How much TV would you allow your toddler to watch?

I have a 7 month old myself. This is a good question and I will learn from all the responses here. As of now I'm not limiting his time watching tv.He is able to watch TV whenever his grandpa watches tv.I also let him watch brainy baby though gets bored easily watching it.What he loved watching most are animals from animal planet.He even laughs at those animals.I think he may be an animal lover when he grows up because as early as now he's very interested in animals.I don't see anything wrong with watching tv but you should also be picky in the programs your child watches.

We don't really watch too much TV so our son doesn't really get to watch too. LOL. But I don't think TV is bad per se. Too much TV is bad, and you do have to monitor what our kids watch. But TV, in a sense, is like the real world. You can only shield your child to a certain extent. Sooner or later, he/she will have to learn to deal with it. He/she could very well learn vulgar words and actions from the people she sees. How we guide them in dealing with it is what is important. Having said that, I do admit that I cringe a bit when I see yaya watching wowowee with my son on her lap :D (No offense to wowowee fans. I just think that it's not very wholesome for kids.)

My 1 year old daugther loves watching Dora, Barney, and a number of movies for children like Bug's Life, Tioy Story, Finding Nemo, etc. We bougth her a lot of DVD so she has a wide selection of movies/DVDs to watch. As much as possible also, I don't want her to watch TV because I also have the same concern as yours, she migth pick up vulgar actions & words. But since I'm working also, I really can't monitor whatever she's watching. Lucky me, because my daugther prefers watching her DVDs rather than watching TV. But if ever she wil be watching TV, we're still lucky because my mom can monitor and filter whatever she's watching.

my daughter is just 8 months old, i understand your concern. i too, as much as possible, do not want my baby to watch tv too much. my in-laws take care of her and they do watch tv while doing so. i think the best we can do is to explain to our child not to imitate vulgar actions or words whenever they do. if it's embarring when other people see your baby do such things, i think its ok and that they understand it's not your fault. children are just great sponges and absorbs almost everything :)

I have a feeling a lot of Moms who'll see this post will probably disagree with me. So, I'll begin by saying that my take on this particular discussion is that it really depends on one's parenting style. Before we had children, my husband and I knew that TV watching wasn't really something we'd let our future children do. But when our son was born, we found ourselves breaking that rule. Even before he turned one year old, we discovered he squeeled with delight when watching some tv commercials and he responded to shows on the Nickelodeon channel (esp. Dora the Explorer). Up to about 1.5 years old, we'd leave the tv on at these channels: Discovery, NatGeo, Knowledge channel and let Jarred learn passively. As a toddler, we really had him exposed to Nick, Jr. shows. At 2, his language included some spanish words courtesy of Dora. We supplemented the language he learned from tv by speaking to him in no other language apart from English. The rule in our home is that if he's around, no one is allowed to watch any other channel except ones that conversed in English. At 4, my son speaks English like an American, complete with the twang. A lot of people mistake him to be a balikbayan. And although he's picked up a Tagalog/Bisaya word or two, he still pronounces them with a twang. His vocabulary is very extensive and rich; his use of complex sentences is remarkable. Since this thing worked for us, we plan to do the same to our daughter later on. I can't wait to see brother & sister argue in complete perfect English - must be an interesting sight in the future.

My daughters are the same age and are glued to the TV everytime they see Elmo and Barney. I let them have a half hour of TV time in the morning and in the afternoon. But sometimes, when they get tired (more like "we" get tired of running after them) or are just being a handful, I turn the TV on and I find peace.

I feel for you, our babies are almost the same age, sometimes I also feel guilty for making her watch baby einstein probably more than what is required or a little more than that...but sometimes I think she's learning a lot from that DVD, I am a stay at home mommy that is why I can really monitor what she's watching, I do away with soap operas and violent tv shows and yeah they watch commercials the way they watch baby einstein...don't worry about eq, they're too young and eventually whether you like it or not they wil be exposed, that is when they start schooling or play-chooling..good luck to us!!!!

we are all tv-addicts, and if we have spare time, we are usually glued to the screen. and because of this, my 22-month old baby watches tv also as much as we do. in the morning, he would watch his educational dvds, but at lunchtime, he'll watch Game KNB and Wowowee. funny because he learned some cute antics just by watching these shows, and i don't see anything wrong with that. besides, he doesn't watch the entire show, he just loves the singing-dancing part, AND the commercials, especially with babies as subject. he also learned the famous Boom Tarat song which we find very cute and entertaining whenever he's dancing it. at night, he'll start with the news, Deal or No Deal and all the nobelas, hehe. for me, i think it's not bad to let your kid watch tv, you just have to monitor the shows he'll watch. besides, tv is already part of Filipino life, unless you don't watch tv yourself.

