At what age should kids watch tv?

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1

My son is 21 months and hasn't had much tv time at all. When we do watch it, I put on Baby Einstein Wordsworth 10 minute segment, or maybe an episode of Blue's Clue's ABC's or 123's. But that is pretty rare, maybe when he's having a very off day or so. And I try to talk with him about what we're watching while we watch it so he's still getting my attention.
I know a lot of different parents have different opinions on kids watching tv, but I lean towards the side less is more.

Now that he's approaching two, I've been wondering when I should let him watch more. Mostly because planning his birthday party, almost everything has tv or movie characters that he wouldn't even recognize if I used them, haha!

I'm not much a tv person myself. I maybe watch up to 3 hrs a week, if that. My husband however, loves to watch tv. Even if he's not really watching it, the background noise comforts him. I don't really want that for our son however.

When did you let your kids watch tv? At what times during the day do they get to watch it? Is it too early for me to even be thinking about it?
Thanks for your opinions!

2

I would see not harm in it, just put on a good show and see if he responds. Some good ones are blue clues, and Dora. There is a nick channel for toddlers that is good. Chances are he will play more than watch anyhow.

3

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I don't think the right kind of TV hurt children in anyway. Both of my kids have watched TV from a very young age and both are gifted.
My daughter could count to 30, knew her colors, letters , written numbers and letters , and could say her colors , numbers 1-10 in spanish before she was 2. By 3 she was doing addition and subtraction.
Kids are only limited to what they are exposed to.
I too need the back ground noise, it helps me focus, silence is distracting for me because I have adult ADHD.

4

I have to say i am one of those people that have to have the t.v. on for the background noise. My son is 3 and my daughter is 7 months and they have no issues with it being on. My son does not really watch much even though it is on all the time. He will watch dora, and the nick jr chanel for maybe an hour a day during the week and probably like 2 hours a day on the weekends. He plays the rest of the time. We still go outside and both my kids love to be outside! We play games and play in the toy room and read books, and go on the computer. Having it on all the time when we are home has not affected them. They are both learning things very quickly and a lot of the cartoons are actually quite educational. Some people dont like the t.v. but i personally dont see anything wrong with it. As long as they are not glued to it for the whole day i feel it is just fine. My son has a great imagination and does more playing than anything. its just on for the noise in the background. then when the kids are in bed i get to watch my shows. for me the t.v is my realxing time. some read, or sew, etc but i like the t.v. I dont see anything wrong with letting your son watch a show or 2 a day.

5

Who cares if he doesn't know who Garfield is nor the Cookie Monster? Don't do it just so he can recognize a character when he gets a t-shirt or a book with Elmo on it.

But if you want to allow him tv, I think watching it with him is definitely a great idea. Some shows will try to teach your children things you may not agree with (We dont' watch a certain show b/c of the "Eat Soy! It's good for you." message our son was getting. We do watch the "Mmm. Yummy meat." show).

Our 2.5 yr old son watches one show at breakfast (30min), one before naptime (30min), and that's generaly it. In the evenings, we watch our adult shows (Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, etc) while son plays. If hubby's not home one night I may put on an educational video (son LOVES "Meet the Letters" and "Meet the Sight Words" we rent free from our library. He recognizes the words 'and' 'the' 'but' 'see' and others! He knows all his letters already too.)
BTW - I just realized that both shows he watches have WORDS written on the screen. He loves to read books and both shows we watch read stories on the tv.

6

When my 1st was born he didn't watch any tv until he was 2. Then my 2nd came along and he got to watch tv sooner b/c my 1st was watching a little tv (Sesame steet, Word World, etc.). Since the tv was on he was exposed to it sooner. Then my 3rd came along. She is only 19 months and she already watches it b/c her 2 older brothers get to watch it. I don't let them watch it all day, but when it is on she is around and she naturally stops and watches it.

My kids usually watch tv while I am getting breakfast or lunch ready or while I am finishing getting ready for the morning. On average I'd say they watch less than 2 hours. My kids are 5, 3 1/2, and 1 1/2. Some days it's a little more and some days we don't even turn on the TV. They really only watch PBS or educational shows.

I used to worry about it a lot, but I've relaxed about it. With 3 kids I've learned there are much bigger issues!! :) I've also seen that my kids have actually learned quite a bit from TV...not that I think they should be watching it all day, but there have been a lot of times where they have said something and I've asked them, "Where did you learn that?" and they've replied, "I learned that from Dinosaur Train or Sid the Science Kid." I think like most things a little tv in moderation is okay. That's my take. :)

7

With my son he wasnt interested in the tv until he was about two and a half, even if we put it on for him he would do something else. So he didnt really start watching tv to the point where he was entertained by it until he was almost three. And we would let him watch a little cartoon in the morning and then that was it for the day. Now he is four and in preschool so he is gone three days of the week. So on his days off he will watch a little tv.

Ex, on Tuesday he might watch two cartoon episodes(an hour) in the morning and the Thursday he might watch a movie sometime in the afternoon but thats about it. And then on the weekends he plays outside with his friends all day long.

