"He's not allowed anymore": The popular kids' TV show Zoe Marshall has banned in her home.

The battle between parents and kids over screen time can be epic, but it’s one battle which Zoe Marshall, co-host of Mamamia‘s parenting podcast, The Baby Bubble, has a pretty solid position on – especially when it comes to one show.

Marshall, 32, who co-hosts the podcast with Sean Szeps, shares 10-month-old Fox with NRL player husband Benji Marshall. She admitted on the most recent episode that the kind of parent she thought she would be has evolved since she had her son.

LISTEN: Zoe talks about Peppa Pig and screen time on Mamamia’s latest podcast for new parents, The Baby Bubble.

“We all have these ideas of who we are going to be as parents before we have a baby,” she told Szeps, who has 16-month-old twins Stella and Cooper with husband, Josh.

Apart from practising attachment parenting, she explained, before having her son, she planned to “co-sleep… wear a sling and be barefoot.” She was also determined to limit technology.

“No screens, no shortcuts, no routine,” she said. But the reality of being a parent meant Marshall’s approach needed to change.

“So I definitely have the routine, it’s pretty hardcore, I stick to it like it’s the air I breathe,” she admitted to Szeps. However, her attitude to technology has changed.

“So, we watch a lot of TV, Benji and I. Like, it’s my happy place. Netflix, Real Housewives – I do it all, I have no shame,” Marshall told her co-host. “I can watch docos, I can watch the sh*ttiest shows on tv.”

 

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Well that goes down as the best family trip ever @benji6marshall I never got to go to places like Fiji growing up. We just couldn’t afford it. But I never felt like I was missing out. All my cousins and I got to run under the hose at my Nans house and we thought it was the best. I hope one day Fox realises how special it is to get on a plane and arrive in paradise with the kindest people on the planet. I will never let any of us take this for granted. Very special.

A post shared by Zoe Marshall (@zoebmarshall) on Jan 5, 2019 at 12:37am PST

What does that mean for baby Fox and the “no screens” plan?

“So [Fox] has seen TV, he’s not really engaging that much,” Marshall said. “But occasionally, when times have gotten really tough, we’ve got on the kids’ channel.”

Surprised by how children’s programs grab her son’s attention, the mum-of-one added, “It must speak to the brain of a child, because the kids are glued.

“It must be the colours and the high-squeaky voices.”

But there’s one show that’s proving problematic for Marshall.

“He loves Peppa Pig. Do you know Peppa Pig?” she asked Szeps. And as with most parents, the co-host said he was familiar with the show.

“I definitely know it because my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and nephews live in London,” he replied.

Watch Sean Szeps on a first date with Mamamia.

Mimicking the main character Peppa Pig’s voice, Marshall jokingly asked, “Mummy, can I have chocolate for breakfast?”

As Szeps laughed in the background, she added, “That is not what I’m teaching my child.”

But Peppa’s voice isn’t Marshall’s only concern about the show. “She’s really manipulative,” Marshall said, using Peppa’s voice once again to say, “Charlie, [I’ll] do this for you if you do this.”

“No, Peppa, this isn’t how the world works,” she said with finality.

“So he’s not allowed Peppa Pig anymore.”

Szeps said he could absolutely relate.

“I went into parenting believing I was going to be one person,” he revealed.

“And a part of that personality was ‘my children are not going to watch television. They are only going to watch what is recommended by the Australian Paediatrics Board of whatever,” he joked.

You can hear the full discussion on Mamamia’s new parenting podcast, The Baby Bubble.

Is there a particular program you don’t allow your children to watch? Tell us in the comments below.

If you’d like to hear more from Nama Winston, see her stories here, and subscribe to her weekly Mamamia Parents newsletter here.