15 Month Old Obsessed with Tv!

My daughter is 19 months old and also has her toys in the same room as the TV. She too wants to watch Elmo constantly. The only suggestion I can offer is to take him out of the room or even out of the house. I know you said moving his toys to another room is not an option but why not take him to a Children's Gym or a trip to the mall, or anywhere that's out of the home and away from the TV. Otherwise I also think it might just be a phase, becuase my daughter would constanlty ask for Elmo until about a week ago...now it's only every so often. All I can say about it is atleast she's watching something educational. Good luck!

It's ok. This doesn't mean that he will grow up to become a couch potato. Just make sure you incorporate other activities into his dailt routine, and he will learn that playing outside is much more fun.

My 2 oldest loved loved loved TV when they were babies. But we put limits on it. We didn't make a big deal out of it. We simply changed rooms, or went outside, or went to the park.

Right now they are both in my daughter's room playing very well. They chose to turn off the TV on their day off to play.

It is ok.

A.

My daughter started to get this way, we have limited TV time for her, but when she does seem to want TV over anything else I cut it off cold turkey, a few days or a week with no TV and he will get used to not having it.

The best thing you can do is just turn it off, and try to deal with his tantrums. He's too young to be so involved in tv, and it's only going to get worse if you don't stop it now. Turn on a radio, or if he won't just sit and stare, try music videos. If you just turn it off, tell him it's broken. I know he's a bit young to understand that, but if you keep saying maybe he'll get it. Luckily Spring isn't too far away, and you can take him outside completely away from the tv then.

Hi A.,
He's obsessed with it because it's new to him. We all get excited about new things, and we want more & more exposure. He can get the same satisfaction by redirecting his focus. Which shows does he like? Get some picture books that are directly related to whatever it is he likes. Or get some books that come with cd's to stimulate his imagination. That might hold his attention a little longer. You can also segway right into this as soon as you turn off the tv. There are so many free printables on the internet that you can print, too. Get some fat crayons and watch him go. Taking him outside more often will also simmer down the tantrums. He'll be too tired to act out. If you drive, ride him around when he's tired, even if it's once around the block--or get your excercise in too by taking him for a walk. The world is so much bigger to the lil ones. Again, he'll be busy taking in the sights, he'll drift off. When he does watch tv, just make sure it's educational. At least the tv time will be productive. There's so much junk out there that he can very easily pick up, then you're on to the next challenge. Good luck.

If I let him, my son could watch TV all day long. We had a difficult time trying to limit his TV time.
He thrives on schedule and routines, so we built TV into his day. In the morning he can lay in bed with my husband and watch about a 1/2 hour while I shower and make breakfast. (My husband works 2nd shift and doest get home until 1:00am, so my husband appreciates the extra snooze in the morning.)
After breakfast TV goes off. After lunch he can watch another 1/2 hour as part of quiet time. And then again while I make dinner he can catch another 10 minutes or so.
By doing it this way he knows when I shut it off its done. And he knows when he'll be able to watch again.
Also we have a TiVo which comes in handy because we dont have to worry about scheduling TV when his shows are on. His favorites are saved in the TiVo so he can watch whatever he wants.
Good Luck!!

My 21 month old has been doing the same thing. He is obsessed with Thomas the Train and Elmo. We went to the library and found books and songs with both of them and he loves those just as much or more than the TV.

Also if you go on the official web sites for different characters (like Elmo or Thomas) you can print off coloring pages and activities for them to do. He thinks those are a blast. We took a small coloring picture of Thomas and after he colored many of them, we sent them out as Valentine's. We've done the same with Elmo and thank you notes.

He is allowed to watch some when I am taking a shower (like 15 minutes) and a little in the evening as I make dinner (another 15 minutes). Since he knows he has times he can watch it, it has become less of a problem of him wanting it as well.

Good luck!

my nearly 19mo has also just started to 'request' tv. i try not to put it on at her request, but on occasion at other times. even when i do put it on, her little attention span only watches for a few minutes then it's just background. she doesn't sit in front of it watching for long. we have started to use it as a learning tool. when we see a familiar object on tv, we go find it in the house-like bus or duck or bear. we stick to sesame, noggin, and we get 13kids(public television kids).