We just had a little girl so I wonder if she will be interested in the tv earlier than her brother because she sees him watching it, but either way it will still be a very limited amount of tv.

8

This is funny to me; a mother wondering if she should introduce more t.v.. Listen here, t.v. is a slippery slope. It starts with a disney cartoon here and a Dora there, and before you know it your kid is asking inscesetly for the stuff and you give in because God knows its the only free time you get. The t.v. thing will happen all in its own (esspcially if hubby starts in with the DVD's as mine did). Your reasons for introducing it are not good enough. Hold off hold off hold off. Thats my advice to you.

9

My kids watch T.V. if they want to after school during snack/down time before homework starts, but that's about it and on weekends when we sit as a family and watch Planet's funniest animals (my kids love that show!).

As far as age, with my oldest we didn't even have a T.V. in the house until she was about 5. My youngest was about 2 when he showed any interest and has been an avid fan of Curious George ever since. As far as all the other programs, he just never really liked them. They didn't hold his interest. However, his building blocks and hot wheels hold his interest quite a bit.

It's not so much that I think T.V. watching is bad because I don't. It's how involved a parent is that matters. That you sit with your child and stay involved is great. Way to go Mom!

The reasons you are giving as to why you are leaning towards letting your child watch more, aren't very good reasons IMO but what do I know! =-)

10

I agree with the other posters, their is no reason for him to watch any more tv, it sounds just right what you are doing right now.

11

I am like you, I don't watch a lot of TV.. and when my kids watch TV they primarily watch stuff with at least some kind of value -- educational -- I like to get things on Netflix streaming like PBS shows. I have three kids and they all have very different attention spans. I limit TV to 1-3 times a week. Generally how many times depends what I let them watch.. I might let them watch 3 30 minute shows through the week.. or one movie. Typically, unless I am sick or we've had a rainy week.. my kids (ages 20m, 3.5y and 6y) get less then 3 hours of TV any given week... and we have plenty of weeks that the TV never comes on at my house. On Wednesday my kids go over to my parents for a few hours and I am fairly certain they watch more TV in a couple of hour visit then I let them watch all week :/

My youngest (20 months) doesn't really show much interest when the TV is on. I have a bunch of the Baby Einstein DVDs, I have a few Leap Frog DvDs, Word World, Sesame Street, Thomas the Train.... I also use shows from Netflix steaming like I said.

I know I am weird compared to a lot of parents though. I have friends that leave the TV on kids stuff all day long. One of my friends daughters watches at LEAST 7 hours of tv a day. She wakes up eating breakfast in front of the TV and goes to bed at night watching tv on her little portable dvd player. (I can't STAND it!) I hate having the TV on. We don't even have a TV service, no cable or dish.

Anyway, I don't think your son is too young, but I personally would probably still do things like the Baby Einstein and keep it under 30 minutes, not every day. I would also suggest that he's getting to a GREAT age to start reading every night as his nighttime ritual... brush teeth, get ready for bed, cuddle and read a story. This can introduce plenty of beloved characters, build vocabulary, quality time with Mom/Dad and help you raise an early reader. :)

12

Looks like you are getting both sides here. I am one that has to have the tv on for noise. Even when my kids are at daycare twice a week and I am working in my office, I have to have the tv on in the other room. Probably more of a habit than anything. My boys have always watched tv. BUT, they do not constantly watch it. Half the time they are running around playing or in their room playing with toys or whatever. When they were younger about your sons age, they pretty much watched all educational shows on PBS or videos that was teaching something. But I have to say that I am a game show junkie. When the boys were younger, they are 4 now, I used to watch alot of the GSN Channel (game show network). My one son loved all the lights that flashed and the different colors. Worked out great when trying to get dinner going. Anyway, at that time, they had alot of games with letters in them. Kind of like Wheel of Fortune. Anyway, I started my boys in daycare twice a week for more socialization when they were 20mos old. When they were about 2yrs, my one son and I were watching tv and a commercial came on that had numbers flashing on the screen. He started saying the numbers. I was in shock. This had never happened before. I got some paper and made some flash card type things and penciled out 1 thru 10 on them. He new almost every one of them. I then grabbed a magazine and pointed out some letters, he probably knew about 75% of them. I showed my husband and of course we thought we had a genius on our hands. lol. I thought that their daycare must be teaching that to them already, but for them to get that much out of the daycare with only 2 days a week seemed crazy. I questioned their teacher about and she said that they do not do recognition in that class and that it was the next class that they teach that. Mind you, they do have ABCs and 123s all over the walls. I then walked my son over to one of the charts and showed her how talented they were, hahaha, and she seemed to be floored. So I guess what I am saying here, it that if the tv is educational then some tv is not bad. When its nice enough to be outside, I am turning off the tv and shoving them outside.

As far as the birthday thing goes. I wouldn't worry about the character birthday. They have plenty of other idea out there. You can just do a balloon theme or something. Or a dinasour theme. Have fun with it.

