TV Viewing

I would be interested to know too. DS is an early riser so we put on Sky's Playhouse channel - which he adores - and will watch/play with his toys and books in front of it - for a couple of hours.

The rest of the day we're doing stuff, either playing or he is happy 'helping' me while I'm in the kitchen etc. The telly will go on in the afternoon for an hour or so after his nap as he usually wakes up grumpy but he doesn't really watch it intently, it's just on while he plays with his stuff.

I was always going to be a NO TV mum but DS gets so much pleasure from some of the characters (Bear in the Big Blue House) and to be honest, I cannot entertain him every minute of the day, especially in the early morning.

When Thomas is home we have TVNZ6 on with all the kiddy programmes from 6am-6pm. Its always on for background noise - i dont listen to the radio. Thomas will only really sit there and watch postman pat and spongebob, but other than that he doesnt actually pay attention to it!

Bizzy - yay for your sig, 1 week to go! I cant wait for the neighbours kids to go back to school :P

my baby is only really young so he has never watched TV but the rule in our house (and DH is set on it too so wont be changing no matter what) is no TV before the kids are 2. so Mack will probably be 3 since its a bit hard for one kid to be allowed TV and the other not. I dont watch TV when he is out of bed anyway so he doesnt even really know it exists and couldnt care less. he amuses himself really easily with or without toys so once he is big enoughfor puzzles, playdough, drawing etc.. i dont think he'll care about TV at all.

They allowed to watch as much cartoons on a Saturday morning as he wants thgouh cos that is what me and DH had and it was awesome. probably no more than one program per weekday though. we have lots of friends who wither dont let their kids watch TV or dont have a TV in the house at all so its pretty normal to us.

I also used to look after my sisters kids full time and the rules were the same, pretty much no TV except maybe a program a day, we spent all our time doing activities together and i'd just study and catch up on chores when they were asleep or playing on their own

Firstborn was strictly one hour screen time per day including TV, DVD's, computer, playstation or ds, right up until teenage years hit.

Secondborn - this has completely gone out the window and it is more like an hour or so mid afternoon as quiet time then during dinner or if I can hold out that long, post bath (6.30pm) until bedtime. We often turn the TV on early morning and snuggle up watching playhouse disney and/or reading books in the weekends and this can end up extending until mid or late morning.

We are the same as Monikah and Joscia. We don't watch a lot of tv so ds doesn't really know it exists.

DH usually turns the tv on just before 7 to watch the weather and sometimes it stays on but usually we get sick of it soon after and it's off for the night. Now and then we might check out the movies that are on.

Bubs is only 9 months old but I can't see us changing and turing the telly on especially for him. He easily entertains himself and we do things together. To be honest we don't really have any time to sit and watch tv during the day. To much to do round here!

We do tend to have the tv on as background, but apart from the music/dancing shows (like wiggles, hi-5 etc), Nat tends to prefer playing outside most of the time anyway. Even if she asks to watch something, more often than not she'll get bored and go find something else to entertain herself with.

I would have the tv on intermittently for my watching anyway during the day I grew up in a house where we did watch heaps of tv, but tbh i don't see how it has hindered either my sister or I! I control what is on it, and Nat only watches dvd's or tvnz6/playhouse disney which are all vaguely educational.

monikah wrote: They allowed to watch as much cartoons on a Saturday morning as he wants thgouh cos that is what me and DH had and it was awesome. probably no more than one program per weekday though.

Thats a bit of a contradiction isnt it?

not really. weekends are for mucking round and stuff. and we try go on an outing each weekend as a family (normally sat afternoon) ie. park, pool, zoo, library etc...

i do think adults need some time to do stuff ie. lawns, decent clean up of house, things that dont really get done during the week cos of work and sutff. kids arent allowed out of their room til 7 and it would be off again by 12 and i think 5 hours of tv at the very most is less than a lot of kids watch. i totally dont mind how much TV other kids watch or what other parents rules are, this is just the way we want to do it.

wow monikah - dont take this the wrong way but you sound like a strict parent. have you got a plan for what to do if the kids dont want to stay in their room till 7?

she watches HI 5 most mornings if up in time....otherwise tv is just on in bedroom while we are getting ready....

afternoons if tired she will ask for a dvd..otherwise none really...dvd is usually watched for 10 - 20 mins if that and then she is off doing other things...she will watch a whole movie on way to beach in car tho....kinda force her to do it for my sake LOL!

we dont have sky and i refuse to get it - esp the cartoon network - believe it or not we have a kid at DC who has an american accent from watching too much of it before she started at DC! ugh!!!!