I have a confession.
I let television co-parent.
I attempt to make myself feel better with whisperings of "you don't let her play on a computer, ipad or phone," "it's pbs-it's educational," "she's expanding her language skills watching," "maybe sesame street can teach her the alphabet faster than I can"
I wasn't always this parent.
There was a time we never turned on the tv. On the occassion I did attempt to get something done by letting Zoey watch tv, it bought me a meager 2 or 3 minutes. Then we discovered this super obnoxious baby music video, and suddenly I had my 20 minute window to shower, get dressed and perhaps clean up the kitchen.
And then she discovered Tangled.
Ahhh, something enjoyable for me as well
(I think this fueled my problem).
Tangled became somewhat of a lifesaver during the particularly sick days of pregnancy and those long rainy days that never seemed to end in June/beg of July.
(Do you remember those? Yeah the summer ended fabulously--but the beginning of summer was rainy and dreary and hardly screamed "let's go to the park"!)
Fast forward... Tucker was born and I'm at a complete loss.
How am I supposed to take care of a newborn (newborns are supppperrr needy) and my rambunctious 1 year old, who left unattended (meaning parental figure is predisposed) turns the furniture into a jungle gym, colors on walls, and other mischievousness?
We started watching shows pretty much every morning to wake up and every feeding, and some nights just for fun.
That is a lot of tv. For anyone. But especially for a 1 year old.
Enter this article, 8 Ways Screens Are Ruining Your Family's Life
(I know, I know. Huffington Post. But it was a provocative read)
So we have embarked on a screen free week.
Almost.
I'm allowed "essential phone time" (gps, messaging, calendar) and screen time during Tucker feedings in the middle of the night--because otherwise I get really angry that I'm up for hours when I'm exhausted/it's really boring to just sit for an hour in the middle of the night awake.
And now this post is just too long...
check back to see what I'm learning.
1 comments:
I do it too, Johnny is a bright and energetic little boy that never became addicted to the tv, now that he is older, he can entertain himself with Legos, coloring, imaginative play, etc. Don't make yourself feel so bad, this is the hardest age to entertain and keep out of trouble! The television was invented for mother's of young children ;) Who cares what the internet "experts" say!
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