oh dear, oh dear....

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2003
oh dear, oh dear....
5
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 7:31pm
gggrrrrr.....I am so mad I could spit!!!

This past weekend, dh & I left our 16 month old dd at dh's dad's house because we are renovating our new place we bought, and we also had a wedding to go to. Anyway, I normally don't have dd watching tv. The odd time she will watch one of my shows in the evening, but I have tried really hard to have her not exposed to it. After bringing her home, all she has done is stand in front of the tv hitting it and screaming for me to turn it on. Fil said he put on the Treehouse kids channel for her all weekend!!!! At least it was kids programs however, I guess it could have been worse!!!

How do I get her to "forget" that tv exists??? I tried taking her across the street to the park, but that was a no go. My poor baby is ruined!!! lol.

Any tips or advise, or should I just let her stare at the tv until she gets cross eyed, or sick of it?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2004
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 7:50pm

Lesely,


This is just my opinion but I would let her watch a few hours of Tv a day. It is really WHAT they are watching. For instance on pbs channel I do not have to worry about violence in commercials. I am very strict on what kind of shows My kids watch. They do not watch it until I watch it. We do not let them watch any cartoons with daily violence in it. My kids watch pbs during the day and later watch shows like, Mr. Ed, Green Acres and such. They air on a station that does not allow any sort of questionable advertising. My older ds actually learned quite a lot by watching Tv. He is 7 now and one of the most well rounded children I know.


I would totally recommend you watch any cartoon first, you would be shocked by some of the content of seemingly harmless shows.

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Avatar for sherrieann
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 9:13pm
I would allow Dora or Blue's Clues or Sesame Street for this age and only for maybe an hour tops ALL DAY! My kids are in for a rude awakening with their TV watching and video game playing. They are doing this entirely too much and need to be doing other things - drawing, reading, playing board games or just plain playing outside or riding bikes. Only problem w/outside right now is that it's still so dang hot down here in S Texas and the mosquitos are getting bad too.

Good luck but don't give in to her all day whining for the TV but just appease her yearning for it by letting her see a little age appropriate shows - even if it's every other day.

Sherrie =}

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Wed, 10-06-2004 - 8:33am
I really dont have much advice.
I think my oldest starting watching the PBS station here when he was about 3.
I don't think he watched any tv before then.
I agree with another poster, its not that they watch tv, its what they watch.
She might learn something from watching a educational show.
I think you should regulate how much time, but might not do much harm if she watches a hour or two a week.
Good luck.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-09-2004
Wed, 10-06-2004 - 10:56am
My DD had the same problem, glued to the tv, her bialogical mother did it to get her out of her hair or shut her up. So DD watched tv for 8-10 hours a day. When I first got here and me and DH got serious once we got married it stopped. How? I took the TV away. She wined and compalined alot (ps shes 6) in the begining so after a week of her complaning she started to get a time out everytime she wined about not having her "precious" TV. I don't watch alot of TV niether does DH maybe CSI and JAG or CNN. Then she got sneeky and keeping giong across the street to play and watch that kids tv (the mother didn't know shw asn't alowed to have it, then when she did she still let them watch a movie, but really she made it the same movie over and over it was really background noise) What does she do? she plays in her room, colors, has educational toys computers or reads. When its nice out once in a while she will go ride her bike with a neighborhood kid. She also has laundry to put away and homework to do.

Now my bestfriend thought Iwas being mean by takeing it away, her son also had a TV well he started acting up alot a few months ago so I told her Take it away, she did and do you know after 2weeks he didn't miss it. Now DD will come watch movies with us or we will sit down and watch Football. Also they are YOUR kids and wiether or not someone is babysitting for a favor or $$ they still need to adhear by your rules. Once in a while she will bring up her tv but only when she has to clean her closet b/c its in the back, remember "out of sight out of mind" well I hpe this helps, this is just what I do.

Niki~
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2004
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 12:08pm
My littlest one is 18 months, she just started watching Barney and Sesame Street. She really gets into the singing and dancing. My 8 yo and my 11 yo get to watch a half hour in the morning before school-- IF they get up and get themselves moving on time. If we are running late NO TV. They also get to watch some on weekend mornings and weekend evenings we sometimes have a movie night. We have started playing games on Friday and Saturday nights and I have noticed less fighting between them and less wanting to run out on family time to see the neighbor kids, and mostly less asking for the TV. The baby also has a couple of Baby Einstein videos and a Sesame street video she has started watching. Plus, a couple of videos from Baby Laureate called "For the Love of World Art" and "For the Love of World Travel". They incorporate music with art and live action footage. HIGHLY recommend them. Otherwise I agree keep the TV off. But if you don't allow it at all, eventually your kids will find ways to watch like sneaking to the neighbors or staying the night at friends and just vegging out and missing time playing with the other kids.