Naughty Nanna.......but doing the best I can!

Jalima. No, good sarcasm is very witty, as yours is.

Teacher11. What a load of tosh!

Luckygirl. The childminder's downgrading is crazy. Aren't OFSTED inspectors allowed common sense.
Jalima. Nothing wrong with well aimed sarcasm! I think us grans have just been taught to suck eggs by Teacher!

Anything that keeps an unwell child content is worth its weight in gold, ime! Provided one is selective, I don't think a bit of TV does any harm. When my own four were young, they tended to regress a bit anyway when they were ill and wanted their old familiar toys and books around them, they didn't want to be learning anything new, they just wanted comforting.

Recently, I was Skyping with my ds in America and I heard him say to his 3yo to go and watch such-and-such a programme on TV. I was as when they'd had their first child the rules were no tv for his first two years then a maximum of 30 minutes of a video chosen by mum & dad and no live TV until he was 5yo. I asked ds about the rules and he said they'd had a change of heart with their No2 as she's such a live wire and it's the only way they can get any peace! FWIW, she could talk the hind leg off a donkey so it doesn't seem to have impaired her in any way.

Don't think we have a problem with language development/understanding - he just told me that farmers feed cows silage in the barn and that telehandlers fit on the back of tractors!!

Super impressed Teacher but our 2 year old can't tell the time so he wouldn't know when it's 3;30 !

Personally I see no problem with a bit of kids TV , some have an educational element as well as being fun as long as the child has access to the full range of media including books I dont think there's a problem. There's a lot of good discussion to be gotten from an episode of Mickey Mouse Club House in my opinion.

Oh and Grampy says he wont be missing any episodes of Princess Sofia - its one of his personal favourites :-)

Katek I think you're doing a great , well rounded job and everyone knows you don't poke a grumpy 2 year old - you're safer standing on a bears tail....hmmmm IF it has a tail

Sounds to me you did exactly the right thing, Katek a wise granny indeed!! Nothing at all to feel bad about.
Sometimes under similar circumstances my daughter would reel off a list of instructions, catch sight of the "I don't think so" face I was trying so hard to not to make and then finish up by saying "but at the end of the day mum I trust you, so just do whatever you have to do" And I did, including cbeebies/dvds etc when I needed to!!

My philosophy is 'What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's'.

I don't normally go against her parents wishes but I recently let my GD watch too much telly as I was busy in the house. It allowed her to have a rest after a busy morning at nursery. Normally, we go to gymnastics or swimming or play games but heyho! That day I had other things to do. We have to be pragmatic at times and there is nothing to be ashamed of in that.

I do think that parents are guilt tripped about what they should/shouldnt allow their children to do. All this nonsense about no TV before 3.30. I certainly would not put a child in front of the TV all day, and wouldn't subject anyone of any age to the likes of the Jeremy Kyle show, but this is all getting out of hand. When mine were little they had favourite videos which were sold by NSPCC. These videos had episodes of all the favourites like Postman Pat, Fireman Sam etc., and that way I could control what they watched and for how long. But, a poorly child, like all of us, just wants to cuddle up in front of the TV and drift and doze. Just go for it, you are doing a grand job.

Don't feel guilty!

We record a couple of (parental) approved programs for our wee 2 year old GD. She watches tv while she's having her meals at her wee table as it distracts her and she usually eats something despite herself!

She plays with play doh, paints and draws and 'reads' her books most of the time, so we figure a little extra tv is ok.

We 'enjoy' Balamory, Timmy Time, Mr Tumble, Waybaloo and In The Night Garden!!!
Grandad knows all the characters and can sing all the songs!

What a load if twaddle..My 2 year old dgd watches more tv than I would like her to. She has just flown through her 2 yr check with vocabulary of a 3 yr old plus. When she was unwell the other week all she wanted was her old dummy and a cuddle with even more tv. What with also caring for a baby I was only too glad to comply

It is a joy to see all these sensible grandmas here! How wonderful that we refuse to be guilted into toeing the PC line!

Nana's Rules!

I was only flicking through some posts and I thought you wrote 'I have allowed dogs to watch more tv' and thought 'my dogs don't pay any attention to the tv'. Perhaps I need new glasses

Absolutely nothing wrong with relaxing on the sofa watching T.V with a sick child, or any child come to that! My very intelligent ( I'm not in the least bit biased) DGD has been helped along the way with her favourite programmes to identify shapes, colours numbers etc., So need for guilt [Katek]

Having just looked after our very active two year old DGS for a week (nine days and eight nights actually), I found his favourites, Thomas and Peppa an absolute godsend. I did watch with him and was impressed how much social learning there is in both programmes. It gave me time to sit and rest!

And everyone loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles!

The theme tune to Balamory brings back happy memories of being on 'Granny duty'. They're nearly all teenagers now but I bet they remember cuddling up in front of the telly to watch a favourite programme.

I love the Balamory tune.

All rules go out of the window with a poorly child.

All rules go out of the window with a GrandChild.

Therefore, there are no rules!

Was it someone on Mumsnet who said that, when her DC were playing up in the back of the car, she sang 'What's the Story in Balamory' at the top of her voice.

DGD2: 'but why are their houses all painted different colours?'
'Because they look pretty and they like them like that'
'Yes, but why do they like them like that?'

Um .....

When we are in the UK we often look after GS after preschool. With DS working from home he needs peace and quiet. So we do have a film or TV on in our part of the house some afternoons. Has this stunted GS?, I don't think so. He is a very lively interactive little boy, with an immensely wide vocabulary, a great love of books, but does need 'down time' Do I feel guilty, not a bit. If you are good enough to look after GC then you should be permitted to do things your way.

I don't watch a lot of tv (happy Valley an exception) and have never watched day time telly. I was looking after 10 month old grandson yesterday afternoon. He's teething and woke from his nap with bright red cheeks and a grumpy approach to life. The only thing that would console him was being cuddled and I switched the tv on because I know he and his mum sometimes snuggle up together to watch a Disney and he'll nod off again. I don't have a Disney channel and found the tv was on the Gold channel which was showing the Faulty Towers episode with the dead body. I haven't seen it for years and found myself crying with laughter. My grandson was so taken aback by seeing grannie loose it, he totally forgot to cry about his teeth.
There's an awful lot of snobbery about tv watching. I speak as someone who worries about poor speech development etc from too much being plugged in to the telly but honestly - let's have a bit of live and let live and as others have said, easy rules as grannies.

Well said... Exactly what I thought when I read the teacher message!

One of DD's friends had no TV at all as a child. Now in her 40's she freely admits she will watch almost anything.

When my first grandson aged about two was poorly we would watch YouTube videos over and over again, his favourites being dustcarts around the world; you would be surprised how different they are . Another favourite was construction machinery: digger fills tip up lorry, lorry reverses down a hill in the mud, tips out the load and goes back for more. Great fun so long as he was happy. Of course I read to him when he wanted me to, who doesn't! and he's a smart 7 year old now but they were precious cuddles watching bin men load their trucks.

Seriously teacher? Get a life.