Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Too much TV!

Hello! This is not Vicky, it's Michelle from Wife and Mommy. I'm pretending to be Vicky today as she's preparing for life with two children. Mazel tov, Vicky!

It’s a fairly quiet morning here at my home. Bito is at preschool, BabyMuffin is napping (cue the Hallelujah chorus!), and Cupcake is glued to the TV.

BC (that’s Before Children), I had smug ideas of how my kids would not watch too much television. I vowed to only allow them to watch educational programming that had value. There would be no mindless television viewing when the time could be better spent engaged in developing their young minds. And DEFINITELY no annoying programming such as Barney!

Indeed, I did quite well when I had just my oldest, Bito. He was allowed to watch Sesame Street after he was about a year old. There was no need for other shows. The rest of our time at home was spent solving puzzles, playing with Play-Doh, making crafts and doing other such wholesome child development activities. I felt superior to my other mommy friends who allowed their kids to watch much more TV than I did.

Then we brought Cupcake home when Bito was two. Learning to juggle two kids was a tough adjustment for me, so the television became a useful tool for keeping Bito occupied. I justified it because he was getting older. Plus I observed that he was actually coming away with useful knowledge from Sesame Street and that irritating fellow Elmo. So fine. There are other battles that were worth fighting, such as eating vegetables!

Well. My sanctimonious resolve continued to loosen, and soon I had the entire PBS lineup memorized. We’d also collected enough DVDs to keep Bito occupied if PBS had nothing to offer. His program repetoire expanded and he became a fan of all types of characters!

Pretty soon, Cupcake was sitting alongside Bito and watching television too, as an infant. Oh the shock. Oh the horrors. She was—and still is—more entranced with television than Bito ever was! And I don’t even want to confess how much and what BabyMuffin has been allowed to watch in his very short life. I cringe when I think of the crap that must be filling his young brain from the shows my older two kids like.

So maybe this falls under the Never Say Never category of parenting. All’s I gotta say is that the television buys me valuable time to get stuff done. And with three small children, that's no small feat.

But we still skip Barney.

4 comments:

  1. Haha! I was the same way, and my son really didn't show any interest in TV. I was so proud. But, about a week ago, he became mezmorized by Sesame Street. And I am now the happiest mommy in the universe.

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  2. Hi Michelle - following you over here.

    My kids have probably watched more tv - it's the only way I would have survived the newborn phases of their siblings. It's all educational right? ;)

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  3. I fear it yet I'm kind of glad for the invention. TD will be cozying up to Super Why more than before I fear. Already.

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  4. Oh, Super Why is a favorite around here! It's educational and has lots of value for teaching kids to read. :)

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