What age did your kids start watching television?

[htmom]

My oldest was around a year. I'm not sure about the middle one. The youngest was nine months. During breathing treatments. The doctor actually joked to go buy him a DVD on our way home from her office because corralling a little one for breathing treatments can be a pill. It was funny because she said "go get a yo gabba gabba DVD, its annoying but the little ones love it". She was right. I popped in the DVD and he crawled over to the couch and tried to get in your lap everytime.

 

[lauradis]

I don't remember what age but do have pictures of kids under one sitting on dads lap watching tv.

I'm not a fan of **** tube, rather read or do something else.

The tv was always on when they where little.

Op I see nothing wrong with kids or baby's watching tv. If you get a fast shower without screaming kids do it.

I'm just wishing the dog would watch tv too so I could go to the bathroom or take a shower without her coming in the bathroom when I forget to lock the dog.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

We swore up and down no screen time until 2 years old. That lasted 2 months until we discovered that BabyFirst TV could keep her attention for a few minutes while we got stuff done around the house. At 8 months she now gets a max of 2 hours a day, usually less, and it is broken up into little chunks. She also plays some of the BabyFirst apps on our phones our iPads if we are in a desperate situation (think middle of the sermon at church when we've gone through all quiet toys, books, and snacks volume urned off of course). She actually likes the TV less now that she plays independently with toys.

But when she is bored with our toys and need to get the dishes done BabyFirst TV comes to our rescue. God bless you, Harry the Bunny.

 

[DawnM]

Probably as soon as they wanted to.

I didn't grow up with TV and I don't feel that I am any better or worse off for it. I watch TV now but not more than I should.

All things in moderation.

We do not have cable or satellite.

BTW: My two older children don't watch TV at all. No Netflix or Hulu or network TV. They don't like it. They do play video games and much prefer that.

 

[aprilchem]

We don't have "TV" (ie cable or such). So actually, my 12 year old has never watched a tv show yet. They have all seen movies however. We started allowing them one a week around age 4.

We were not a TV or movie watching couple before kids, so nothing has really changed after kids. I don't feel like my kids are missing out, although I have had MANY, MANY parents object to the fact that I don't show them tv shows or that I didn't allow them to watch anything until they were 4. And even now that I only allow one a week. I am always shocked by how much others cared. I don't care what others do. But I think in our society we are seen as weird.

We don't watch TV either. We waited until the recommended 2 years old to expose our oldest to TV, but decided to get rid of cable shortly thereafter. Ours are now 4, 6, and 8 and have never really watched TV - they've seen it at the doctor's office, at friends houses, and in hotels, but it's not something we really do at home. They occasionally are allowed to watch a movie or an episode of a show on Netflix on the weekends, maybe a couple of times a month or so.

I've also experienced judgement (especially from my mom and my MIL) but in our circle of friends it's not really that weird. I work in a department of 5 professors and only two of us even own a television. And I don't judge others who watch TV, it's just not right for my family.

 

[HM]

I have no idea. We did not have cable when they were babies/toddlers. (They are now 18 and 20). I do know that at age 2, my DD could run the VHS player....

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

It is nice to see that no one is judging each other on here! When I saw the title of the thread I totally expected it. I can't remember how old my son was, but it was young. Baby Einstein, etc. He seems to be just fine at age 8!

I was worried, too. When my daughter was 6 months, I was at a playgroup and mentioned that we propped her in front of a Little Einstein's DVD for 10 minutes the night before so my husband and I could eat supper at the table together for once. She absolutely freaks out about how terrible that is for my child and that she was going to end up with ADD, needing glasses, and all sorts of other things. I was worried that would happen here and am glad to see the responses are all positive.


As for my daughter, I was watching Golden Girls reruns when I would nurse her, so she's bee exposed to it since birth. Now, as for her watching her own shows, she started watching Baby Einstein at about 6 months and transitioned to PBS, Disney Jr., Nick Jr., etc. sometime around 18 months.

 

[lizabu]

In my house the TV is pretty much always on. I remember thinking Teletubbies were great because I could take a shower or wash some dishes while they were on.

 

[Katy Belle]

My oldest was about 25 months, right after I had his brother. I would let him watch 30 minutes of Barney or Thomas the Tank Engine about every other day, in the beginning. It quickly escalated from there.

Second baby...I have the cutest photo of he and his big brother, laying on their bellies, watching Thomas the Tank Engine together...he was about 6 months old.

Third baby...I guess instantly. He had a 2yr old and 4yr old brothers, that watched about an hour or two a day. He lived in the same house, so he was watching too.

My middle one gave up that second nap at 10 months and gave up naps for good at 20 months...I feel your pain! Sometimes you MUST have a few minutes of alone time.

 

[soccerdad72]

Honestly, I don't remember.

