How do you wean a young child off cable TV?

Question

I am shutting it off at the source because it is on most of the time. I am looking for some things to distract her with when the cable is shut off. When I was younger, I read a lot.

Child is yound, but sleeps only 6 hours every 24 hours - she has a craft table, she reads, she plays outside, she helps me cook, she has puppet shows, and there is still time for TV. I really like the answer about spending more time on "visual" stuff like painting. That's a helpful answer. Thank you.

Answer 1

You don't have to wean a child off cable TV. All you have to do is precisely what you did -- turn the thing off.
Unless she is hyperactive, and under doctor's care for it, she should be sleeping more than six hours out of twenty-four. It's possible that she has attention deficit problems, and TV is an easy solution for that because the constantly changing imagery and lack of depth means she doesn't have to work too hard at watching it, as opposed to concentrating on a book and understanding what she is looking at. You don't say how old she is, but it sounds as though she may be pre-school or elementary school level.
Sometimes physical activity helps, and there is a huge range of activities you can involve her in. Everything from dance to karate to swimming etc. etc. Does she have a pet? Learning to look after a pet and train it to do things can take enormous amounts of time.
Good luck -- it sounds as though you are a very conscientious mother.

Answer 2

Cable TV does nothing to stimulate the brain. It does the opposite. It makes kids talk as if they are uneducated and come from broken homes. There's many things that kids can do besides watch television. Depending on the age of the child, here's some ideas...

Puzzles
Developmental toys
books
running around outside
bubbles
coloring
drawing
visiting a muesuem
craft projects
sewing
cooking
baking
taking care of the pets/dog for a walk
helping out a neighbor
yardwork
helping out around the house/chores
having an in depth conversation with their parents or siblings
and now that school is back in session...HOMEWORK is very important!!

Answer 3

You may want to limit television viewing to one video a day---a Disney musical or something---and fill the rest of the day with play time and reading. You can also limit channel TV viewing to one hour, or even half an hour, each day. Or switch to having music CDs on a lot of the time. My friend and I used to listen to Sharon, Lois, and Bram CDs when we were younger, and my neices love them now. I'm not sure how old your daughter is, but she may not be a reader like you. Find out what interests her other than TV and try to find activities for her to do. She may like crafts, so maybe she needs a craft corner. Or if she does like to read, be sure to take her to the library frequently so she doesn't run out of material.

Good luck!

Answer 4

First of all, kudos to you for even making the effort to "cut the cord."
You say when you were younger, you read a lot. Make time to read NOW - to your child and for your own pleasure. Reading is a much better habit to pass on to your little one than staring at the Boob Tube.

My family had very little materially speaking, but the one thing my folks always found money for was reading matter of all kinds. They never lectured me about how important reading was or tried push books on me. What they did was READ themselves. Because I saw that my parents were enthusiastic about it, I became an avid reader.
Replace your TV with a BIG bookshelf, and fill that sucker up!

Answer 5

I considered an analogous answer interior the solutions. My brother informed me his chum became into going contained in direction of the comparable element so while her infant became into asleep at evening she would shrink in basic terms slightly off of it until it became into long gone. i think of its an ok concept yet somewhat i'd in basic terms go away it. My daughter is two and he or she's the comparable way she will have the capacity to in basic terms suck her thumb while she's have been given her crammed toy in hand i do no longer see something incorrect with it. She did supply up sucking her thumb while she broke her arm which became into terrible for the full relatives no sleep what so ever. She have been given her forged off at present so i wish she will have the capacity to suck her thumb lower back so they can all get a good evening sleep. I additionally sucked my thumb i became right into slightly severe and sucked my thumb until i became into 9. And my the teeth are fantastic i'm 28 now and by no ability mandatory braces i've got not got dollar the teeth in certainty the dentist use to take %. of my the teeth reason they have been so right this moment. So no would desire to fret.

Answer 6

Since you like to read when you were young try taking her to the libary to pick out some books each week and read with her. My kids loved libary time. And mine range from 8 month to 10 in age. 8 months, 2, 4 & 10.

Answer 7

Good for you! Important step here. Read to her a lot and she will love to read, not to mention be able to do it independently much earlier. Have lots of colouring supplies and simple craft supplies handy. My friend has one of those "creative living" clear plastic filing cabinet type shelving units on wheels in her dining room which has a drawer for all differnt kinds of actitivites for play...ie: colouring drawer with crayons and books, crafting drawer with foam cut outs and glue sticks and popsicle sticks etc.., puppet/barbie drawer with small dolls etc..., It can be whisked away at an instant if you need it too, and as long as you train your girl to only have stuff from one drawer out at a time, all should be well.

Good luck! (and good for you)

Answer 8

I am going through this with my daughter too. She loves books, puzzles, and coloring. She also loves to dance to music so I put on a CD. I take her outside whenever I can. She does know how to turn the tv on, so sometimes I just unplug it and tell her that it must be broken again.

Answer 9

the tv is a 'visual item' that distracts someone from theyre local visual environment. Your gonna have to do something like painting, so the child 'goes' into the picture theyre painting like they 'go into the tv when theyre watching it. Drawing would be good too, and make em like it

Answer 10

How old is child. Sounds like you need a parenting class. Most parents spend time with young ones, not sticking them infront of the boob Tube.