RE: Plug in Drug and Ads
moonstarshooter
You know, "thank you" seems so understated when I try to express my
gratefulness for all the posts regarding TV lately. I have a 5yod
who has loved tv from the time she was just an infant. When
she was about 7 months old and in her jumpy-seat (you know, the ones
that attach to a doorway threshold) she would jump and spin like you
wouldn't believe to Barney's opening song, and she would watch it the
whole way through.
To try to make this long story short, I started feeling like I should
limit her tv viewing because she would sit and watch it for hours,
even as a 1yo. (And I was always beside her watching it also,
singing along...I think I am the only mom I know who really actually
loved the Teletubbies...my husband and I would even watch it on
Friday nights after she had gone to bed...boy, did I just admit
that?) Anyway, I would go through periods of limiting, and for one
reason or another, I would slack off and she would be watching it
more and more. Then I would get concerned again and step back in
with my restrictions. But as many of you have pointed out, there was
no way for her to know if she was going to be able to watch what she
wanted today, or if mom was going to tell her she needed to turn it
off, so she just watched and watched and watched...
Then two things happened that slapped me in the face about it. One
night, my mom and dad took her to visit her great-grandparents, and
on the way she asked a question that would make any grandparent sit
up and listen: "Do you know what the worst thing that my parents do
is?" Let me tell you, they were about to jump out of their seats
waiting to hear the answer to that one. Then she sadly said, "Every
night after I go to bed, they watch tv ALL night." When I heard this
story I first thought, well if that is the worst we do, we aren't
doing too bad. But then it set in how hypocritical I was being, and
hypocrisy is the one thing that I despise the MOST in the world.
So I started letting her watch more tv. But I still was trying to
impose on what she could and couldn't watch. I kept "encouraging"
her to watch things like Dora and Liberty Kids because she
could "learn" from them. Finally, she had had enough one day and she
just looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Well I think I am just
fine the way I am, with what I know and what I don't know."
Hmmm...And you know what, she is right. She is an extremely smart
little girl, and I wasn't giving her the credit she deserved. Shame
on me.
So I am proud to say that the tv has been on almost continually for
the last couple of weeks, and yes, she has been a couch potato, but
she is so happy! She comes to me and says, "Mommy, I do learn stuff
from the Goofy movie. I learn how not to act, like the boys on the
other skateboard team. That is rude."
And sometimes I think it is good for her to see kids acting rudely on
tv, because she CAN be a passive viewer and see how acting that way
affects the other person. If she were IN the situation, it would be
MUCH harder to separate how something she or her friends were doing
that might be hurtful to another child.
And as far as ads, I too was worried about the constant bombardment
of toys and such. But as I was watching with her one day, I noticed
how there must have been at least 25 commercials during that period
(maybe more) and only once did she say, "Hey mom, that's cool! Can I
have that?" So yes, I believe it does expose them to all kinds
of "neat" things, but I also believe they have the ability to discern
which of those things really appeal to them. (Plus it helps me with
her birthday list for next month!) And I always think it funny how
she mutes the tv when the Hooked on Phonics commercial comes on (over
and over and over again.) It drives her nuts. But this has led to
great conversations regarding marketing and target audiences and such.
So anyway, thanks for all the posts (and thanks for reading this
novel to the end.) Everything finally feels right.
Tory
gratefulness for all the posts regarding TV lately. I have a 5yod
who has loved tv from the time she was just an infant. When
she was about 7 months old and in her jumpy-seat (you know, the ones
that attach to a doorway threshold) she would jump and spin like you
wouldn't believe to Barney's opening song, and she would watch it the
whole way through.
To try to make this long story short, I started feeling like I should
limit her tv viewing because she would sit and watch it for hours,
even as a 1yo. (And I was always beside her watching it also,
singing along...I think I am the only mom I know who really actually
loved the Teletubbies...my husband and I would even watch it on
Friday nights after she had gone to bed...boy, did I just admit
that?) Anyway, I would go through periods of limiting, and for one
reason or another, I would slack off and she would be watching it
more and more. Then I would get concerned again and step back in
with my restrictions. But as many of you have pointed out, there was
no way for her to know if she was going to be able to watch what she
wanted today, or if mom was going to tell her she needed to turn it
off, so she just watched and watched and watched...
Then two things happened that slapped me in the face about it. One
night, my mom and dad took her to visit her great-grandparents, and
on the way she asked a question that would make any grandparent sit
up and listen: "Do you know what the worst thing that my parents do
is?" Let me tell you, they were about to jump out of their seats
waiting to hear the answer to that one. Then she sadly said, "Every
night after I go to bed, they watch tv ALL night." When I heard this
story I first thought, well if that is the worst we do, we aren't
doing too bad. But then it set in how hypocritical I was being, and
hypocrisy is the one thing that I despise the MOST in the world.
So I started letting her watch more tv. But I still was trying to
impose on what she could and couldn't watch. I kept "encouraging"
her to watch things like Dora and Liberty Kids because she
could "learn" from them. Finally, she had had enough one day and she
just looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Well I think I am just
fine the way I am, with what I know and what I don't know."
Hmmm...And you know what, she is right. She is an extremely smart
little girl, and I wasn't giving her the credit she deserved. Shame
on me.
So I am proud to say that the tv has been on almost continually for
the last couple of weeks, and yes, she has been a couch potato, but
she is so happy! She comes to me and says, "Mommy, I do learn stuff
from the Goofy movie. I learn how not to act, like the boys on the
other skateboard team. That is rude."
And sometimes I think it is good for her to see kids acting rudely on
tv, because she CAN be a passive viewer and see how acting that way
affects the other person. If she were IN the situation, it would be
MUCH harder to separate how something she or her friends were doing
that might be hurtful to another child.
And as far as ads, I too was worried about the constant bombardment
of toys and such. But as I was watching with her one day, I noticed
how there must have been at least 25 commercials during that period
(maybe more) and only once did she say, "Hey mom, that's cool! Can I
have that?" So yes, I believe it does expose them to all kinds
of "neat" things, but I also believe they have the ability to discern
which of those things really appeal to them. (Plus it helps me with
her birthday list for next month!) And I always think it funny how
she mutes the tv when the Hooked on Phonics commercial comes on (over
and over and over again.) It drives her nuts. But this has led to
great conversations regarding marketing and target audiences and such.
So anyway, thanks for all the posts (and thanks for reading this
novel to the end.) Everything finally feels right.
Tory
zenmomma *
>>Everything finally feels right.Ooh, that gives me goosebumps, Tory. Thanks for sharing your story.
>
>Tory
Life is good.
~Mary
"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green
earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
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In a message dated 3/26/2003 2:28:21 PM Central Standard Time,
torywalk@... writes:
were: "Time for Tubby bye-bye."
Elizabeth, who is hoping her children will watch tv all day long because her
head cold is like a fish globe filled with water secured to her head with
sticky tape. At least the rubber mallet pounding on this fish globe
overnight has been quieted!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
torywalk@... writes:
> I think I am the only mom I know who really actuallyTory, not so! I used to think the four saddest words in the English language
> loved the Teletubbies
were: "Time for Tubby bye-bye."
Elizabeth, who is hoping her children will watch tv all day long because her
head cold is like a fish globe filled with water secured to her head with
sticky tape. At least the rubber mallet pounding on this fish globe
overnight has been quieted!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]