Ms Rachel

Some of these replies are really annoying me. Have you watched Ms Rachel? Do you think most parents abandon their children to watch her for hours instead of interacting with them directly for the vast majority of time? Are you judging young mothers yet again as being wanting compared with your own ‘perfect’ parenting? On threads like this, Gransnet does my head in.

Yes, I’ve watched it. It makes my teeth itch! All that good job and non-stop whiny yapping! There’s no room for the baby in it, it’s a one way street.

I don’t know
if most parents abandon their children to watch her for hours instead of interacting with them directly for the vast majority of time.

I do know that I see even very young children attached to devices when they’re out in the park instead of playing. Or see them attached to devices in cafés so their parents can chat in peace, but I used to give mine colouring to do or books to look at, so maybe not much different.

However ,
I do know that an increasing number of children come to school unable to string a sentence together, with or without an American accent.
If parents are there interacting with the child and the program, there’s no more harm than my DC learning songs with Music Time or Watch or Rainbow.
When they were young, parents were criticised for propping children up in front of the television.
The main difference now is that the screens are smaller and portable.

Casdon

Some of these replies are really annoying me. Have you watched Ms Rachel? Do you think most parents abandon their children to watch her for hours instead of interacting with them directly for the vast majority of time? Are you judging young mothers yet again as being wanting compared with your own ‘perfect’ parenting? On threads like this, Gransnet does my head in.

Sorry, but does a five month old need to watch Netflix?
Really?
Call me old-fashioned but no, they do not.
Does a five month old need entertaining in front of the TV?
No, they do not.

They're asleep, feeding, interacting with their parent while they're having a nappy changed, having "tummy time" with toys. Listening to a parent talking to them, singing etc.

Sorry if that does your head in, Casdon

Mine watched Rainbow.
But not at 5/6 months old.

We even went to a Rainbow live theatre production 😂
Great fun.

mollygo i often wonder at the assumption that parents (or other caregivers) have so much less time than we did.
When they load the automatic washing machine I was fighting with a twin tub.
When they throw away a disposable nappy I was handwashing and hanging out to dry
When they ping a meal in the microwave I was preparing from scratch
And so on and so on

I’ve never heard of Ms. Rachel,
but I’ll give it a try.
Our grandsons love Numberblocks and Alphablocks.

Nanny27

mollygo i often wonder at the assumption that parents (or other caregivers) have so much less time than we did.
When they load the automatic washing machine I was fighting with a twin tub.
When they throw away a disposable nappy I was handwashing and hanging out to dry
When they ping a meal in the microwave I was preparing from scratch
And so on and so on

Likewise Nanny27 and then of course there was fitting in doing that around going to work.
But it’s not an assumption.
They tell us they have less time, then list the things they can’t do because they have less time.

My two granddaughters, 2 & 4, enjoy watching Miss Rachel (American) and Miss Apple (English) as well as the singing and dancing videos on YouTube, it's fun to join in with instruments, they love it, and so do I! They occasionally watch CBeebies, but the whiney voices of Peppa Pig, Bluey and Bing really grate on me, and I get fed up hearing about subjects that little children shouldn't be dealing with, eg. emotions - feeling nervous, worried, anxious, angry, jealous, no wonder there's so much anxiety in the schools, we didn't know the meaning of the word at such a young age. Children's TV should be fun and carefree, cheerful and bright, that's how I remember it anyway. I'd much rather they watch people interacting with them than cartoons. Danny and his "the floor is lava" is fun, and keeps them fit on a cold, rainy day, they get their coloured foam mats out and jump from mat to mat. All that said, they get plenty of interaction from me, visits to the park, zoo, soft play, colouring, drawing, writing up the kitchen table, crafting, reading and dressing up. They also go to pre-school and primary school. I doubt the OP meant his niece watches TV all day, he didn't say so anyway, but parts of the day is fine, anything to enable you to get your jobs done, knowing the child is being amused and, if appropriate, safely strapped in a seat so as not to endanger itself. Let's not judge one another, being a mum/gran is busy, stressful and demanding, jobs around the house still have to be done (quickly!!), so if we can find something on the telly to amuse them while we get on, I don't see the harm in it.

My two granddaughters, 2 & 4

They're two and four years old, presumably.

My grandson watches Miss Apple as she is British. My son didn't want him speaking with an American accent when he is British.

My great daughter loved this programme. I not sure teaching them Americanisms at such an early age is such a good idea .
I think its an awful programme.