I’ve just read the BBC Education article which was published yesterday about a survey into how much TV and screen time children have. It’s reported that the average child in the UK watches more than two and a half hours of T.V. a day. Does this match what happens in your house?
It certainly doesn’t reflect our family. My two didn’t watch any T.V. at all until they were around three and now they’re four and eight they do watch some most days but I’d say for no more than about an hour. I think one of the reasons they’re so creative and playful is because they’ve had the opportunity to have lots of free time rather than screen time.
There are lots of other stats in the report which I find surprising and I’d love to hear your take on it. Do your children watch T.V. everyday? How much time do they spend on line? Do you have any family rules about what they watch or do you think it’s no big deal? Do you think screen time is part of play nowadays and prepares children for the online world?
HI Cathy,
We don’t have the telly on much at home, but it’s good to have as back up for calm time!
Stanley tends to catch about 15mins in the morning whilst we are all running around, but only if he asks, sometimes he’s just happy doing other things.
Then he’ll watch some after school when I’m preparing tea, or he can go on the computer with me in the kitchen. I try to keep a time limit on it and always check what he’s watching or suggest stuff I think is worth watching. It’s easy to rely too much on the telly, we do lapse sometimes so I have to be careful that it’s still regarded as a treat and not just on tap! I try and make sure I watch things with him too, so we can talk about the subjects. Horrible Histories is his favourite at the moment, so I’m getting an education too!!
I would say that, after a busy week, Tweeva is good for nothing but vegging in front of the TV. That said, she only likes to watch programmes that she learns things from, like the Tweenies and Mister Maker and Justin.
So we’re here in the US and I struggle with what limits to set for my 2-year-old son. He always wants to watch something and I have to get creative with leading him to something else. My pediatrician just told me 2 HOURS is a good limit. Yikes, that seems like so much TV! We don’t have cable or satellite, so we rent things from the library. I TRY to get good teaching videos like LeapFrog or Scholastic Videos which are books put into movie form, or at least something that teaches a good lesson. I’ll be looking to see what others are doing.
2 hours every day (well sometimes less), I`m watching telly with my daughter (5 yrs) actually, because there are so many educational programs.. on cbbc.. this is what we watch 🙂
We were “no TV under 2” family as well, and I definitely see the positive results. Our daughter (who is now 4) is a fluent reader and spends hours reading and playing rather than watching something that was entirely precreated by others. That said, now she watches non-fictional movies (BBC Earth, etc.) – average about 30 min a day, but sometimes it’s an hour and sometimes it’s nothing. In general, we have limits on all electronic entertainment – no more than 1 hour a day.
We don’t watch TV most days, and when we do it’s usually under an hour. And shows are carefully selected. Computer time is very limited also, and I think the limits are part of why my children play so well together and are very creative and imaginative.
You know what I find the most frightening statistic in that article? Not the 2.5 hours per day (although that seems very high – the geekdaughter gets about one hour per day), but the fact that almost half of all 5 to 16 years olds have Internet access in their bedrooms. I know it’s increasingly difficult to keep Internet out of bedrooms, with mobile phones and hand held gaming devices all having it these days, but I find it worrying that these kids are using the internet unsupervised! I’ve seen what happens when I let the geekdaughter loose on YouTube, and it’s very easy for her to start watching stuff I deem entirely unsuitable!
I feel a blog post of my own coming on… 😉
Our daughter didn’t watch any tv until she was 2. Now she watches 20 minutes as part of her bedtime routine – if we don’t like what’s on cbeebies at 6, we skyplus something for her. Currently it’s Driver Dan and Octonaughts (she’s nearly 4). Recently, I’ve sometimes allowed her to watch about 30 minutes in the morning too, mostly while the weather’s been bad. It gives me chance to have a shower too! We often have the news/weather on for a bit in the morning, usually the bit after 8.30, when it’s not the serious news. I think it’s really easy to get used to something whether it’s lots of tv or no/not much tv!