For Providers Providing Care In Their Homes, How Much TV Do You Allow During The Day?

[daycarediva]

During a holiday time (the day before Christmas break, for instance) we schedule a special day, watch a prescreened movie and wear pj's and have a treat. In the last YEAR we have watched; Polar Express, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, and we watched a Sesame Street Valentines Special.

No other tv is available. I have to move a screen upstairs to make that ^ happen. We do books on CD or dance cd's for down time and lunch prep. There is NEVER mindless screen viewing, no cable is available, etc.

Daily isn't a 'treat' imho, it's an expectation and TRUST ME, I have a dck who cries for his Ipad at drop off, they get PLENTY of screen time at home and watch SUPER inappropriate things.

[Blackcat31]

Any one have a suggestion for other educational/appropriate dvds to play? I'm getting VERY tired of Old King Cole!! ::

I used to make video slide shows using photos of the daycare kids. Sometimes I include video clips of them.

They would literally watch for hours if I play one of those DVD's.

It can help with face recognition and was good for social-emotional growth to see their friends on the big screen.

[snbauser]

None at all here. I know most of these kids get more than enough during their short times at home. I can tell by the way they play, the songs they sing, and by some of the conversations we have. Here we are limited to 2 1/2 hrs/week for children over the age of 2 and prohibited from using it at all for those under 2 years old. Those are licensing rules and not FCCERS rules which are more strict. It's just not worth it to even start for what is essentially 30 min per day allowed.

[MsLaura529]

I don't have a TV in my daycare area, but occasionally (once a week) will put a show on the lap top while I make lunch. I try to save it for rainy days when we can't be outside as much, or days when the fighting and whining is just too much I didn't have to use it at all this week so far. And when I do put on a show, it's something that I try to keep related to whatever theme we are talking about. For example: We've been talking about farms, so last week they watched a Little Einsteins episode the 3 Little Pigs. Or when we were doing camping, they watched a Bubble Guppies episode about camping.

I really love Little Einsteins because there's a lot of participation from the kids (clapping and singing) and the music throughout the show is classical type music.

[melilley]

I allow the kids to watch tv while I prepare lunch. They watch shows on PBS, which is a preschool learning channel here and I see nothing wrong with it. Plus it's a choice. They can go play, help me with lunch if they want or watch the show.
I wouldn't let what the parent said bother you. It's your program and if she doesn't agree, then she doesn't have to send her child to you.

A little story: I have a dcp who always makes comments about anything that she learned about in school (she just received her teaching degree in special education and knows everything) and just has to tell me about this and that, blah, blah, blah. I don't think she has any of her own opinions, just what "experts" have told her. Anyways, the subject of tv came up. She tells me that her family is not "that" family, and that the kids don't watch tv, but her and her husband do. Well, here and there she has made a comment like "dcb, we can go home and watch a show", then she has to justify it by telling me that they have a playroom with a couch (and obviously a tv) and dcb is big enough to watch a show while she rests because she needs it. So I know they do watch it at home no matter how many times she tells me they are not "that" family. Plus the 3 year old tells me stuff about characters and stuff about the shows he sees (that we don't watch here).

I think some parents actually don't allow tv, but I also think some say they don't just to make it seem like they are doing something great.

[Laurel]

I gave up on Sesame Street when they started using ain't and poor grammar. SS has changed greatly since I was younger. The "clips" are dramatically shorter. SS has now taken on the PBS social agenda and I just can't do it!

TV- I do not allow TV on a regular basis. I only have preschool age kids. I did allow the kids to watch a clip on Netflix the other day (three little pigs) and all they did for days after was beg for tv. Just reinforced why I don't do screen time.

I didn't know that! I use Netflix and we are watching old ones. I'll have to check out some new ones so I know what you are talking about.

Can you give me some examples of what you mean by social agenda? I'm not sure what you are referring to.

Thanks, Laurel

[Crazy8]

none. I am not anti-tv or anything, my own kids probably watch more than they should, but there is no tv in my daycare area and I don't find we need it.

[Jack Sprat]

This summer when we had "bigs" (school age who don't rest or nap) we watched a movie during rest time. This was WAY too much. The "bigs" were tired, I was tired and reading and quiet activities were not cutting it at this point. So for a week they had 90 minutes while the "littles" napped. Next summer/break we are doing yoga and they are going to read and earn "points" for each book they read and tell me about..

Now, with just littles again we are back to no TV We have on Pandora ALL day either Raffi station or Classical for nap. We have speakers so we can hear it through the whole house. We do have times where we look at Storia (Scholastic books) or we google an animal we are talking about and look at pictures of them. But, other then that we are no TV. I just haven't found a need for TV in my daycare.

Our own children are not allowed TV during the week. The weekend they are limited to 90 minutes. They can save all 90 for a movie or they can divide it up amongst the three days (Fri, Sat, and Sun). This also includes screen time in general. We just believe that there other things they could be doing with their time. We don't think we are better then others. We just don't believe in watching TV.