I guess it was whenever they were interested in it.

 

[eliza61]

LOL. my kids were late bloomers not because of any great parenting on my part but because our first house was a row home and the home at the end of the row caught fire, long story short, fire and water damaged all the units so we moved into an apartment with no tv. Have no idea why we just didn't buy a small one.

not sure but I'm going to say maybe 3.

I totally agree with other moms though, I would have let Satan watch the kids some days just to get 10 minutes on the toilet by myself

 

[fairestoneofall]

My oldest was around 2 before she started. The younger two were younger since they'd see it as their sister (and then brother) watched.

 

[cdndisneymum]

My son was 2 when my daughter was born; I breastfed, so allowing him to watch tele allowed me to nurse her without disruption.

Have a magical day!!

 

[BadgerGirl84]

DD is 8 months. I don't purposely turn on many shows for her to watch. I do watch a show when I am giving her her bottle and I'll have the news on in the living room in the morning when she is playing on the floor and I'm doing stuff in the kitchen.

I think I've turned on a show for her to specifically watch twice--Dora when she's been sick and has just wanted to be held. I don't really know when I'll start having her watch a show on a regular basis. Maybe 2? But then with future kids, that goes down the tubes because it's not like you will have the older ones stop watching.

I see nothing wrong with a show here or there for maybe up to an hour a day when they are little as long as they are doing lots of playing and interacting the rest of the day with mom/dad/caregiver.

 

[mjkacmom]

I'm going to say 2 months with my oldest, and birth with the rest. I had a sesame street video that I would put on for her about 45 minutes before her morning nap (it was about 20 minutes long). She watched it every day, at the same time, for a couple of years. While she watched, I cleaned up from the morning. I have video of her clapping to it as a baby, and dancing to it as a toddler.

Today, she's 17, and rarely watches tv, doesn't play video games, and rarely watches movies.

 

[laughinplace199]

I totally agree with other moms though, I would have let Satan watch the kids some days just to get 10 minutes on the toilet by myself

 

[nugov2]

I think my dd was a few months old and started watching the baby shows(probably an hour total all day though). I like having the tv on for noise all day...though sometimes it is music. My kids are 3, 7 and 9 and watch a lot more than is recommended, especially during the long winters. My older two were never toy players. They like puzzles, games, crafts, cooking etc. and we do spend quite a bit of time doing these things. When it is really cold I fill up the tub in the kids bath with snow so they can play anything I can think of to keep them entertained for big chunks of time. Even with all of that 12 hours is a lot of time to fill and they do watch several hours of tv or electronic games. It helps now that they have friends over more, but the friends want to watch tv or play video games too. It doesn't worry me though, when the weather is nice they never pick tv over outside. All three are active kids who love to read and my youngest does love toys and will spend hours with them. If it ever gets to the point where that is all they want I will reevaluate, but for now unless they have been plopped in front of it for several hours I pretty much let them watch it whenever they want. I do try to keep it on PBS kids mostly...especially when the 3 year old is around.

 

[smitch425]

Shortly after birth. During middle of the night feedings, I would often watch the weather channel. Not really sure why, but I did. DS would literally stop nursing and stare at the TV any time he heard the voice say "Currently in your area" when they would do the "local on the 8's". He was also fascinated with numbers at an early age, and taught himself to read and use a computer at age 3. We had to ban him from his sister's reading time when she was 5 (he was 3) because if she hesitated on a word for more than two seconds, he would blurt it out. She REALLY hated that.

Some kids can handle a lot of screen time, and some can't. There is no set amount that is perfect for everyone. It depends on each kid's personality.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

DD is 17 months. She doesn't watch baby shows, or actually any shows, by herself. We will often have a TV on while she's in the room turned to channels we want to watch, and occasionally she'll pay attention. She likes the opening credits to The Daily Show; lots of bright colors and music, I think. She does seem to have more interest in cartoons than in live action, unless there are horsies or doggies on screen.


Funny story I just remembered. DH was watching Ghostbusters with DD a few weeks back. They get to the part where the demon dog chases Rick Moranis' character. DH suddenly remembers how much that scene scared him when he was little, and is concerned he's traumatizing DD by exposing her to the movie. DD turns to him and excitedly signs "doggie". Yes dear, big doggie.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

The guidelines say no screen time under the age of 2.

One if the things that really annoyed me about the AAP guidelines, once I'd read a good bit of the literature available from the AAP, was that these guidelines are propagated without any research based scientific proof of the outcome of TV/media exposure.

Here's the research the AAP suggest get done:

Researchers should conduct prospective, longitudinal studies to determine the long-term effects of early media exposure on children's future physical, mental, and social health.

Umm....a the AAP continues to make this recommendation without well established scientific research on the eventual outcome? What?