{"id":8263,"date":"2017-11-23T17:50:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T16:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smama.blog\/deca-i-crtani-filmovi\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T16:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:31:26","slug":"screen-time-for-toddlers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smama.blog\/en\/screen-time-for-toddlers\/","title":{"rendered":"My Child Watches Cartoons, So What!"},"content":{"rendered":"

One topic parents are fiercely divided over these days is definitely children\u2019s media consumption. Should a child be allowed to watch cartoons on TV or on other devices such as a laptop, a phone and the like?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yes, I am one of those bad mothers<\/em> who let their child watch cartoons.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t judge too quickly.<\/p>\n

\n

Everything in moderation, including media consumption.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First of all, we don\u2019t have a TV at home and we don\u2019t plan to get one. Marko and I think it\u2019s a device that needlessly eats up your time and helps family members NOT communicate with each other<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Admit it: the first thing you do when you get up in the morning or come back home is turn on the TV. It doesn\u2019t matter whether anyone is watching, what matters is that it\u2019s on and that it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t want that. Ever since we moved in together, there has always been music playing in our flat, but from the radio. That way you get a pleasant atmosphere at home, you can pick up some useful information if you focus on listening, and it doesn\u2019t demand your attention. But it\u2019s there. And the videos we actually want to watch, we watch online on the laptop.<\/p>\n

\"Little<\/a>

Cartoon time is family time.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since I deal with media from a theoretical angle, but also use them in everyday life, I think that forbidding my child<\/strong> to use them would be hypocritical<\/strong>. Our general stance on this, and on many other questions about raising our child, is:<\/p>\n

\n

If you don\u2019t want your child to do something, don\u2019t do it yourself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It also works the other way round: if you want your child to do something, do it yourself too. Because children learn from us, and, I swear, we learn from them as well.<\/p>\n

\n

The trick is to keep watching screens to a minimum and to make it actually worthwhile.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First of all, I myself love watching cartoons. It\u2019s a special treat for us when the three of us go to the city library and pick a cartoon that even I haven\u2019t seen or one I particularly love, and of course a film or two for Marko and me. That way we\u2019ve given ourselves two family rituals: choosing and watching cartoons. It\u2019s a special kind of quality time<\/a> we spend together. But it\u2019s not the only one, because we don\u2019t do it every day, let alone all day.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very important to me that cartoons are not a substitute for some other activity<\/strong>, because they\u2019re not meant to be. And no, media are not the babysitter<\/strong> I don\u2019t have. This means Sofia doesn\u2019t watch cartoons whenever mum wants a rest or to paint her nails<\/em>, so the child has to sit still instead of running around the flat and scattering toys. As I said, cartoons are a kind of entertainment we usually enjoy together.<\/p>\n

Although, honestly, there are moments when Sofia is so upset that there is no other way to get her attention so she stops crying. It really doesn\u2019t happen often, but it does happen. Usually it\u2019s when I pick her up from nursery and she didn\u2019t sleep enough beforehand, and then nothing but being carried or watching cartoons on the phone can calm her down.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have a car, so we get home from nursery on foot, by bike or by bus. And when we take the bus, it\u2019s really exhausting to carry a child on one arm, push the pushchair with the other and squeeze onto the bus. So, excuse me, but I\u2019d rather my child sat calmly in her pushchair for those ten minutes watching her favourite cartoon on my phone (thank you, Amazon, for existing) than be in a bad mood. Nobody likes their child screaming, first of all because they love their child and don\u2019t like seeing them unhappy, and second, the looks other people give you in those moments are never pleasant.<\/p>\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, this story could go on forever. Media have both a positive and a negative influence, especially on children. But that\u2019s a topic for another text.<\/p>\n

This is about the simple fact that we live in a time that is definitely different from the time we grew up in<\/a>, which in turn was different from the time our parents grew up in, and so on. So please don\u2019t fall for those platitudes like \u201cback when we were raised, we didn\u2019t have this or that<\/strong>\u201d. Well, we didn\u2019t, so<\/strong> GET OVER IT<\/em>, our children have it and live with it.<\/strong> And what our grandchildren will have, we can\u2019t even dream of.<\/p>\n

The point is to keep an eye on what your child watches and for how long<\/strong>, not to ban it completely. Because if you forbid it to your child, then don\u2019t watch anything yourself either, simple as that. Please don\u2019t be hypocritical, because children understand everything, even if they can\u2019t always put it into words. Or go ahead: your child, your way of parenting, your business.<\/p>\n

Just please don\u2019t breathe fire at those of us who give our children a little fun on the screens of modern technology.<\/p>\n

Warmly,<\/p>\n

S-Mama<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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