[Play Care]

A little story: I have a dcp who always makes comments about anything that she learned about in school (she just received her teaching degree in special education and knows everything) and just has to tell me about this and that, blah, blah, blah. I don't think she has any of her own opinions, just what "experts" have told her. Anyways, the subject of tv came up. She tells me that her family is not "that" family, and that the kids don't watch tv, but her and her husband do. Well, here and there she has made a comment like "dcb, we can go home and watch a show", then she has to justify it by telling me that they have a playroom with a couch (and obviously a tv) and dcb is big enough to watch a show while she rests because she needs it. So I know they do watch it at home no matter how many times she tells me they are not "that" family. Plus the 3 year old tells me stuff about characters and stuff about the shows he sees (that we don't watch here).

I think some parents actually don't allow tv, but I also think some say they don't just to make it seem like they are doing something great.

I was actually going to mention that. Whenever I have a parent come out and say they don't allow tv, I believe they usually mean they WISH they didn't allow tv. By and large the kids I've had from those families were the WORST about begging for tv and being shocked that I didn't turn it on. These were usually the kids who would ask the time and then say "oh, it's 11:00, were missing Diego"

[caregiver]

I also don't allow the kids to watch too much t.v. here, although I have a daycare parent of one of my dcg that when she started with me the mom asked me to allow her to watch t.v. for about an hour in the morning after she gets here as the Mom had just gone back to work and when she was home with her daughter, they would watch this certain t.v program together and the Mom wanted me to keep the routine going for her daughter. I said okay if that was what she wanted and would help with the transition from home to my home daycare. It has been 5 months now and I asked Mom about how long to do this and she said that it is fine to continue. I told my other parents and they seemed okay with it as long as it was only 1 hour. I do have the t.v. on other times of the day, but not for the t.v part, but we have cable and cable has a few stations that play music and they have a station called toddler tunes. I will put that on for a little bit and they love to listen and we dance to the music.
I will also use my ipad as a teaching tool also. I know it is still a screen like a t.v. but I have found so many free educational apps on it for kids and fun apps that the kids really do learn from. Does anyone else use their ipad for this? There is lots of apps of kids songs that they love to sing along with and learn the songs. I have a app that is a piano keyboard that lets the kids play and make up their own songs and it really sounds like a real piano,then their is match games, shape games, counting games, the abc song and has the abc's on there so they can learn their abc's. Apps where they have all about animals,birds and bugs and they can learn all about those. There are a ton of free educational apps and it makes it fun for the kids to learn while having fun suing my ipad. It is more of a hands on learning experience for them instead of reading to them about all of these things as they have to use their minds to pick the right answers as if they don't the programs will let them know if they are right or wrong and they do learn from that.

[My3cents]

I am sure there is "proof" about both sides of the argument but I was always taught that ANY screen time is still considered screen time and not at all beneficial.

It doesn't matter what is on the TV, just the fact that the fast moving pictures, flashes and lights are what is bad for the kids' developing brains.

NOT saying I agree or disagree.....just stating what I was just taught in a class about brain development between the ages of birth to age 5.

I don't know if I agree with this either- Tons of educational programing out there. I think balance is key- I don't use TV much at all, to the point of it not being an everyday thing.

[My3cents]

Maybe my math is off, but that appears to add up to 2 hours per day that your TV is on. IMO, that is too much, especially if these are.

shows with commercials.

I do only 15 minutes of educational DVD at morning and afternoon .snack time, half hour per day.
Personally, I think commercials are terrible for any kid under say.....10 years old.
"I want that......"
"go buy me that......"
"oooo candy, McDonalds, gum, soda.....yummy"

I don't even know if it is the above so much that gets to me as much as the "scary" stuff that I don't even want to see. Preview of other shows that are not that great. I love PBS but agree about the Thomas the Train being depressing and other shows there is a lot of sarcasm. Sesame Street- come on that is good stuff for kids. I don't do regular TV for my daycare kiddo's but me personally- tee hee I am addicted to Bravo after daycare hours and I don't have little kids at that time.

[sharlan]

WAY TOO MUCH!

I would love to have the tv off all day.

My dh cannot live without the tv on. He turns it on the second he comes downstairs. If he leaves and I turn the tv off, he will turn it on the second he walks through the door. The tv is about the only thing we ever fight about and it's a daily occurrence.

Mostly, he will have it on the Disney channel or CN.

One of my main issues with the tv is he has it loud. The kids get loud, he turns the tv up louder, the kids get louder, and on it goes all day.

I should add, that just because the tv is on, it doesn't mean the kids are watching it. They spend most of their time in the other rooms playing.

[Angelsj]

I can't imagine little ones growing up and not knowing who Ernie and Bert are.

It really isn't tragic. My children have NEVER had network TV, except for a 6 month time when we first moved into this house and no one really watched it.

They have never seen Sesame street, and have no idea who those people are. They are still pretty well rounded kids.
That said, we do have Netflix, so they are not totally TV deprived.
As to the original question, my non nappers watch about 1 hour of TV during "rest break." This is something like Magic School bus, Dragon Tales, Dora (though Dora is not streaming right now...sigh), Barney, OSO..etc.

[Angelsj]

I used to make video slide shows using photos of the daycare kids. Sometimes I include video clips of them.

They would literally watch for hours if I play one of those DVD's.

It can help with face recognition and was good for social-emotional growth to see their friends on the big screen.

I make these every year for the parents' Christmas gifts. You are correct. The kids could watch these for HOURS if we let them. They LOVE seeing themselves and their friends from over the past year or so.