Dear Daughter,
I know that that box filled with lights, colors and sounds is your favorite form of entertainment. After all what could be better than starring absent mindedly at the TV for periods of your day. Lately I’ve noticed a few things about you and TV. At times after watching TV your mood is fantastically terrible. I guess you could say that the TV sucks the good mood out of you. Also, it seems when we say no TV that you mood morphs to that of a very spoiled child.
So here is the deal. TV is not something that you need everyday. It is especially not something you need all day everyday. When Daddy or I say no to your request for Dora the Explorer, it not because we want to be mean, it is because we don’t want you to be mean. Also we would like for you to run and jump and play and use your imagination as kids should.
Which, by the way, is exactly what happened this morning. Not 10 minutes after begging for Dora and getting told no you were happily pretending that the couch was a boat and you were sailing with your puppies.
Please remember Mommy knows best.
Love,
Mommy
Now for the question…
Okay friends as you can probably tell from the above, we are in the middle of a TV addiction intervention. I think we have done a good job of restricting TV to a show or two up to this point, but it seems like the begging, whining and sometimes fighting for the TV has escalated recently. What tips and tricks and do you have for me?
What TV guidelines or rules work for your household?
4 comments
I am sorry that I have no advice for you because my kids and so addicted to TV and I feed this addiction because when all four whine at me, its more than I can take.
My kids are addicted to TV and all things electronic. Brennan especially would watch TV all day, everyday if I let him.
Our general rules are 30 minutes of screen time on school nights and 2 hours of screen time on no school days. I will admit I have been kind of lax lately about enforcing it.
I used to have the tv on PBS Kids for most of the day as background noise. Until I realized that he was watching it more than it was just being background noise. So now we don’t have it on at all most days. I don’t want to be ‘that mom’ though that doesn’t allow it at all. He has a Leapster 2 also and we limit that to two twenty minute time blocks.
I guess what I’m saying is that we err towards less tv & electronics, but my thinking is that depriving them totally isn’t exactly great either.
I don’t actually turn on the TV at all during the day, or night if I can help it.
I will turn on the TV but just have music playing, I’ve found that they are much more relaxed with some music in the background and I don’t have TV addicted toddlers.
Now, my stepson is a different story but that is all the “other” family that does that, and in my household, well.. the rules are different.