TV growing up

[amaranth]

How often did you watch TV or movies growing up? Was it often on in the background when you were not actively watching?


Just curious. They make such a big deal about kids avoiding screen time now, but it seemed like all my friends growing up had tvs on non-stop.

(My family watched a movie together on Friday nights, and PBS kids until noon on Saturday. Occasionally, like twice a month, we were allowed to watch a library video during the week. So pretty limited.)

[estrellita]

My dad always has the TV and music on. Always. Lol. He's obsessed with the news so that was pretty much always on. We mostly watched what he wanted to watch, though my mom let me watch kid's shows while he was working. Sesame Street mostly, lol. But I played outside a lot too. I was the kid that knew everyone in the neighborhood because I biked around a lot.

I try not to let E watch tons of TV but I'm not really strict on it either. He doesn't watch it at all at DC so I figure some at home is fine.

[amaranth]

estrellita I'm certain M would watch less TV if he was in daycare. It's just so (too) easy to turn on during the day for break...or breaks. Lol.

[luv2rn4fun]

I don't remember watching a ton of tv growing up. We played outside a lot and had sports, piano lessons, and church group so we're pretty busy.

I was super strict about the no screen time before 2 with C. Even now he only watches YouTube Mickey episodes for the 10- 15 min I am upstairs nursing Luke (and half the time I come down and he is happily playing with the toys I left instead of watching the tablet).

That being said...i also don't ever have the tv on at home because it's not something I find interesting for me. If I thought C would actually watch it while I got some things done I would probably turn it on for him...but he would likely just throw a tantrum that I am not with him so it's pointless right now. He does watch occasional golf and football when DH is home and has it on.

[estrellita]

Feb 4, 2017 11:02:56 GMT -5 amaranth said:

estrellita I'm certain M would watch less TV if he was in daycare. It's just so (too) easy to turn on during the day for break...or breaks. Lol.

True! I admit I turn it on sometimes when he's a bit cranky and I'm tired, lol. At least we're not letting him watch totally horrible things. We'll watch some of our shows with him around but some others we won't. Gotham is one we won't, I'm afraid it'll give him nightmares! He doesn't really pay attention to our shows though.

[wanderingenough]

I was allowed to watch a lot of TV on Saturday mornings and that sort of thing. However, I also played outside a ton with friends and had free reign of the neighborhood until dark, so I think there was a balance.

I thought I would be MUCH stricter with screen time with R and I was until about a year. Now I'll let him watch Franklin or Baby Looney Tunes episodes on the iPad toward the end of a meal in a restaurant if he is melting down, for a few mins if I'm trying to stretch him until bedtime and he is driving me batty, etc. I'd say he gets 15 min increments about 3 times a week.

[bk1]

We had it on as background noise a lot growing up.


G gets a lot of screen time. And it went to even more after C was born. I mean it's not ideal, and we are working on cutting it back, but I'm not overly concerned about it. She has learned a crazy amount from her apps on the tablet.

She does request specific episodes of shows. "Mickey rock" "Mickey pirates" etc. So there's that.

Oh, and when C wakes up lately I've been putting her on the play mat on the floor and turning the TV on for her so I can drink a cup of hot coffee without being touched before G wakes up. *shrugs*
#dontevencare #resourcefulmom #screentimeformy2monthold

[katespade]

I don't remember ever having any real rules or limitations around TV when I was growing up. I was really socially awkward and introverted as a kid, so I spent a lot of time at home. My mom usually controlled what was on TV, so we watched a lot of History, Discovery, TLC, PBS, etc. We also did a lot of multitasking, so it would be on in the background while we read or cooked or did whatever else we were doing.

I don't really see what the big deal is about screen time. Then again, I'm not a parent and I grew up in a very tech-heavy house (computers, video games, etc.)

[pooh8402]

We always had the TV on. Always.

And I let E watch 1.5 hours of Cars ("Mater!") today.

