested. She watches DVDs (so no ads) as well as PBS Kids things we DVR. Frankly, I would have no idea what to do with her otherwise at these points. |
Anonymous
I really don't understand this at all. I don't think an infant is capable of "watching" tv -- glancing at it occasionally perhaps, but not actually watching it. And regarding the background noise comment: is music background noise? Studies have shown the positive effect of background music (not sure if it was limited to classical music or not) for positive behavior and learning. I watched tv as a toddler -- PBS was actually the pre-dinner babysitter in my house (my sister and I watched PBS and played with toys while Mom cooked dinner) -- and I graduated phi beta kappa and from law school with honors -- so what's the big deal? My 6-month old does not watch tv -- he prefers to look at people, the dog, tots, lights, etc. -- but we do have the tv on a lot -- I don't think he's noticed it (except he did get excited during the SC debate when he heard Hillary speak  Our 4-year-old probably developed an interest in tv when he was 2 or 3 -- ie: he would watch a few minutes of a video or pbs, but then he moved on to playing with toys (and sometimes we left the tv on in the background). So far, I haven't detected any damage. I really can't imagine a toddler sitting still and watching tv for a meaningful period of time (ie: long enough to trouble the experts). Are little ones really doing this?
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