Tv time 🤬

My son is 2 1/2 almost. We recently decided to go down to one car because we just can’t afford it. I used to take him out every day and things were really really good. He hardly ever had tv time. He would go days without asking for tv. Now every morning he begs and pleads to watch tv. He constantly talks about what is on tv. He can’t get enough. I hate that it’s a constant battle once I turn it off after an 1 hour. Or I’ll stretch it to an hour and a half if I really am into the cleaning. It’s things like superwhy, Daniel tigers neighborhood, and blues clues. We stay at home and the weather is getting crappy. We live on a third story apartment building and I have run out of really cheap idea to do something to occupy his time so the whole tv ordeal stops. Please help!!! We color, we play with chalk, we cook, he helps with some chores, we are constantly dancing and singing and listening to toddler music. He has independent time where he plays by himself. He loves to read books. We go to the parks and stores and toddler events on the weekend when his dad is home with the car But I’m at a loss of what to do the second half of the day because I used everything before he napped.

Show your support

We play school for the first half of the day (nap around 11 or 1 depending on the day) after lunch it’s playtime

Take him for a walk?

@India it’s just become a really bad tantrum starter. It’s all he wants to do. He doesn’t even say hi to daddy when he comes home it’s “can you put the tv on” and it’s created mega tantrums when I say he’s had enough and he does not even want to participate in our weekend activities it’s “I want to watch tv”

@Jennifer I forgot to mention we do this every day too! Really a blessing that we live in a quiet neighborhood

Let him play in the bath water with some toys, ride a bike outside or inside, play dough, puzzles

When you limit TV that’s when they want it so much and you can’t get their attention because when you limited it creates a demand, my kids have unlimited screen time and they are not as attached to the TV anymore. Now they can pause it walk away from it and it’s no big deal because they know it will always be there when they come back . sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles. I don’t think TV is one of those.

My daughter was behaving the same way at that age so we took a break. It was hard (I even moved the tv out of the main living room into my room so she wouldn’t see it as often) but literally after a week of no tv time, she stopped being so attached. I let her know when time is up and tell her it has to turn off, either she could turn it off or I would. At first I had to distract her with an activity after like painting or going outside or eating a snack but now she’s 3 and she whines a little but only until it’s actually off. Biggest thing that did help was going outside after, even if it was just to check the mail.

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