[estrellita]

I don't get the huge deal about screen time either. I do think it should be limited some and kids should definitely be doing other things too. Maybe I'll change my mind when E is older and won't do anything but watch TV and play video games but then again, are we any better? Haha

[macmars45]

Our tv was on for news and tgif (once we were old enough) and cartoons Saturday morning. That was pretty much it until we were 11/12. We played outside a lot and had church activities. During the summer (when it was 90*-100* on the regular) we swam at my grandparents' house daily.

While H was growing up the tv was on constantly as his dad spent most of his non working time in front of it.

We rarely have the tv on ourselves except Sundays during football season. We watch movies after DS goes to bed or while he naps.

[polarbearfans]

I feel like the tv was on a lot but it was like sports or the news. Saturday morning cartoons and whatever the family Disney night was.

We have the tv on a lot lately and the baby will look at it but not a ton. My husband has introduced cartoons for their special time. She gets a lot of non-TV fun so I'm not too worried about it. We also read a lot of books and those are her favorite

[amaranth]

Most moms would judge the amount of TV M gets every day, but you know what? It works for us and it works for him. He's smart (he knows all his letters at 2, counts to 20, can add small numbers, and talks well), it doesn't affect behavior or sleep, and he has SPD which is frankly too hard for me to control some days without it. He watched TV a little bit as young as age 1 and although I sometimes feel bad for breaking the recommendations, I also don't know how our family could function differently. S doesn't watch TV and probably won't for a while because she's much easier and doesn't have insane stimulation needs. So basically, to each their own, imo.

I hope I'm not breaking my kid but so far he seems okay and we do offset it with rigorous activity and reading. If he does have some damage, I figure that's probably better than me killing him on bad days

[wanderingenough]

2 things to add--

1. R also likes Toy Story and I was cracking up thinking about this thread tonight as we realized he was laughing at the parts with Sid in them. H and I were like "welp, our early screen time has clearly created a monster!"

2. My dad was the WORST at determining what was appropriate for me to watch, probably because I had older brothers and he just wanted to watch whatever. I remember being allowed to watch Terminator 2, Speed, and Schindler's List all when they came out --and I wasn't that old when they did. The only one I'll give him a pass on is SL for historical value. But Terminator 2? Seriously dad?!

[krystee]

I could recite the entire Wizard of Oz movie by age 3, and I learned my ABCs by 14 months, thanks to Sesame Street. But my parents and grandparents were also super engaged with me and didn't just plop me there all day. We do almost no TV on good-weather days, summer days, etc., but we do watch too much in winter. But we also play a lot. J is talking in sentences and singing along to a million different songs on YouTube, so I am declaring it helpful to his learning instead of harmful.

[krystee]

Also, I remember watching Married With Children and the Aliens movie with my parents at age 7. They are so amazing with Jack so I am trying to figure out where the heck their judgment was back in the day!

[katespade]

Oh yeah, krystee, I saw Beauty and the Beast eight times when it was in theaters (I was four). I knew that movie word-for-word. I'm pretty sure that I still do. lol.

[awick14]

My parents had it on in the evenings. But it was on the news and such usually. Not shows we would want to watch. No tv on while eating unless it was the Super Bowl, grey cup, or something.

Now I always have to have the tv or music on otherwise it's too quite in the house.

[wineandcheese]

A lot more then I should of. Honestly, I started staying home alone at 8 y.o. I didn't have much else to do. Then I started babysitting my 1 y.o nephew at 9 so I would put on cartoons and watch them with him.

[MrsMB]

I watched "The Wizard of Oz" so much when I was little, my baby brother's first words came from the movie. No lie.

We ALWAYS had it on. But in faireness, we were THOSE BUSY kids. We were out and about with activities all through school. When we were done with homework, we wanted to understandably RELAX. 

I'll use this post to come out of the closet....I TRY to get L to watch some while I'm getting ready in the mornings. She is not into it. She wants to be held by her Mama. (Love that girl) So, I have to get creative in putting on makeup while being really close to her. I still try. Even this morning, I put a DVR'd Bubble Guppies episode on my Ipad mini and propped it up. It worked for about 10 minutes while I put on makeup.