My struggle with TV and Emmett.
Yesterday was a gross day and Emmett was still kind of sick. I elected an "in" day (skipping playgroup) and would have loved to watch TV all day with him. Instead, I let him watch a few shows in the morning (3) and when he woke up, felt too guilty about his TV viewing to let him watch more. Then, when J & Bryan (from LA) came over in the afternoon, he watched some weird TeleyTubby rip off on PBS for a few minutes.
I am really struggling with TV and am not sure what to do. In the past month, Emmett has watched an average of 2-4 hours of TV per day, including his videos and DVDs. This has been becuase of people being here or work we're doing etc. and you can't imagine how guilty I feel about this. I feel like I'm the worst mom.
Even more terrible, I've come to depend on the TV to keep him occupied for certain activities (dinner etc.) and for my own downtime. He rarely requests it...I'm always putting it on.
I am not sure how to handle this. No one reads this blog, but if you did, I'm sure there would be "Don't worry about it" advice. But I am worried. I always thought TV was the worst thing you could let your child do (along with sweets, which I am also guilty of). This is not how I wanted it to go at all.
posted by sabbeth @ 5:50 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
It's me...Jenn. Um, yes, I read your blog. I think it's a beautiful amazing thing that you're documenting your baby's life.
I also think it's OK to let him watch TV as long as it's got some merit to it, is educational in some way (this doesn't have to mean just counting, reading, etc, but also important life lessons like friends learning to get along, brothers and sisters fighting, why not to cheat in school, etc.) I watched so much TV as a kid and I don't think it made me less curious or smart and I actually like all of the cultural references it gave me (I even refer back to these things sometimes in my writing). I think it's OK as long as you're aware of how much he's watching (and it sounds like you are) and as long as it doesn't become the only thing he likes to do. I'd start to worry if he hated playing outside, or lost the attention span to do more engaging projects.
Thanks Jenn. You know we grew up without TV so hearing your thoughts as a kid who "was allowed" is very helpful.
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