My daughter is 3 months old and starting to interact to the things she see. Last week we let her watch Barney and we think she had fun because of her giggles and facial expressions. I think its okay to let your toddler watch at least 2-3 hours a day. For me, the only dilemna is when my nanny watch tagalog movies..im scared that she might get bad words. As much as wanted to monitor them the whole day, i always remind the nanny not to watch tagalog shows when she's awake.

it's a good thing my toddler isn't much of a tv kiddo (well, atleast for now) he'd rather play with his toys than watch tv... although he's a really big fan of Elmo and Mickey Mouse but that's about it... lately he's added Barney to his selection of must-see... hehehe... I don't think we can really prevent them from getting exposed... maybe proper supervision is all that's needed

That's interesting. I've never heard that. I would highly doubt that to be true since she's only 1 1/2 years old and pediatricians don't even like your child watching a lot of tv at that age. My children watch the Noggin Network and shows like that. I don't let them watch "real tv" that adults usually watch. I think you are right and you are doing a good job. She will have plenty of time to watch regular tv and be exposed to the real world.

I think that limited TV is a good idea. I think when she is older she will demand to watch more TV and will be able to chat to her peers about it. While she is little she will learn much more from play and interaction from other children and that is what she should be doing. There is no reason why she should be shocked about things when she grows up as long as you tell her about stuff that goes on in the real world. She doesn't have to learn it all from the TV.

i agree that taking TV all together wouldn't be healthy, so is depending on TV to "educate" your child. our children will find out about those vulgar words, or other worse things, in one way or the other so i think it is better to focus our concern on helping them understand what is right and wrong. and understanding things is better than preventing them from experiencing leisure activities. also, moderation in TV viewing would probably help ease your worries.

Nowaday, it is really inevitable to refrain our kids from watching TV coz it has been like a part of our daily lives inside the house not to watch TV. Even if, a lot of TV programs promotes a friendly TV commercials or show, it is not yet right for us to let our kids watch on their own, specially the toddlers. I got this advise from a Developmental Pedia, were I used to take my kid. Toddler age is still consider to be a developmental stage, wherein kids absorbed and imitate what they see and hear. According to the Developmental Pedia, even if its a friendly or worry free kid TV program, it is still important to accompany your kids while watching the said program ang explain to her about the values or the content of the said program. In that way, your kid would know if its good or bad or if its right or wrong. With this, your kids can easily identify and be responsible in everything he/she says and every actions he/she makes.

I think it is pretty silly to think that you should refrain your daughter from watching t.v So what how long can you stop her from watching t.v. Don't worry about your daughter learning a few vulgar words but to ask her not to watch t.v is like taking away her childhood

Hey, let her experience the interaction of media. DOnt worry too much. You see, no matter how we try to keep our kids from picking up "unwanted" words or "disturbing" scenes, we cannot control all things. All we can do is to try to correct them, if they pick up something wrong.

Well i don,t think its pretty good of you to try to refrain your daughter from watching television programmes as a way of trying to protect her from learning vulgar words. I think child learning begins with vulgar words and as the child grows older such words will be abandoned Also regulating the programmes she watches is no bad idea but stopping her from watching T V programmes will reduce her interlect and composure making her look suburban.

I think it's a good idea to moniter the content of the programs they are watch not just to make sure it is appropriate but also so that you can know what they are learning from TV. Not allowing a chld to watch at all won't be harmful but could cause them to overindulge when they do have a chance to watch. Then they could be at more risk of seeing something inapropriate because they would be too excited to watch to be concerned about the content. The guideline I have always heard is a child should watch no more than a half hour for each year of their age per day. Meaning a one year old should watch no more than 1/2 hour, a two year old 1 hour, a three year old 1 1/2 hours and so on per day. I think it can depend on the type of programing and how they react to it though to. Parents themselves are really the best judge of what their child should be watching and for how long. Unless you tell your nanny to allow your daughter to watch TV, there's not much you can do during the day. If you are concerned about her being too sheltered you can just allow her to watch children's programming in the evening when you are home with her.

I definitely don't think TV is bad...our TV is on almost all day long, even if no one is watching it. I like it as background noise =) When your kids get older you can talk to them about what is on TV and if it is right or wrong. I think it can open the lines of communication for all kinds of topics.

Much of my early childhood was spent in front of the TV watching Sesame Street. There's nothing wrong with a few hours of it. Sesame Street (back then) was the best learning tool for kids. Cartoon's nowadays just don't have the same learning structure that Sesame Street had way back in the mid 80s when I was a kid.