Girly girl in a Superhero world: Tuned out

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Tuned out

Before becoming a parent I did not have many preconceived notions. To be honest, I was blissfully naive. However there was one thing that I was certain of. My child would not watch ~~any~~ much television. I had sweet visions of instead doing art projects, reading book, and playing board games. Needless to say I sat in HORROR when Griffin was about a month old and fascinated by the television set. So much so that I remember having a conversation with his pediatrician questioning if it would do ~~major~~ any damage to his long term development. Looking back I can only imagine what she must have thought.

Now that I painted the picture of my fantasied life here is the real story. Griffin LOVES television. Over time my rules that I held steadfast to fell WAY to the wayside. Things became even worse once Roman was born. There were times that I truly needed for Griffin to watch television so I could tend to his baby brother.

Fast forward to the present. We as a family have taken necessary steps to reclaim our child and our family. This has happened through a series of events that has led us to this point.

1. Around Thanksgiving I turned off the TV for myself. My initial thought was I really wanted to enjoy the holiday season from Thanksgiving- Christmas. I was tired of the constant noise that was surrounding me and the news was depressing enough to require medication. For the record I was never a television junkie. I am one of the few who has never watched an episode of Seinfeld, or Friends. I did briefly get sucked into what the "Housewives" were up to and possibly even cared that Bethany got married, AND had a baby. In November I turned off the television and turned on Pandora radio. A few days later I just felt more relaxed and didn't really care to turn the T.V. back on. The holidays came and went, but the television is still off.

2. Satch is in school. The limited "free" time that he has is not consumed by the television.

3. In January I was talking to some friends at a birthday party. The subject of television came up. They have also made similar family commitments. One is all in and the other was slowly weaning herself of the beast. A few days later I made a call to the cable company to slash our service. I am strong in my convictions, but also a sucker for a bargain. I hung up the phone with free HBO, and $30 off the monthly bill. Today still not satisfied I called again. Final verdict: bill is slashed by $50 a month, home phone service is limited, and Internet is also cut. Ummmm, wasn't I calling to ditch the cable? Never the less, steps in the right direction are being made.

4. We have always thought that it was odd that Griffin was so active yet could sit and watch The Wiggles. We have learned that is actually pretty normal and television actually makes it worse. Active children watch television and are so stimulated by the constant fast paced change of events. Once they step back into the real world they expect the world to operate at that same pace. Can't you see how this may present itself as a problem?!? We have DRASTICALLY cut back his television consumption and he is a much happier child. We do not believe in totally taking it away, but it comes with restrictions and is used as a reward. This is really such a positive step. Some days are harder than others, but we are really trying to keep it to a minimum.

Here is a perfect example of what I have missed over the past couple of months. Monday evening my parents were with us and we were all driving together to a party. Someone mentioned something about Charlie Sheen. I assumed that they were referring to one of his past escapades. They all looked at me like which rock have you been hiding under?? They proceeded to tell me the top 3 current news stories.