To be clear, she's not allowed to "watch" television. We don't use it as an electronic babysitter. But Andrew and I do watch TV while she's playing often in the room with us. And sometimes, post nap, she catches it before I turn it off. Like this instance, I plunked her down in her exersaucer and she glommed on immediately.
Do you see that drool on her chin? Yea! Drool!!
It must be the flurry of movement and colours; she's in a trance. When I think of my childhood, television hardly had a role. Instead I remember building forts on our acreage, running races and playing house and school. I want the same for Ember and I would love to make it to kindergarten without her knowing who Dora and Diego are.
Though I don't want to be tyrannical about television either. I'm hoping to achieve some sort of balance as she grows into toddlerhood.
I guess I should be grateful she even acknowledged me.
Do your children watch TV? At what age did you think it appropriate to let them? Is there certain children's programming that you deplore and forbid in your house?
I ask because I'm really afraid of certain characters being household names and want to know if I'm the only one.
Great question. Does our boy watch tv...not technically but sort of! He is obsessed with watching clips of Teletubbies on our lap tops and I found him carrying my lap top to me the other day. ACK!
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, when he was a baby, we tried EVERYTHING (including tv) to soothe/distract him during his crying marathons. He did not take to watching the big screen at all. No interest. No drool or slack jaw.
It's funny what catches their eye, especially as a baby.
darn, supposedly posted a comment earlier and now it's gone :( I'm Katie J. the wife of your hubby's friend Kris. LOVE your blog btw! Well, we have two kids and they do watch tv. It didn't start out that way, but... Our oldest was never into tv until he was about 2 then all of the sudden he really liked the 'educational' shows. And we were ok with some of those, we screened (and still do) what he's allowed to watch. He's almost 4 and is into movies now and we also screen which he's allowed to watch. A lot of shows we don't tell him about or let him watch because we find them scary or not appropriate even though they claim to be kid programs. I mean, we've heard things like the word stupid being used, stupid! on a toddler show!? Maybe that's not a big deal to some, but we don't want him saying things like that or treating others in a nasty way because of a 'cartoon'. Our youngest, who's almost 2, loves tv unfortunately, lol. I've realized it's mostly for the music and colors though. So, with that in mind, we try to find different things if she wants to watch tv. Like a streaming music channel and she'll dance away like it's the best thing ever. But, mostly, they prefer to be outside playing or having fun in the pool, or doing their 'art work' :) Which I am happy about, that even though they like tv and we let them watch it, they truly prefer physically/mentally stimulating things other than that. And they love to explore, so we try to go places and teach them things and let them experience other people and ideas, culture, etc. I think, most kids prefer to get out and do than sit and watch. Kris and I both grew up playing outdoors and make believe, etc. It's not so much like that these days, but we try to keep as much of that for our kids as possible, because that's how we grew up and it was great. I suppose in this day and age, our kids will think we're squares, lol, later on down the road.
ReplyDeleteAndrea- All too soon, I know my girl will be bringing the laptop or the remote to me and making requests. Time is flying!
ReplyDeleteKatie- Great to meet you, and thank you. I'm in the same boat as you regarding the word stupid. In my opinion, it's worse that a lot of 'swear' words. Stupid is insulting and meant to hurt - I don't like the word at all and I strive to avoid in my vocabulary. I intend on screening all of Ember's programs the same way you and Kris do.
ReplyDeleteEmber loves books, being outside and dancing so I engage her throughout the day with different activities. At this point, she's still pretty young but as she grows, I look forward to 'art work', music, playing outside and seeing that imagination emerge. Hopefully I will entertain her enough that she will forget about the TV - most of the time...
lol, from one square to another!