Last week was an unending whirl of activity - some fun and some stressful. I had four evenings in a row of fun activities and social gatherings and a three day week of work that included some not so fun situations to handle (I'm a peace lover and the idea of "confronting" anyone is possibly worse than the idea of sitting down to eat a steak but sometimes you just have to eat steak. With friends, of course). I woke up Saturday wondering where I had been all week, feeling like absolutely bushed. I spent much of the day on the couch. It was TGIC (Thank God it's cartoon day)!Saturday is cartoon day in our house, which means that there are very, very few limits on how much television the kids can watch. If Asher knows that the next day is cartoon day, he has been known to get up at 4 to start watching cartoons, and we put it off until about 6 (but only if he goes BACK TO BED). Cartoons then play for hours on end. It's a great time for us parents - time to sleep, get a few things done around the house without interruption, spend time laying on the couch with the kids, have a cup of coffee together.
Unfortunately, television has a backlash effect on my kids. While they are so eerily sedate while watching, once the television goes off, the world seems more than normally difficult to handle. There are more tears, tantrums and less smiles and laughing. My theory is that while watching TV, life is very simple and pleasurable and once it goes off, my kids have to suddenly deal with the real world - pleasurable without a doubt but requiring more effort (like using actual words) and handling of a whole mess of emotions.
When I was little, my parents had a book called, "The Plug in Drug," which was about television. I never read it, but I clearly remember the cover and thinking about what the title meant. Watching my kids, I can see how television has a drug-like effect not only while they are watching but once it's off. They go through withdrawals.
Television has a place in my life and my kids (Asher is a HUGE fan of cartoons). I'm not always so happy about this and with little prodding could fall into a big "Kill Your Television" advocate. I still try to keep the tube off more often than not even as on a day like Saturday (with a day of rain), I took full advantage of cartoon day.
1 comment:
Too true. I have noticed when we participate in turn off TV week that my home runs more smoothly. But it's a hard thing to just give up. I also remember my cousins, who didn't have a tv to watch, when they came over to our house they would just stare at the tv. We wanted to play and go do things but the tv was so novel to them that all they wanted to do is sit there.
Besides, the TV helps me cook my dinner. ;) And Saturday morning cartoons will be a lifelong treasured memory. Just remember the valium when they're done.
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