This might be a controversial one!

a friend of mine has a little boy that's only a month older than Ava (18 months) and she was telling me that she watched Cars dvd with him 2 times in a row. What's your opinion, how much TV is too much?

i have a child obsessed with the tv, so we ration it, rich is allowed to watch about an hour on a night, and an hour or so weekends.

but we watch films alot, it keeps him calmish.

but for little ones, i think its good to get in a routine to watch a couple of programmes a day,

when rich was little cbeebies or nick jr was on constantly for background noise, but he never sat and watched it for more than 2 mins at a time then.

i wouldnt watch a film then watch it again though, just purely out of boredom,

i put the tv on in the living room on disney junior for lucas while we eating, he loves it and thats about 20 mins, but i know hes safe and he likes it

i don't think that's a bad thing if it's a one off...we'll occassionally have a play morning and then an afternoon for chilling watching dvds...and this only happens once a month or so


we have tv on in the background all the time but lewis doesn't pay much attention and it's a good distraction to get lily-ann doing her physio(gives her a reason to bring her head up etc)

Dylan loves tv he would sit all day if i let him, Tyler is not as keen but will still watch it, but finlay has no interest in tv he def wouldn't sit through a movie twice in a row and he loves cars but he would rather play with them than watch them lol x

Alfie loves the tv. He stands in front of it and dances to mickey mouse, handy manny, special agent oso. We normally have it on for an hour on a morning and then on a night when we get in from work. He'es only interested if Disney is on tho - if we switch it onto one of our channels he wanders off so its quite easy to control. I think its fine to have dvd days tho x

I wish Noah would watch tv for 5 mins let a lone movies lol. I cant wait to watch movies with Noah.

I know i watch far to much tele lol



Char

Callum loves his tv we actually have it on more then normal as it keeps him calm altho i do break it up now he wil watch abit once hes woken in the morning and then again when he wakes frm his nap then for 15mins while he eats dinner x

E has a couple of shows she watches. So she has those on. We normally go for a walk in the morning so it's on and off in the afternoon. Normally they're out in the garden. E has picked up quite a lot of words from cbeebies. She's not glued to it though.

Imogen loves watching films so sometimes if she's being a pain or i need to do something i'll put a film on and then she'll often ask for another but I try not to let her watch 2 in a row. Sometimes if it's a really rainy day at the weekends we have a movie day the three of us snuggled up but generally I try not to let her watch too much tv though (as in 2 or 3 films in a row or constant stream of shows) as I don't want her attached to it. Luckily not much holds her attention just the few films she likes and one or two kids shows.

Most days she has a bit of tv in the morning and a bit in the evening when I'm cooking dinner and I think thats fine.

Izzy has never sat for more than 20 minutes of the same thing...so would never watch a whole film.


The TV doesn't come on in here until 12 midday, I then pop it on so I can get lunch ready in peace (kinda ) then it goes off during lunch and comes back on after lunch for about half an hour we sit quiet before she goes for her nap.


Then off again til about 5.30pm when I'm making tea...after tea she sometimes watches the bedtime thingy and then its off at 7pm.


She then watches an episode of Rupert Bear (10 mins) while I baby feed her cereal in her room (so she doesn't get milk all over her!)


So in all the TV is on for max 3 hours a day while I am cooking etc

I think its ok as an odd treat. C is allowed tv from when we get up (by the time they are dressed and had brekkie maybe 8-830) til 10am then 6pm til bed but she does sometimes earn extra for good behaviour. And I know Neil lets her watch more tv than me so she tends to watch cars or toy story on daddy days. Tv gets bashed an awful lot but its only a bad thing if you plonk em infront of it and ignore em. As a tool to get 5 mins peace to load dishwasher etc its invaluable and can be really eductional if good quality tv is used and you interact with them. Beebies has helped me teach c days of the week, shapes, colours, numbers. She constantly surprises me with what she picks up

^ I totally agree with that it can be a great way for kids to learn. I think it only becomes too much when they're watching garbage tv all day and parent is ignoring the child.
Imogen has learnt lots from Cbeebies, Show Me Show Me and Mr Tumble especially seem to teach her lots.

I havent really took much notice how much they actually watch it, but one of the tv's is on in our house pretty much all the time although they all like different stuff so its not always the same child watching it iykwim lol x

ava watches tv, usually when i need to do something like the dishes, she wouldn't sit there for more than 20 mins (mr tumble) there's no way she'd sit through a full dvd never mind watch it twice.

i think im the same as char - elijah has no interest at all in tv (which i think is a good thing) if im cooking or washing up he is happy to play with pans and wooden spoons or trying to climb up my leg/switch the washing machine on and off

i think when he is older it will be nice to watch a dvd or something together but we do try and have the tv off through the day and just before bedtime. he will watch a couple of sesame street songs or half a peppa pig on youtube if he is sat on our knee but only if he is sleepy

i do think at 18 months 2 films in a row is too much personally, there are loads more fun and interesting things you can do! but i also see that sometimes its nice to have sitting down time (probably moreso when they are older)

We have milkshake on first thing and then we switch over to cbeebies, which is on for the rest of the day.



Not that they actually watch it. It is background noise and Aimee tends to only watch Peppa Pig and sometimes ITNG. Lily likes Thomas the Tank Engine and Waybaloo. Then its play time for the rest of the day.



I could never get Aimee to sit for 10 minutes to watch a programme, let alone to watch a film.



x

Hannah would watch dvds and she would happily watch them again and again - wizard of oz, rapunzel, enchanted and beauty and the beast are the ones she can watch over and over again.

but I only allow this as an odd treat. we rarely get lazy days anyway so its quite nice to sometimes just chill out for the day.

x

i can't wait for benji to be intersted in tv lol he only likes waybuloo (literally the only thing he'll watch!!!) i know the shoehorsn episode off by heart
he does like the theme tune to in the night garden, but i HATE that programme lol

i can't wait to show him all the lovely disney movies

i think letting kids watch tv all day is a bit OTT, and 2 films one after the other is a little excessive, but then again, isn't that what we do ?? lol xx