Digest Number 722

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I think a 2-year old isn't missing anything if the TV is not part of his life.

We all make the decisions we feel we best can live with--and more often than

not, we find our in-laws questioning them. I was spanked as a child, and my

parents have insinuated that my child is spoiled (OH! WHAT NERVE! How easily

they forget what 4-year olds are like when they miss a nap). But they know if

they ever even consider spanking MY kid, they might as well move to Tibet,

'cause I wouldn't take kindly to that. (Discipline in my house is much more

creative than spanking--no offense to those who choose otherwise) The previous

generation always questions decisions that are different from the ones they

made.

 

As for TV, when my son was about 3, we segued from PBS into videos, which he

wanted to watch again and again and again! I thought I could never get tired of

Fantasia (please don't flame me, Disney-haters) before I had a child, but after

the number of times he watched that video between age 3-6, I'd had enough. I let

him watch it many times because I really felt it had value. For one thing, it

strengthened his music appreciation. He now LOVES classical music, and he

recognizes and knows by heart every cadence of the Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,

Schubert, Tchaikovski, Stravinski, and Mussorgsky, et al. on that video! Videos

also enable kids to " Do it again! Again! Again! " ad nauseum--the routine that 3

and 4-year olds demand as part of their development. It takes the patience of a

saint to play a game in person repetitively enough to satisfy kids that age

(especially when it's just one parent and one kid--you're always " on " ).

 

Now that he's 7, he has been exposed to the things I wish he hadn't

been--usually when with his dad or dad's family. But his exposure to

Teletubbies, Barney, McDonald's commercials, and Disney haven't ruined my

influence on him. He still absorbes my values, processes them, and emulates

them. He knows I dislike Nickelodeon Slime Time (oh so much) and RugRats, but we

enjoy SpongeBob, Arnold, and Wild Thornberries together (with my running

commentary). That means we sit through the commercials together too, and he has

learned to be savvy about what's real, what's not, what's junk and what's not.

It's amazing--he will actually repeat verbatim my comments when a repeat episode

or commercial is aired, such as, [to Milk Does a Body Good] " That's not true! "

 

Compared to carefully-chosen and parentally-guided TV, I think Yu-Gi-Oh cards

and the latest GameBoy are a bigger waste of time (my 7-year old son has both,

thanks to my ex-husband--again). But we all pick and choose our battles. And

that's a nice thing to tell your in-laws next time they question anything you

do!

 

WRT computers, I like the idea that in school and at home, my 7-yr-old is

developing some knowledge of how to operate a mouse, familiarizing himself with

the keyboard, and understanding the vast resources available on search engines

and the web. I want him to be ready to use that knowledge at the soonest

available opportunity--which may come in 2nd grade--to conduct research, and to

type, draw, or otherwise prepare homework assignments. But his use of my

computer is still under strict parental supervision--no chat rooms or internet

surfing. He does have games and educational software, but they do, by and

large--suck (can I say that? Bad mommy!)!

 

Veggie Val

 

 

> My inlaws think this is really odd and we are " depriving " our son of

> lots of quality learning time plus the opportunity to become

> familiar with the characters his peers are getting into.

> I'm not quite ready for my child to become a consumer ...

> I don't think tv per se is bad; BUT given that he is an only child

> right now and I am at home with him I can engage him in other, even

> more stimilating activities.

> Reading stuff like this though reminds me of all of the other side

> benefits of this decision-

>

> How do other folks deal with the tv issue? Do you limit it, or not

> have any, or what? What about older kids? Because there seems to be a huge

huge link between junk food and tv, where tv undermines the

> healthy messages we try to give our children ...

>

> Elizabeth

>