Terrible T.V. Mum

Posted by Vulnadia on Sep 25, 2009 at 11:31 AM Yep, that's me! I'm a terrible T.V. advocating Mum! I let my kids watch that boob-tube. I have my own reasons, really I do. Some may seem purely selfish, but if you were in my shoes, you may sing a different tune! At my house, keeping the peace and being able to function somewhat normally in everyday mundane situations is paramount to everything running smoothly. This means some things get sacrificed. Sure, I'm a scheduling freak when it comes to my kids, and a strict mom in many ways. Television is just not one of those things though! Whenever the benefits outweigh the means, something's gonna change! I learned early on...gee it was about the time my neighbors took to obtaining and riding mini-bikes up and down our street at the old house, that white noise in the nursery was going to be my special friend. In the beginning I used a combination of nature noises and music boxes. Later, I turned to the lullaby radio channel online for help, too! But, ultimately, after we moved, and I realized that not only could my kids hear every move that our neighbors living in the garage apartment next door made, but that they could tell whenever anyone opened our front door, went upstairs and even who was in the bathroom and what they were doing in there! So, that being said, the extra television set went into the nursery. After realizing that cartoon network turns into Japanime after a certain hour and that content was NOT suitable for small children and that Disney Channel programming is often boring for little people, I turned to the DVD player. Now, my kids go to sleep with their television running, and I screen the heck out of their programming. Sure, some things are deceptively innocent enough and mundane such as The Backyardigans who might slip a bit of history or fact in there with the good playing skills, but then there are things like musicals that I let them watch as well. I don't find much wrong with letting them watch Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Wicked, Spamalot, and even Annie. Lately, they developed an affinity for The Pirate Movie from the 80's. In an interesting experiment, I have since switched it out with the Kevin Kline/Linda Rondstat version of the original Pirates of Penzance. A little Gilbert & Sullivan never hurt anyone! Besides, their vocabulary is expanding by the day!!! So sue me, they can use big words in everyday conversation. I'm just grateful when the kids bother trying out English instead of their native tripletease. And this whole infatuation for becoming The Pirate King can't be all THAT bad...can it?