T unfortunately gets much more than I was hoping for. He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates and it makes quite the good babysitter in a pinch, like when I'm getting ready for work and he's wide awake. I lay him in our bed and turn it on.
It's cute watching him get so excited but I wish he didn't get so excited about TV!
I told DH that at least it's disney. Might as well brain wash him correctly. Haha (joke)
What about you?
52 votes
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Usually 30 minutes a week but they go to daycare and there isn't much time for TV.
squash / 13764 posts
20-30 minutes a day. I try to run on the treadmill while he's watching a few days a week so at least I feel like I'm being productive!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
30 minutes a day or so. Some days none, never more than an hour. She doesn't really watch, though. We turn it on and she goes off to play. She's 2. We don't use a tablet so it's only of we turn the TV on for her that she would get screentime.
pomegranate / 3411 posts
sporadically he gets hold of our i phones. and okay, sometimes we give it to him. that's about it.
grapefruit / 4006 posts
An hour. Morning sickness sucks and I'm dead tired when I get home from work, so doc mcstuffins goes on for an hour and I can lay on the couch and feel sorry for myself! Electronic babysitter. I know I am creating bad habits but whatevs. I watched a lot of tv when I was growing up and turned out ok.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Almost none. I SAH and never have the TV when she is awake unless I'm clipping her nails-- it really helps keep her from freaking out for the 2 minutes that it takes! When DH is home he will sometimes have the TV on but we have never put a show on for her, and I *may* sometimes guilt trip him into turning it off. She doesn't really watch whatever he has on usually anyway.
I was surprised that when I turn it to a cartoon she sits more still for the nail clipping than just whatever channel was on. I don't know why that surprised me 
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
We have the tv usually all the time. But she is only recently starting to pay attention so we need to change that. Otherwise she might watch cartoons for 20 mins on the weekend. We don't give her our phone or iPad to play with
apricot / 456 posts
None. We're trying to abide by the AAP's recommendation of no screen time under the age of 2. After that, we'll probably still limit screen time, with only one show or movie a week.
kiwi / 643 posts
They are 19 months...maybe 10-15 minutes a week of Sprout/Sesame Street? Honestly they only watch for a minute or two before they get bored. I do have the TV on (news/weather) when they are having breakfast, though...I used to have it on A LOT when they were newborns and I was a new/lonely SAHM, but once they started to notice, I dialed it way back!
cantaloupe / 6017 posts
None, we are planning to keep it that way for awhile. I'm not sure when we will introduce it, but the plan will be only on weekends until middle school or so.....and in limited quantities. I'm not really sure how/when we will introduce it. I kind of feel like id rather just not have her ask me for it. One less tantrum.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Some days none, some days 1 or 2 Daniel Tiger episodes spread out. No phone or ipad time.
papaya / 10473 posts
We have the tv on in the evenings, but he doesn't pay any attention to it. I am trying to get him to let me brush his teeth by turning on the Daniel Tiger teeth brushing video, but no dice!
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
We never put anything on the tv for her. Sometimes we'll have it on in the background while she plays but she never looks at it. If she starts paying attention to it we turn it off.
squash / 13764 posts
@Silva: yep we definitely have tantrums over wanting to watch "one more!". But the quiet/productivity of those 20 minutes is worth it to me! 
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
None. DH was watching the World Cup a few days ago and she was interested for a minute or two. She generally has no interest in tv and would much rather be hunting down cords to chew on or trying to remove the electrical socket covers. We rarely have the tv on while she's awake anyways.
papaya / 10560 posts
Rarely ever...maybe an hour or two a week. No iphone time at all, and very limited iPad time...maybe 2 hours a month if that. <--DS is 21 months. For DD, who is 4 months, none.
cantaloupe / 6017 posts
@hilsy85: what a trade off! The only "technology" I've eve really let her play with is my super old flip phone. I let her have it maybe twice, she mashes buttons so it lights up and open/closes it. Except when I took it....meltdown city. So I don't give it to her anymore. But whenever she sees it she flips out trying to get it, I have to be very secretive about my phone use! She doesn't get like that about anything else.... I figured tv would be even worse!
grapefruit / 4066 posts
On days I am home with her we watch maybe one 30 minute episode of something on Disney or Sprout. I don't see anything wrong with a small amount of screen time every day.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
30 min a day usually. He likes Mickey Mouse. I'm not worried about it. I watched lots of TV and there are too many other things to worry about.
honeydew / 7586 posts
Meh. I'm the oddball, I suppose. We keep the TV on for most if the day, and most of the day it's on Nickelodeon. He rarely pays attention to it though, so he really doesn't watch much. I don't see the issue with letting him watch some Daniel Tiger or Paw Patrol. We spend a ton of time outside, in his play area (with no tv), at activities, and dancing around the kitchen to pandora. A little screen time is not going to break my child.
honeydew / 7687 posts
Zero at 18m.
