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ewmoda

Toddlers and TV. I need advice

78

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 09:39

Good morning ladies. I need your opinion please. I was against leaving my 2.5 years old daughter watch TV but I noticed that when I put cartoons during dinner ( for just 20 min) while she is eating, I can feed her whatever I want, without fight, without hassel. Dinner is quicl and easy. Last time I even could feed her lentils ( almost impossible to do it before). So, is it good or bad? She definetly eat much better like that. but I don't like the idea of TV during eating time.
Any opinion please?
thanks

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3

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 24 January 2012 - 00:18

Actually it became an absolute necessity to have the TV on as I fed y i year old....he just wouldn't eat any other way! But this definitely doesn't become a permanent thing as he grew out of it in about a year or so. I am currently going through the same phase with my 2nd child and I don't see anything wrong with it.

179

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 20:28

I would be hesitant to start feeding in front of the tv, but I'm pretty anti tv for toddlers in general. Do you usually eat dinner as a family? I've found that my 21 mo eats a lot more vegetables when we eat together. If papa is eating it he will usually try it too.Your lo might be a happier eater if she were feeding herself too. GL!

206

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:58

It's always been the opposite way in our house - no problem letting them watch TV but when it was meal time the telly went OFF... I don't remember that they needed distracting to that extreme when they were younger... The reason TV watching is linked to obesity issues etc is simply the associated lack of exercise - children sitting around watching TV and eating junk food without exercise will become overweight.. Maybe music during mealtimes or the story/toy idea... Not only lack of exercise is connected to watching TV and eating overweight issue. The distraction from TV is so big that the child misses hints of being full. I've had it while reading and eating :) <em>edited by K3 on 22/01/2012</em>

3220

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:50

My little ones are not fussy eaters but they dont eat that much. When a cartoon is on I can feed them a whole lot more and they just keep munching. I dont see what is the big deal about tv and eating. I grew up watching tv and eating and I dont do it now as I have no desire to.

19

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:39

'I will never let my child eat in front of the TV' was top of my list of things I will never do with my children, it was the very first rule to be broken with my first child. Fussy eater and as you say sitting in front of TV worked and helped me get food into her. She is now 8 and never eats in front of TV, I don't even remember when we stopped feeding her in front of TV, it was just a natural progression and didn't cause any hassle. Every now and then we have movie night where we all have a take away meal on a tray in front of a the TV, it's a fun treat. In our case, it did not cause any lasting habits which were difficult to break. Second child is so easy to feed and we never had that conflict to worry about and second time around, eating in front of TV would not have caused me all the angst and worry it did first time around.

78

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:37

I know that it will be a very bad habit to remove but at the same time she is eating vegtables she will never eat without TV ( Like lentil) so I thought maybe I do it for a while till she learn to like the taste of some vegetables then I replace it by something else ( like books, toys..) but I can see the difficulties if she get used to it.

Pomegranate35436

867

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:26

The television is always off in our house during meal times. I believe that eating at the table is an important social skill to learn when the child is younger, both in terms of actually eating and having conversation with others. The TV may make it easy now but will be a very hard habit to break later on.

3901

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 12:02

It's always been the opposite way in our house - no problem letting them watch TV but when it was meal time the telly went OFF... I don't remember that they needed distracting to that extreme when they were younger... The reason TV watching is linked to obesity issues etc is simply the associated lack of exercise - children sitting around watching TV and eating junk food without exercise will become overweight.. Maybe music during mealtimes or the story/toy idea...

54

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 11:48

This is a sore subject in my house. My almost 2.5 year old watches TV when she eats and it is something I wish I had never started. I was of the opinion that it should NEVER be turned on during mealtimes, but DH thought it would distract her and she would eat better. Definitely a culture thing as well as the fact that moms nowadays are more aware of the no no's that now are discussed. I am going to make a consious effort in trying to entertain her using other means so it stops being an automatic. My advice is to try other things like lots of fun and stimulating and entertaining conversation which IMHO is what should happen at mealtimes as a family.

206

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 11:00

In some cultures eating in front of TV is very common. Although personally I do not do this, nor allow LO eat his meal in front of TV I see your point of getting some food in to a fussy eater. Is your LO suffering from not enough balanced nutrients? I wonder, if there's a short phase you need to use TV to get her to eat healthy food - would it be later easy to give it up again? (in case you'd wish to change the habit in eating in front of TV) I think you should do whatever you feel comfortable doing from your culture and family backround. Where I come from, this is not done but I do believe that other approaches may work well. Just look couple of years ahead from now and think what kind of habits you'd like to encourage in your child. What do you do as a family? Is the meal by table important to you or not? From health perspective, I've only heard that authorities in US blame overweight issues to TV watching combined with eating (often unhealthy) food. Although in your case you would feed healthy, LO may miss the signals of being full. How do you know the amount she actually needs, if she is too distracted? Or turns away only when starting to feel really uncomfortable?

1987

Posts

EW EXPERT

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 10:51

Started off with telling stories to DS1 during meal times, keeping the same picture books on the dining table. But when DS2 got a bit bigger, and more disruptive, we switched to tv. Baraem channel is quite calming around 17.30/ 18.00.

78

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 10:35

Actually I put Mickey mouse club house in the computer so easy to move in on the Dining table and always choose max 20 min cartoon, the time needed to finish dinner. I will try the story and toy strategy. thanks for the idea

2192

Posts

EW EXPERT

Latest post on 22 January 2012 - 09:51

I found with my son that he needed a distraction when I was feeding him otherwise he wouldnt .. esp if he saw something green going in his mouth ! but our dinning table and the room where the Tv is are seperate and I didnt like the idea of moving his Hi Chair in the telly room,. what I did was started telling him stories whilst he was eating and gave him a few toys in his hands and incorporates those in the stories... does take some time but seemed to work . good luck x

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