television

Winters are tough on all of us that live in the northern hemisphere. The cold keeps us indoors with limited activities, especially for a toddler who is eager to explore. And so it is only natural that the TV gets turned on a tad more than we would like. I used to turn on the XM music stations and we would bop around to the tunes of Kids Place Live or just have classical music going on in the background. And then Direct TV changed services and we no longer get Kids Place Live, sadly. Holiday time came and we exposed Eddie to some of the classic holiday specials. A new Disney animated special called "Prep and Landing," which is creatively all about the elves that help Santa get it all done, became his favorite. On weekends when Dad would wake up with Eddie as Mom would sleep in, they would sit and watch "Prep and Landing." This routine then spread from being a weekend-only thing, to an every-day-thing, at least when he would wake up earlier than 7 a.m. because it just felt nice to have some quiet time to unload the dishwasher or make breakfast while Eddie would veg on the chair or couch and stare intently at the screen. Then we started to explore what else was on during the mornings and discovered some cute shows on PBS, including "Curious George," "Sid the Science Kid" and "Super Why." Most recently, the Olympics captivated us and it hardly seemed wrong to watch our athletes compete, despite the excessive commericals. And suddenly Eddie's occasional interest became a regular thing. He started to hand me the remote to turn on the TV. Ok, I turn it on and turn on the music channels. He whines and hands the remote back to me until I turn on a program he is interested in. I allow it because a) it gets him to sit still for awhile and eat his breakfast/lunch/snack, something that was a challenge for awhile, b) it's not like he is not highly active; he is always playing hockey, running around and climbing on everything, c) he is in no way at risk to be obese (only weighs 23 lbs. and is in the 10th percentile for weight) and lastly d) selfishly, it is nice to have a free moment to get housework done...and I am an avid follower of the shows too! But, it does get to me. I know that watching TV is a bad habit, and to support my son's consumption of it feels wrong to me in so many different ways. So I am now vowing to decrease our consumption of it. I know that the weather will be getting nicer soon and it is a hell of a lot easier to play in the backyard or go for a walk to the park when you don't have to get a squirmy toddler all bundled up, but I am going to start now, even with the snow still on the ground, to modify some of our habits to keep us away from the two luminous plasma screens in our kitchen/living space and basement. Today for the first time we sat and ate a snack at the dining room table. It felt really nice. I will sacrifice my free time to get stuff done, but that is okay. It is more important to develop good behaviors and habits now. I am starting to realize that we can't treat Eddie like a baby anymore, as in, we cannot let him and his desires dictate our lives...we are the parents and need to start parenting. This is a hard transition for me and although we have been dealing with it for so long in the sleep department, now I need to start stepping it up as a parent in our daily lives too. Most of the day Eddie calls the shots - if he wants to go downstairs, we go downstairs, if he wants to be picked up to explore the fruit bowl, I pick him up, but sometimes I have to call the shots too. First goal: limit television consumption.