Updated

Looks like you are getting both sides here. I am one that has to have the tv on for noise. Even when my kids are at daycare twice a week and I am working in my office, I have to have the tv on in the other room. Probably more of a habit than anything. My boys have always watched tv. BUT, they do not constantly watch it. Half the time they are running around playing or in their room playing with toys or whatever. When they were younger about your sons age, they pretty much watched all educational shows on PBS or videos that was teaching something. But I have to say that I am a game show junkie. When the boys were younger, they are 4 now, I used to watch alot of the GSN Channel (game show network). My one son loved all the lights that flashed and the different colors. Worked out great when trying to get dinner going. Anyway, at that time, they had alot of games with letters in them. Kind of like Wheel of Fortune. Anyway, I started my boys in daycare twice a week for more socialization when they were 20mos old. When they were about 2yrs, my one son and I were watching tv and a commercial came on that had numbers flashing on the screen. He started saying the numbers. I was in shock. This had never happened before. I got some paper and made some flash card type things and penciled out 1 thru 10 on them. He new almost every one of them. I then grabbed a magazine and pointed out some letters, he probably knew about 75% of them. I showed my husband and of course we thought we had a genius on our hands. lol. I thought that their daycare must be teaching that to them already, but for them to get that much out of the daycare with only 2 days a week seemed crazy. I questioned their teacher about and she said that they do not do recognition in that class and that it was the next class that they teach that. Mind you, they do have ABCs and 123s all over the walls. I then walked my son over to one of the charts and showed her how talented they were, hahaha, and she seemed to be floored. So I guess what I am saying here, it that if the tv is educational then some tv is not bad. When its nice enough to be outside, I am turning off the tv and shoving them outside.

As far as the birthday thing goes. I wouldn't worry about the character birthday. They have plenty of other idea out there. You can just do a balloon theme or something. Or a dinasour theme. Have fun with it.

13

Children shouldn't watch TV until they are 6 years old & then it should be limited to a half hour. Commercials shorten their attention span. TV really isn't good for anyone. DVD's without commercials are a better choice. No TV at all is the best. Loveandlogic.com I think has some facts about what you are asking.

14

I think if you choose good programming and limit the time, there isn't really a problem. maybe two 30 minute shows a day - one in morning, one in afternoon.....
Sometimes you just need the break yourself.....
You will probably hear a lot of it is bad for your kids and I will agree that it is bad for your kids if they are watching it for end on end hours and the programming isn't educational. But you know, sometimes they just need to relax too....
You can always try animal shows or nature shows. We love watching national graphic explorer or animal planet or Planet Earth just as much as cartoons. My daughter loves the cooking channel. She is all about recipes and mixing things up. Think beyond cartoons too. :-)
I let my four year old maybe watch an hour in the morning while I shower and get ready and maybe 1 hour at night while I am getting dinner ready, but she really isn't into it much. She ends up playing other places, so I turn it off.

15

You will get a lot of passionate responses on both sides of the debate on this one and as most things in life it has to be what fits with your values and your child's personality. We started our infant on baby einstien videos only about 15-30 min per day just so we could get some stuff done (like take a shower). She seemed to really enjoy them. Then as she got older it became a part of our bedtime routine to watch either an educational video or something with a life lesson in it such as thomas, mrs spider or wubbzy. Again she only watches about 1/2 an hour before it's snack time/book time etc then bed. If I noticed that it ramped her up or caused problems then I would definitely cut it out. Personally my husband and I watch a lot of TV but we don't believe that is good for our child at this stage. She is almost 3 at this point. Good luck to you.

16

I think the motto, everything in moderation is wonderful. My kids really liked Signing Time at that age and they still like it at 3 and 5. I like that they practice learning signs while being entertained. It is a great second language.

17

I'd keep up the good work and continue the limited TV time. Mine were watching around 2 and the younger one, sooner, since it was on for the older one. Now they don't watch much. Maybe a few shows a week. They don't mind and would rather play. We don't have cable so that helps. It's PBS or nothing. So, I'd find other themes for the birthday. Animals, trucks, sports, there are so many options that aren't related to TV.

18

Trust your instinct, he is too young. Why ever start your kid on TV? I just read a study that compared the effect of TV on a child's brain to that of cocaine. Baby Einstein, has a great name, but is still TV & not educational because it is passive. You will have a much more imaginative kid witout TV. Trust me, I was raised on it.

19

Never. Read the book: The Plug In Drug. You will get rid of your TV or put it in storage.

20

I think we started letting our oldest watch signing time dvd's at about 18 months or so. I honestly don't remember. She would watch 1 30 minute episode per week at the most. I was also pregnant at the time and completely exhausted so it was something that we could do together without me being overtaxed. Since my youngest was born, we've done Signing Time here and there, but it's probably less than once a month now.

As for the party decor, if you look, you can find other stuff. We found some really cute things at Everything Party that wasn't any of the branded characters. It's a little more work to find it, but totally worth it for us! Also, if you did want to do Deigo or something, you could just say that it's a boy without having to say that it's a boy who lots of tv, toys, games etc. are about! :)