Bad Parent: Screen Queen
My daughter watches up to six hours of TV a day.
by Jeanne Sager
March 27, 2008
I was darn sure my baby wasn't going to go down that road. I wasn't going to use TV as babysitter. I wasn't going to park my kid in front of the idiot box. I wasn't going to be a cliché. And my position had some extra credibility, because I, ahem, didn't have television until I was seventeen. Yes, that's right, folks, step right up and see the '80s child who never even had the chance to figure out just what Willis was talking about.
When I was pregnant, I sported that fact like a badge of honor. The fact that I'd spent most of high school begging my parents for a cable hook-up so I could get in on all the talk about Ross and Rachel was quickly forgotten.
"I love to read," I'd tell people, rubbing my belly. "And this one will too. I'm going to limit how much TV little Squirmy watches. We're going to read books every night before bed, and every morning. You know, I didn't have TV, and I could sort my parents' mail when I was two and a half."
Jillian's two and a half now. She can't sort our mail.
She can tell you Curious George airs after Sesame Street. Then we switch the channel. What she watches next depends, really, on when I rouse myself from my cocoon and head downstairs for my morning caffeine injection.
"Cars or The Little Mermaid?" I ask.
If it's time for Pinky Dinky Doo, the TV in the living room is tuned to Noggin while I putter in the kitchen. If The Upside Down Show is still on, I'm open to negotiations.
"Cars or The Little Mermaid?" I ask.
"How 'bout . . . um, this one?" Jillian counters, grabbing Blue's Clues Shapes and Colors off her shelf at the bottom of our DVD collection.
I don't even blink. Whipping the disc out of the box, I do a quick switch in the DVD player, and she settles on the couch with a yogurt drink and plate of toast.
By the time she wanders down the hall to my office thirty minutes later, I've made three phone calls and answered a host of emails. I've checked in with my editor and scheduled two interviews — one face-to-face, one on the phone, set for fifteen minutes from now.
So I couldn't be happier to see she's brought another movie with her. This time, it's Thomas' Trusty Friends, and she wants to watch it in the office. Not a problem — that's why there's a DVD/VCR combo sitting beside my printer and a TV on top of the shelving unit filled with coloring books and puzzles. It's looking like this might be one of those days when Jillian watches something like six hours of television.
©2008 Jeanne Sager and Nerve Media
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
Jeanne Sager is a freelance writer and photographer living in upstate New York with her husband and daughter, Jillian. She maintains a blog of her award-winning columns at jeannesager.blogspot.com. |
|
|
-
by Marjorie Ingall
Believe it or not, formula isn't poison.
-
by Madeline Holler
I love you, but I hate your kid.
-
by Katie Allison Granju
A leading attachment parenting writer says, enough already.
|
