Parker is going to turn two at the end of this month, but now I don't feel like I'm ready for him to watch T.V. yet.I just keep going back and forth, should I let him watch T.V. when he's two or not? I can't decide.
You think I'm crazy right?
But, I've made it this long, do I really need to start sitting him in front of the T.V. now?...There are several reasons I don't really want to.
First, I love that Parker loves to read books. Seriously, he loves to read so much that one time he went several days in a row without playing with any toys. We just read books and sang songs all day long. (I did make him play after a few days) But it was awesome that we were able to just sit around and spend time to-geth-er.
I also love that he is beginning to get an imagination. He pretends stuff a lot now, and I think it's really great. And I don't agree with all of the parents that say stuff about how their kids have such a vivid imagination because they believe bees can talk after watching "Bee Movie" or something... that's not imagination, they're just naive so they believe the lie they saw in in the movie.
But the main reason that I don't feel like letting Parker watch T.V. yet is that I just don't see the point. There seem to be plenty of negatives that come with letting your kids watch T.V. or movies (like obesity, high blood pressure, aggression, delayed language development, etc.) but there doesn't seem to be any positive. Even educational T.V. doesn't "teach" kids.
But at the same time, if I limit the time (90 minutes a week isn't really too much, I guess), and if I control what he actually gets to watch (no spongebob or any of that crap) then maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Plus it might actually be fun to sit and watch a movie with him.
I don't know... he's just so young, but maybe I will go with my original plan of up to 90 minutes a week, and just try to get less than that most of the time.
Or maybe I will just leave my kids "unplugged" until they're teenagers....
**I'm not trying to judge people who let their kids watch T.V. (I grew up watching T.V. and I turned out to be pretty awesome ;) )This is my personal belief that I'm pondering.
5 comments:
try your 90 mins/week, it's really not that much T.V. and just see how he reacts to the change....That's what I'd do, who knows, maybe he'll get bored of it and go back to his books :)
I truly believe that watching a little bit of video entertainment is just fine. It doesn't have to be educational or anything else . . . just entertaining. Just like games or music or books, it's just entertainment and there is nothing wrong with doing something just for the pure enjoyment of it.
Love Mom and Dad
Maybe you should go with a modified version of your original idea... that it is OK for Parker to watch TV now that he is two, but that he is not always going to. Does that makes sense? Just because he CAN watch TV for 90 minutes a week doesn't mean that you'll always give him the opportinity to. Like if there is a really great educational show on that you think he'd really like or be interested in, you can let him watch the whole show or maybe only 10 minutes of it- and then nothing else for the rest of the week. Maybe you want to show him a short Christmas movie to get him excited that Christmas is coming up, but that is all he will watch for the rest of the month. Avoid getting him hooked on watching the same show everyday, or watching the same movies all the time and make it a special occasion or something exciting for him to do just every now and then.
That's a tough one! We don't have a tv. I'd have to say I really like it. I feel like I get to spend more time with my family. Sometimes though Ethan and I will hang out and watch a cute movie together on the computer, and he really likes it because we don't do it all the time.
I agree with you though about all those educational videos. There's nothing done in those that I couldn't do myself.
I think that whatever you choose, your son will be just as sweet (and smart!)
I was thinking like you Katie- just because he's allowed to watch doesn't mean he needs to watch- so once in a while might not be so bad.
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