Joseph Fuerst

> On Thu, 3 Jan 2002, Joseph Fuerst wrote:
>
> > Unschooling doesn't mean giving your children freedom carte blanche to
to
> > whatever, whenever. It's not about them having complete power in all
> > decisions...that would be overwhelming for a child.
>
> Thanks for clarifying, that is exaclty what I was asking. I do think
> excessive TV watching is quite harmful to children so yes, I would put it
> in the "danger" category, along w/excessive partying and the like.
>
> Best,
> Lynn
>
>
Lynn,
I'm wondering...if you think TV watching is dangerous to children...do you
mean 'all TV viewing'? ALL children? all ages?
Wasn't it you who said TV is limited to weekends. Well, let me
respectfully disagree with you on setting this type of control. I do not
advocate it. In setting TV viewing apart from living...you give it a
specialness. You risk sending some messages I imagine you do not intend to
send. For instance, perhaps a child will not engage in activities which
take place on the weekend, because they'd give up TV time. Maybe they'd be
less likely to do anything BUT watch TV, except during allowable times.
If you own a TV, you must believe it has some value. What about the
upcoming Olympics...no viewing their favorite sports because of the day of
the week. What about a show that comes on a Tuesday regarding... your
child's favorite animal? What about world changing news....let's think
positive here, :-), perhaps a space mission, peace treaty, a friend
making the news.
I understand issues of commercialism and materialism......my response to
that is, provide videos with content you feel is appropraite. Young
children do not usually understand the concept of commercial interruptions
...my six yr old still asks if the show's over at commercial break...though
it would make no sense to end the story there. Videos are available at most
libraries to expand your collection inexpensively. When they are old enough
to wonder about commercial TV, they are old enough to explore advertising
issues like *truth* in advertising, the purpose of advertising. It can be
quite valuable for a child to really want something from an
advertisement....get it, and explore how different the reality is from the
idea promoted in the ad. Boy, that's something I want my children to pick
up on as soon as they are able.
To try to summarize, if you put a TV in the child's
playing/seeking/learning environment, I think they ough to be given the
freedon to use it. Do you only allow puzzle solving on Tuesdays and
Thursdays? <sarcasm on> And, goodness gracious, we do want them to read
in moderation, right? I guess we better limit books to Mon-Wd-Fri, in the
afternoon. <sarcasm off>

I say these things respectfully, with the hope you'll see it from
another perspective.

Susan.....been out for a few days with a nasty 'bug'.....hope to catch up
soon!