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Television - good or bad??

Hi ladies ,

I was just after different opinions really as to what you let your los watch, does it do anything to help and how much really.

I can honestly say H has never watched any of the baby programmes - in the night garden etc.

This is not because we are super strict and dont allow it but because we never seem to have time. He is usually quite happy playing on floor with toys or in cot and would not sit still to watch it ( and wwhen it is on its his naptime anyway or we are out) and at bedtime his rountine has been in place since he was about 8 - 12 weeks and whilst its not rigid, as it works we have never bothered to vary it to include a episode of in the night garden etc. We stick with story books as he giggles and enjoys them.

I am wondering if not exposing him to different mediums ie/ moving images would slow development?
Should I be making an effort to put a dvd on when he is playing on the floor and let him watch and play??

Any thoughts I would be interested in x

Replies

  • tbh if he is happy as he is then no i personally would not put the tv on. when its just me and lizzie ta home we dont have the tv on but when my 5 year old is home she likes to watch 30mins after school and an hour before bed, in between those times she plays,does reading,writing and stuff like that but I have no problem with her watching it.
    she also was never one for childrens programmes and still now she would rather watch dr.who than a children programme, altho at the moment she is enjoying tom and jerry after school!
    I dont think it will slow their development by not watching it x
  • Hi,
    We put on the Baby Einstein DVDs from when our daughter was about 5 months old. She would happily sit in her bouncy chair for a whole 20 minutes watching them. She is now 17 months old and is not so interested, so we don't bother now. But it was a useful thing hor her to focus on when young and learning things too. Some tv is good I think, but not necessary. x
  • Don't know how it would slow development my nearly 2 year old daughter has learnt so much from watching programmes such as Something special which teaches sign language and I can honestly say she is defintely not a slow developer she talks like a child in reception class at school (hv words not mine!) and she crawled and walked very early too and she can sign lots of words none of which we have taught her! She has also picked up things like drawing circles and "wavy lines" from the Squigglet programme! We don't have tv on all the time but when it is its generally childrens' programmes.x
  • Tv these days is a lot better than it used to be and it can be quite educational, but I certainly wouldn't worry about him not watching any, one to one interaction is always going to be better than tv. And I'm sure as he get older he will watch plenty.
    If I need to pop and hang the washing out or something then I'll put tv onto a baby channel so she has some 'company' but its not for very long.
  • I never used to put CBeebies on but have started to recently after other mummy friends said how much their babies enjoy it. I've actually been impressed with how educational lots of the programmes are. And also things like Tweenies do songs with actions which is really fun and we do it together. So I don't just dump her down and leave her. She loves it.

    We don't watch much - Tweenies in morning then it's on in the lounge while we eat in kitchen so we 'hear' Tinga Tinga, Chuggington and Zingzillas in the background and I attempt to sing the theme tunes to her and dance around to entertain her while she eats! Then in evening after her dinner we catch the end of Zingzillas. It's started to really become part of our 'routine' now and I actually look forward to seeing The Big Zing after dinner! Plus the TV really helps keep her happy to lie on her back so I can change her nappy!

    She loves the singing at baby groups so I want to buy the sing and sign DVD for us to watch together too.

  • Thanks for your replys. I do think tv has come a long way since I was little and a lot of the programmes now are put together to asssit development. If we are in I think i will try and see if he likes some of the programmes. but if hes remains not bothered I will just let him get on with his toys for now. Im sure I will no doubt be bribing him with it soon enough anyway and in later years yelling at him to switch over to 'my' programmes lol. Have seen the baby einsteing dvds as well and like the look of those so may give those a try.... unless any one has any other recomendations ?

  • i usually have the tv on in the day but try to had DD facing away from it if she is sitting on the mat playing as she is just like her daddy and once she starts watching something she has to watch to the end! lol

    however when she does watch tv she really really doesn't like children's/baby tv. she would rather watch any form of sports or a show called the lion man.

    i don't think tv is bad but i don't want to encourage her to watch too much until she is old enough to understand sitting in front of a tv all day is bad for her.

    tv is good in moderation i think but it doesn't really matter if they don't watch watch any at all! x
  • My lo's nearly 16 months, we didn't bother with any tv until a couple of months ago as he wasn't interested. He now watches big barn farm which he absolutely loves-he dances to the music, points, tries to make the animal sounds, I can't see how it would cause him any harm at all. He watches 1 episode during the day with me and as he's a very early riser (4.30 at the moment!) he watches it with his daddy when they get up together (I don't think anyone would have the energy for anything other than cbeebies at that time in the morning!)

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