Like that’s going to work.
Seriously, the whole TV/computer thing is bumming me out. I don’t know if it’s winter, or what, but all M and E seem to want is “screen time” which is the half hour of computer OR television that each girl supposedly gets a day (though they can passively participate in the other one’s as well). First we slack and let half an hour edge toward an hour, then they whine and cajole and attempt to negotiate, then…well, sometimes we cave, but lately we’ve been trying not to.
It’s hardest when I really just want to work or read the paper or do my own thing, rather than engage in a more effectively parental manner. And it certainly doesn’t help that S and I are constantly on the computer, though one could make the argument that we are already well-rounded, imaginative, socialized, physically fit beings, and even with our constant computering, we do a lot of other things too.
Sometimes I question why I even care. Then I try to remind myself of the whole well-rounded, imaginative, socialized, physically fit thing. But lots of lovely, well-rounded, etc. adults I know spent their entire childhoods in front of the TV…
Still, when we do lay down the law, there are a few moments of objection, and then they’re off reading books or playing school or dressing tiny bears or rocking out to the Donnas. And sometimes I’m amazed at how little effort it can take to satisfy them. Yesterday afternoon I suggested that E do an art project. She got down the plastic straws, I asked if she wanted me to cut out some paper shapes for her, she asked me to get a paper plate (“like last time I made a sculpture”), she got the markers and the tape, and away she went. All I had to do was cut out said paper shapes and then occasionally assist with the tape.
I guess it’s not that hard to be parentally effective. Certainly cutting out pink and purple circles, triangles, and squares takes barely any more time and effort than lecturing about rights and responsibilities. It works better too.
But sometimes I just don’t want to.
3 comments:
I know just what you mean. Sometime's it's easier to be ineffective. But oh, the payback!
It's funny. While I haven't confronted the whole TV thing with kids yet (still working on producing the said kids) I've thought a lot about it.
Our TV died in the middle of an Easter special when I was five. I was devastated when my mother didn't replace it. I felt horribly abnormal growing up without TV--we used to play TV tag at school and I was ALWAYS "it" because I didn't know any tv show names.
But I read six or seven books a week. Really.
Now, as an adult, I spend my days in front of a computer like a slack-jawed idiot. Then I go home and watch TV like a slack-jawed idiot. Sometimes I leave my house and go see a movie (yeah, like a slack-jawed idiot).
But I still read a couple books a week.
So I don't know what to think! I do know that Sesame Street when I was little is WHY I read so much.
--Cecily
www.zia.blogs.com/wastedbirthcontrol/
I'm trying to establish some firm ground rules about TV watching with my kids. Since they're so little and so pliant (in this respect, at least), it hasn't been too hard. But I'm bracing myself for the time when they are older and much more sophisticated in their persuasion tactics!
I think it's a wonderful sign that your kids can easily find other ways to occupy their time. AND I think it's okay to relent on the rules now and then when you just need a break.
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