Does this image scare you?
I?m not a big television person.? I?m not for it for my kids, for my husband, not for my teenage daughter.? I love board games, I love hiking, I love family trips together, I read to my nieces; I like to think of myself as a little old-fashioned.
Okay here goes, television viewing should be kept to a minimum with the kiddies.? Another Mom in my neck of the woods recommended a good parenting book.? I?m certainly not in it?s entirety recommending it but it gave me a few good laughs and it just goes to show me that most mothers do not recommend using the television as a babysitter.
This book and you should thumb through it if you have the time or buy it off of Amazon or borrow mine?.it does sound like I?m recommending it doesn?t it!? Ha!??Okay, it?s called ?The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Parenting.?? On the plane recently I laughed out loud (which was a great feeling by the way) when reading most chapters!? With all that the world is experiencing and the medications people are on now, isn?t it nice to just escape for a while with a good book and read it on a plane-even better.? This book isn?t text book on parenting children by any means.? It?s a nice way of saying ?people, your children shouldn?t be running the universe!?
In Chapter 22, Christie Mellor, the author of this devilish book tells us parents ?that while it can be very effective in keeping a child happily occupied, you will end up a slave to the TV set and a slave to your child if she never learns to entertain herself.?? She also says ?trust me, the minute the TV show or video is over, the call for Mommy! will be heard, along with a demand for either Mommy?s instant attention or another video.?
She hit the nail on the head.? My children have been doing this recently.? I?ve been in baby-free mode for like a year now and I?m starting to feel taken advantage of (pooh).? I?ve put so much of my loving time and effort into my kids (and why shouldn?t I, I?m a stay at home Mom); I?ve allowed them a commercial-free TV show daily and never thought anything of it.? But now, but now, they whine for the show-they wake up asking for the show, they ask for Dora, or Wyatt, or Little Bear!? These little characters have made quite an impression!
The only thing we can do is be conscious of our daily decisions as parents.? Being aware of how much TV they watch, what they?re watching and certainly if your teenage child really loved Law & Order, SVU, please make sure that channel is switched by mornings due!? I once awoke in a sleep-deprived state, only to turn on the tube and find a bloody, half-naked dead man on my flat screen!!? Here I was shielding my little innocent children?s eyes from this monstrosity!
I?ve now limited my girls? television consumption to twice per day.? A video is used for sick days only or for the weekends as a special treat.? Recently, it was nice to find my youngest daughter Audrey creating hand puppets in the back seat of our rental car, on our way to Disney World.? We mustn?t skip to the negative in our minds when we see our children bug-eyed to the tune of Olivia, but remind ourselves that we too watched a good bit of television in our day and turned out alright (right?).? Thank goodness the soap opera Guiding Light has been canceled!
gabrielle giffords juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles john kerry prince fielder
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.