How do YOU define “Too Much TV”?
…and have my kids fallen squarely into that definition? I was so nuts when the oldest was little to not let her watch ANY. I returned all the Baby Einstein CD’s and didn’t put it on at all. She knew Elmo, from books etc, but when we took her to see Elmo Live for her 2nd Birthday she hadn’t ever actually seen the show. So we started down the slippery slope right after that.
She watched ONLY the 20 or so minutes of Elmo during Sesame Street. Then, all 3 of them went to stay with my parents for a week and my Dad, when left in charge solo, let them watch the whole thing every day. And then that became oh, so easy…And then when I wanted to work out on the treadmill I’d put HGTV on, and she’d watch. (That was a compromise from when she’d want to watch Animal Planet and I’d have to watch snakes while working out which infuriated me…I may have blogged about that already. I may actually have blogged about too much tv already but that just shows it’s an issue I’m constantly nagging myself about).
Ok so now, we’re at the point where:
Exhibit A: We went out last week to do errands; in response to being told we’re on the way to Lowe’s, she said “Let’s Build Something Together”.
Exhibit B: Some Burger King commercial was on (I think?) where some 70’s guy is getting all his clothes thrown out the window and two guys are singing at him and though she was otherwise engaged, she said, IN PERFECT TIME with the ad, “Ha - Ha - Ha”. Showing she’d seen it/heard it once. Or twice…before. She also is consistently shouting “Five Dollar Footlongs”, an ad that plays over and over during FOOTBALL…in fact, football is where she gets most of her material. She’s not actually watching it, it’s just on all day Sunday. So maybe I can make myself feel better thinking that she’s not watching too much tv, it’s just that the ads are a part of her environment, invading her subconscious in the same way that “Saved by Zero” plays over and over in my head as I try to sleep…
Exhibit C: The twins, EVERY time I say I have to do a quick call, immediately jump on the couch yelling “Can we watch Bob?” Bob the Builder has in the past proven to be a top-notch babysitter in a 20 minute pinch but only once. Or twice…
Exhibit D: One twin - they are 3 - asks us to “Pause it, I have to go pottie” at least once a night during the news. The NEWS.
Exhibit E (I fear I am making my case through these exhibits): At Target, the other day, the oldest, upon looking at Sham-Wow or some comparable product said “MOMMY. These are NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES. Why did they say that on tv if it’s here? Were they LYING?” (She’s very into who’s LYING - said quite momentously - these days).
Let’s not talk about how all of them can work the cable and regular remote, including on-demand, like it’s an appendage on their body. One of my girlfriends had had it. NO MORE TV in her house. God Bless her. I have firmly said no video games and feel virtuous in that denial.And I am currently comforting myself with the new trend - the oldest has learned to read, well enough that she can even read to the twins and they’ll put up with it. So, if I can just convince them that that’s AS good as Bob for babysitting, I’ll be all set. I’m trying to tilt the balance in my favor by giving almost nothing but books for Christmas. Of course the round of TV Holiday specials isn’t going to help…