ETA - I don't think it's the end of the world and I watched it when I was very young. But I also don't think it's helping LO any at this age, and the research is clear in supporting avoiding it. I also find it to be a slippery slope- so for us it was easier to just say 100% absolutely not instead of trying to find a balance. When I need him to entertain himself, he reads or plays. When he was younger, he looked at his mobile or watched the dog.
I can't wait until he is 4 or 5 and we can curl up and watch a family movie though!
eggplant / 11716 posts
She's never seen any kid-tv. Usually our TV is totally off when LO is awake, but on weekends my husband sometimes has sports on--luckily, LO doesn't pay attention to it.
I totally let her watch videos of herself on my phone sometimes though--a few times a week.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
DS doesn't get any screen time yet.
DD gets anywhere from nothing to an hour and a half depending on the day.
kiwi / 548 posts
@scg00387: Just curious about what research you are referring to about the harm?
My 3 year old watches 1 show when he wakes up in the am so he doesn't wake up our toddler. Our kids also normally watch 1 show after nap, but my 15 month old only watches for a few minutes.
pineapple / 12793 posts
DD gets about 20 minutes while I'm getting dressed. Though with the croup and canines coming in this week she's gotten to watch Frozen four times.
DH is much more lenient about screen time than I am and it used to be a source of contention until I realized she was singing and dancing along with the bubble guppies and actually learning things.
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
I'm shocked that he actually gets excited about it! My 9 month old probably watches 30 minutes a day but it's not consecutive. I'll turn in Sesame Street mostly because I like it & she's my excuse to turn it on, & she pays no attention unless they are singing.
I like Jake, T has good taste
grapefruit / 4819 posts
None really. At home we hardly ever have the tv on when the girls are awake - not because we think it's harmful or damaging, but just because we're not huge tv watchers. That being said, we're currently staying at my parents' house for a few weeks whilst moving and they have the tv on constantly. Neither DD really pays attention to it but I don't like the perpetual noise in the background...
I do let DD1 (24 months old) play some age appropriate games on the iPad occasionally (like once every few weeks or when we're flying), and we do face time with family a lot, but I don't really count that as screen time because it's interactive communication.
pear / 1639 posts
@grizz: Hahahaha. Thank you. I did this yesterday and felt crazy, at least I'm not the only one. It didn't work....teeth brushing will be the death of me.
R watches little to no TV. She has no interest...sometimes the TODAY show is still on when I go and get her in the morning but she doesn't pay attention. Once shes interested, I don't have a problem letting her watch a little here and there!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
FaceTime doesn't count, right? If so, she gets that a few times a week. Since she is interacting and seeing and hearing her relatives I think it's good.
grapefruit / 4819 posts
@grizz: We bribed DD with a wheels on the bus app to get over the tooth brushing hurdle! She loved it so we used that as her motivator to get the tooth rushing done. After a week or two of it, she loved brushing her teeth and no longer needed to play the app afterwards. Win!
bananas / 9357 posts
On average about 1-1.5 hours a day. Some days he doesn't watch any and I'm not gonna lie, there have been some days he's watched 2 movies. He usually watches a movie in the evening before bed. I kinda feel bad about it now after reading the responses in this thread. He's probably watching too much.
pomegranate / 3863 posts
We are guilty of having it on a lot, but he has little interest. I'm not worried about it. We don't do phone or tablet time so what he watches is fairly limited. My mom makes sure he is outside most of the day while he is awake so I feel that he has a good balance. If given the choice he would choose to go outside over watching a show 100% of the time.
pomegranate / 3863 posts
@mrskc: don't feel bad!! Whenever I feel guilty about it, I think about how much TV I watched as a kid and I turned out fine. I still loved being outside, playing sports, etc.
Plus, you are growing a human....you need a break too!! 
pear / 1879 posts
No television yet (19.5 months old) but he does love my phone. He's mainly interested in looking at pictures and telling me what he sees, but I would like to lessen his interaction with the phone.
pomelo / 5628 posts
You should add a poll! I was totally going to ask thee same question. But I think more people will answer if it's anonymous. My LO watches tv every day, not for long stretches but a few times. I feel bad about it sometimes, but I think some of it is pretty decent too.
pomelo / 5628 posts
@scg00387: @Sparkler: I was going to da ye same thing. I think the research if very unclear right now - it mostly deals with kids who watched tons of tv and therefore had little other interaction.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@Sparkler: harm was too harsh of a word, I edited to make it sound more like what I meant.
Mrs Twine shared a bunch of links that I read through a long time ago, so I'll just copy/paste from that. I honestly didn't dig around much past that because it isn't something I debated much about.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1074
http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/how-true-are-our-assumptions-about-screen-time
http://referencenotes.minitex.umn.edu/mla-2013-screen-time-and-early-literacy-development/
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/screendilemma
http://geekdad.com/2013/10/screen-time-bad-children/
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