TV For 3 Yr Olds

sounds fine to me, expecially if it's something semi-educational, sesame street, backyardigans, yo gabba gabba, mickey mouse....I like the ones where she has to answer the tv or get up and dance or something. :-)

I broke it down to one hour max during the early years before school began. During the week my daughter, now almost 10, doesn't watch TV and we focus on homework instead. But we do watch movies on the weekend. I got her a computer at two and she's been playing interactive games ever since. You can find some good learning games on Ebay, local game stores, and some used bookstores. Start the limited TV habit early, which will help once your child gets started in school.

It's fine. With my older daughter, she hardly got to watch any tv at all. She's a smart kid, does well in school. Well, then daughter #2 came along, and my plan to never watch tv sort of fell apart. TV is on around here practically all the time. Guess what? Kid #2 is brilliant. Reading on her own at age 4, doing 2nd grade math that she figured out on her own. TV is not the root of all evil, apparently. Who knew?

We have the tv on Disney, Nick, or OETA almost all day, a 3 1/2 year old stops here and there for a few minutes and then goes off and plays for a lot longer than the tv watching. I don't thing it's such a big deal. If he is just sitting and sitting and watching then perhaps some of the breaking up the day can be some outdoor playtime once and maybe some one on one play time like coloring or fingerpainting with pudding. Something fun and different.

I don't think that's an extreme amount especially if it's educational. I didn't really use the tv until my son was over 2...and now he definitely likes a certain amount. But I do only let him watch educational shows, Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Dora, Backyardigans...I don't let him watch other cartoons or anything with non-educational aspects. I also alot of times watch with him and we talk about what he's learning or basically I interact with him during the shows. I do keep a close eye on the amount that he expects and try to prevent him expecting to watch every day or even the same amount every day. We try to do other things with him, but I can tell that he expects to watch at least one show a day (1/2 hour). As the weather gets nicer and we're not stuck inside as much, I definitely want to reduce what he watches to that he doesn't expect it as part of every day. I don't necessarily think TV is that bad when used in moderation, but I can see how kids can quickly become addicted and 1-2 hours turns into 4 quickly...that's something that I do think can be a problem.

There have been a lot of studies on the effects of TV and most of them seem to conclude that a little watching does not seem to make a difference one way or another. One surprising finding is that keeping a TV on in the background, even if the kid is not watching it, significantly hinders learning and those kids are more likely to have larger learning delays when school starts.
Hope that helps.

my 3 1/2 year old also watches between 1-2 hours of TV, in the morning it is PBS and in the evening we watch jeopardy & wheel of fortune (daughter loves guessing the letters). Either way my daughter usually does not sit in front of the tv spaced out she sits for 15 mins then starts playing with her toys in her bedroom. I think if she would zone out in front of the tv I would cut down the tv time but my daughter does not get absorbed into.

I am a stay at home mom of a 1 1/2 & almost 4 year old. We do 1-2 hours also. It's just enough for me to get done what I need to around the house. I wouldn't worry to much about it. There are some really great educational shows out there : ).

Sounds about right to me-- as long as it is good quality TV she's (?) watching. I usually let my 2 1/2 yo watch 25-50 minutes (1-2 of the 25 min. "on demand" or DVD shows, with no commercials), unless he's really sick and then I throw all the rules out. :-)

I agree with some of the other moms that the WORST thing to do is have the TV on in the background-- studies have shown (and I know from my own experience) that it teaches bad habits about TV, and reduces attention and communication. TV should be something they are actively attuning to or not on at all. I do think there is enough quality, educational TV out there that you should have no problem picking some decent "down time" shows.

You are doing great! I think a 2 hour limit is a good idea. Make sure the shows are educational. I learned a LOT from Sesame Street and Electric Company and your child can learn a lot from the current shows too! I LOVE the Leap Frog videos in case you are looking for something to really feel good about. It isn't too early for the Letter Factory. You will be AMAZED at what your child can pick up!

When mine were little we didn't have any cable. I put in a video for them when I needed to make dinner or take a much needed shower. Now we have cable but my grls woudl rather read a book. My son would rather watch Star Wars than anything else.
I think you're doing fine.

Hi, J.:

Why do you use the TV at all?
Just want to know.
D.

About a year ago, my son threw a fit when I turned off the TV. That happened ONCE. Once. I was not going to have a child that was addicted to TV! Our house rules are (and we think will continue to be) that the mom and dad decide when to turn on and off the TV.

My son and I were sick a few weeks ago. We watched A LOT of TV. When he was feeling better, his behavior was different than before we were sick (i.e. not listening, whining, mostly annoying things). I turned the TV off for about 2 days. His behavior improved greatly. I think this tells me that there should be some sort of limit.

I agree with a previous poster about the spaced out watching vs. having it on in the background. The latter doesn't seem as bad. We use our cable music stations a lot.

In case it matters, here's our TV routine. On any given day, the TV was on from 2 to 6 hours, depending on what went on that day. I put on a show when I need to do something with which I won't want him involved (i.e. shower, my homework, phoning the cable company). Almost always, I put on a show after a morning activity outside of the home when I'm making lunch. We have the TV on every evening for a few hours. My hubby watches a sporting event or we catch up on our recorded shows. When I'm at class 2 nights a week, I can guarantee that my hubby will be putting on a show for our son, so I limit the TV time those days. We allow our son to watch youtube videos or play on pbskids.com. I consider this to be the same as TV time.

BTW, 1-2 hours a day is not strict. My cousin's TV is off during the school year, and her kids can pick a half hour show once a week during the summer. THAT'S strict. Her kids are brilliant, kind and friendly, fyi.