DVD's at what age?

[Lou]

I've posted this here because I want everyones opinion.....

Isaac loves In the night garden. My mum asked if she could buy him the DVD for christmas. I said no because at the moment he is quite happy to watch it when it is on and waves goodbye when it is finished. I'm worried that if he has it 'on tap' so to speak we will have tears when he wants to watch it and tears when I turn it off. I also don't want to fall into the habit of putting it on when I need some time out or have chores to do.

However it would be very handy for when we are in the campervan on long journeys.

So the question is at what age do you think kids should have DVD's and not just TV programmes to watch?

btw Isaac had Baby Einstein DVD's from birth but never paid much attention to them so we didnt bother putting them on once we'd tried them a couple of times. And obviously he was too little to cry for me to put them on.

 

[Squiglet]

hmmm... tbh I think DVD's are better than TV... the TV just seems to be a monotonous stream of kids programs... but with the DVD's you can set time limits...

Like when the DVD is finished you have to do this... or you can watch one DVD and then you have to go to bed... where as the TV you can say one program but kids TV just runs into the next program so easily, that its very easy for you to not notice the change until they half way through another episode..

Plus DVD's are portable for journeys.... and trust me they will be a god send...

 

[sam96031]

you could have it as you said for the journeys and maybe for when you visit families so keep for special occasions?

 

[mummykay]

Im not really bothered tbh, i turn it off when i think hes had enough and that goes for telly as well as dvd - hes complained once but i distracted him by making cakes so its not all bad, just makes room for other activities!

 

[kellie80]

I voted 4+ but I hadn't rad the question propally
I thought you ment how old till they will sit through a film
No I actully think dvds like night garden and stuff are fine. We have a Lazy town one but she only watches it when we are out visiting if she gets bored. Not everyone has it recorded 4 times on there sky+ like us

 

[Xena]

Honestly, I don't recommend dvds for kids that are really little. Lydia had 3 Pocoyo dvds - they are all now scratched to high heaven and completely unusable!

I've learnt my lesson - she has videos now - they're more sturdy and take bashings a lot better haha.

she has 3 winnie-the-pooh videos, 2 old bear videos, 1 bear in the big blue house video, 3 rupert the bear videos, and 1 teddy ruxpin video (I actually went on a hunt for that video on amazon lol - It used to be my favourite video in the whole world when I was like 3/4 years old, and I really wanted Lydia to have it aswell so I tracked a copy of it down and bought it!)

I actually prefer that she watches these videos rather than tv. She never ever watches tv in fact. I know exactly what is in these videos, they are nice gentle kids stories. There is so much crap on tv these days, and the adverts are all about getting kids to pester their parents for toys that they don't need. At least with the videos there is none of that.

But yes, she does get a bit too attached to them I must admit, but I can always distract her with a game if I want her to stop watching.

 

[kimmumof2]

i voted 0-2, i prefer to put a dvd on becus half the tim ei have to flick thru the tv channels after one programme becus she doesnt like the next and also the dvds just run straight thru with no interruption from adverts so i dnt have to listen to the i want that, i want this, etc etc. my eldest in nearly 5yrs and ruins dvd's very easily so theres no way i would leave her in charge of putting them on, she has to ask for a dvd and i give it to her and when its finished she has to return it to me, that way it isnt left lying around her bedroom.

xxxxx

 

[annaespana1]

I put 4+ I'm sure the occassional dvd on is fine but as regular viewing (same with tv) I'm a bit against it. Some kids things that are really interactive are fine but watching the tv screen tends to be a passive activity and kids under 4 I feel need to have more interaction, those over 4 can engage a little more independently and gain something from it.