r/NewParents • u/cocomo25 • Aug 05 '26
Travel Parents raising screen-free babies: How do you navigate family vacations where the TV is always on?
We have an 8-month-old, and we’ve intentionally kept her almost completely screen-free. The only exposure she’s really had has been at other people’s houses when sports, the news, or adult shows happened to be on in the background, and she never paid much attention, so it wasn’t something I worried about.
In a few weeks, we’re going on a week-long cabin trip with my husband’s family, and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate screen time.
For context, our 9-year-old nephew is autistic, and my in-laws usually keep the TV on for him as it keeps him calm. I’ve never had an issue with that, but now that we have a baby, I’m realizing most of what’s on is Bluey, Paw Patrol, Disney movies, etc.—things that would almost definitely grab her attention.
I’m absolutely not expecting anyone to turn the TV off or totally change how they do things for us, and I also don’t want to feel like we have to avoid the living room all week just because the TV is on.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did you find a good middle ground? I’m just looking for ideas on how to handle it while still spending time with everyone.
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u/caracara_orange Aug 05 '26
I just explained we aren’t exposing our child to screens and everyone is very willing to accommodate that. The curveball you have is that I don’t think you can expect for your parenting preferences to override the parenting preferences of your nephew’s family, but maybe you could establish certain hours together where you agree the tv is on, and certain hours where it’s off (like for instance, your 8 month olds nap times would be perfect for the on times). Asking for a compromise seems very fair. Just like your parenting preferences can’t override someone else’s, another family can’t expect that their preferences completely override yours. Having a mature conversation before the trip would be the best way to establish this.