@anymommy The longer I have children the less I care about how much TV they watch. That is called *survival instinct.*
I wasn't kidding. I didn't expect either the volume or the positive vibe of the responses I received. I think I truly believed, somewhere in the back of my mind, that my slipping TV standards were a part of a general avalanche of all of the principles and dearly held beliefs on which rested, precariously, apparently, my parenting philosophy. Beginning with that time in the tropics when my three toddlers gave me butt worms and I unceremoniously dumped them on the daycare at a religious cult while I moaned in first trimester misery and guzzled Pepsi at a rate which no doubt has caused cancer in lab rats and culminating yesterday when I handed Nate the banana that I told him repeatedly he could not have during the first fifteen minutes of his impressive banana tantrum so that he would just stop.making.that.horrible.noise and then threatened all of my kids with the dire, much-feared consequence of watching the guests eat cupcakes at their sweet friend's birthday party tomorrow if they did not lay silently in their beds until they fell asleep; I SO do not care that it is 6:45 p.m. and still light out. I swear - HAND TO GOD - I will do it. You know I will. Do not test me because you will be sobbing on that birthday party floor and Ms. Kristina makes awesome cupcakes. Amen. Could someone please pull me out from under this pile of parenting-principle rocks. Thank you.
I felt sure that my children were the only ones in my hyper-parenting circle whose children watched close to, let alone over, the recommended two hour limit on daily television viewing. I could tell by the wild, googly-eyed with horror way my fellow parents at our Waldorfy-granola-outdoor preschool look at me whenever I mention that Saige & Garrett will be attending morning Kindergarten at the public elementary next year and then staying for the after school care. Until three. BECAUSE IF I HAVE LEARNED ONE THING FROM MY SOMETIMES UNFORTUNATE YEAR IN ALL DAY CHRISTIAN KINDERGARTEN IT IS THAT SCHOOL SHOULD BEGIN AT 9:00 AM AND END AT 3:00 PM FOR EVER AND EVER AMEN.
I watched a bit of TV growing up. (Yes, that does explain a lot. Shut. Up.) I remember stepping in the door after school to the familiar strains of the Days of Our Lives theme song. Like sands through the hour glass. The TV stayed on until dinner, through soaps and into old-school sitcoms. I've seen every episode of Mash, Welcome Back Kotter and Little House on the Prairie. And I'm only slightly neurotic with OCD tendencies, control issues and an unhealthy dose of crippling procrastination mixed with perfectionism. WHAT?
I'm not looking for you to disparage or validate my parental TV choices. I think it's fine if they watch a few Doras in the morning and few Wild Kratts and Scooby Doos in the afternoon, especially in these cold, bleak, parkless winter months. I know lots of people don't agree. It's all good.
Here's where I need help if you lean more toward my side of the TV fence: Digital games. Saige and Garrett have recently discovered them and they could play games on my computer or on their ridiculous little digital cameras basically forever.
How do you define "screen time?" What are your rules? Do you limit total screen time? Do you let them play certain games (math/reading games, for example) as much as they want? Do you let them choose between TV & games? Do you think it matters? Why?
So far, any computer/digital games are a very special treat, mainly because we watch quite a bit of TV, but they beg to play them constantly. I feel myself caving like a mother of four whose toddler wants a banana before dinner.
(thank you.)
P.S. If your opinion is that children shouldn't have any screen time because it's evil and mind-numbing, you are an awesome parent. Go away. You're making me look bad.
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