I never truly GOT just how addictive television was until Bennett got caught under its magic spell. At first it was just Barney - and we thought, a little Barney couldn't hurt. He learned alot from Barney. When it was time to clean up he would sing the "Clean Up" song from Barney. He has since moved on to Caillou, the French-Canadian cartoon of the little boy and his adventures as a little boy. That's alot Bennett can relate to! So every morning when he wakes up and every night when we come home, it's "Caillou, Mommy! Caillou! Cailooouuuuuuuuuu!" Lately, his whining has grown worse. He will sing the Wonder PEts theme song in tears until you finally break and just turn it on so he'll stop. For the longest time he'd cry and tell me "Mommy! I wanna waterpants." At first I thought he wanted to go play outside in his swim trunks but he would just get frustrated when I tried to slip them on and he would keep saying "noooo... watta pants!" Finally, he decided to sing it: "Watta pants, watta pants we're on our way...." which I finally understood as "wonder pets, wonder pets we're on our way" and that he wanted to watch it on TV.
His desire to watch TV has become scary so J and I took action and finally said enough. You're gonna grow up into a couch potato with no friends. Play outside! He's still suffering from TV withdrawal and J and I have even thought of getting rid of the darn TV since we dont watch it anymore (but then how would we play the Wii?). To make things harder, Bennett is also sick with a very bad cold so all he wants is to suck his thumb, drink some juice and watch his Caillou. Help!
His desire to watch TV has become scary so J and I took action and finally said enough. You're gonna grow up into a couch potato with no friends. Play outside! He's still suffering from TV withdrawal and J and I have even thought of getting rid of the darn TV since we dont watch it anymore (but then how would we play the Wii?). To make things harder, Bennett is also sick with a very bad cold so all he wants is to suck his thumb, drink some juice and watch his Caillou. Help!
1 comments:
This is too funny. I am at the same place as you sista! My parents, who watch Nathaniel, leave the TV on all day! In the morning, it's PBS Sprout (which, of all television networks, is to me, the lesser of all evils) to watch "Street" (Sesame Street", Caillou (my son's favorite too...why is he bald?), and pretty much the entire morning line-up until he goes outside to play from about 9:30-11 am.
Then when they come in for lunch, my parents tune into TFC to watch WOWOWEE...yes, Nathaniel knows how to giling giling now. Oh lord.
Then he takes his nap (3 hours usually) and when he wakes up, Lolo selects his favorite episode of Caillou on the DVR...we're a TV watching family...I have my share of shows (So you think you can dance is the current addiction).
I felt a more recent pang of guilt when the research on TV in the background came out this week with the findings that it negatively affects the way kids play and their ability to focus.
But you know what? We all are doing our best. And yes, we are guilty of sometimes leaning too much on TV...but I remember watching a lot of TV when I was young...I think I turned out alright. I hope that at least that because we're engaged parents that do provide them with the attention they need, that they too will be alright. :)
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