Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Upside of TV Time

The other day, I blogged about Halloween 365-days a year. Some of the comments got me thinking that perhaps not every child plays as much as mine. It's all over the news and web how children spend too much time sitting on the couch, watching or playing on-screen.

When I only had one or two kids, I seriously restricted their Screen-time. TV, Computer, even their own kid-size computers. One to two hours was the absolute max, no more than 5 days a week and they rarely, if ever, watched commercials. I was a Kindermusik teacher! Life was about activity, movement and learning!

Now, I have three kids and my schedule is overflowing. Only one child is in school full-time and I'm trying to earn an income by writing and editing from home when I'm not at my wine store. Sadly, screen time has increased. It's still limited to right around 2-hours, but sometimes it goes over, and it's more often 6 to 7 days a week. They still don't see commercials (thank you, Netflix) and they have to have mommy approval (no Sponge Bob, thank-you-very-much).

Spy Girls
But here's the thing... Whatever they do watch inspires their creativity. Once the TV is off, they turn into Dora or Diego, or lately, the Pink Panther! They run off and spend hours playing with their My Little Ponies or their Barbie dolls. The boy now grabs his Diego rescue pack (his big sister's toy), jumps up and sings, "Al riscote, amigos, rescue my friends!" He's 2!

They become mermaids or wizards, horses or dogs, secret spies or even mommies! They make up new stories, new songs and even write books! The TV, then, is not a brain-drain, it is inspiration for hours and hours of play!

Everything has a flip-side. Use TV wisely and it can truly have a positive impact on your life and your children's. No, you certainly don't need television to spur imagination, but when you need 23-minutes of time for you (the exact length of any Nick Jr show without commercials), it doesn't hurt!

14 comments:

  1. This is inspiring :) I need to remember this when Matilda gets older. We don't watch that much TV anyhow but it's so important what they see.

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    1. Thanks for listing me as a favorite! You already know that I think you... wait for it... ROCK! :)

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  2. I couldn't agree more. My kids have their creativity sparked when they watch a show that they love on Nick Jr and they learn things I couldn't have taught them. My girls speak more and more Spanish every time they watch Dora or Diego. They learn a ton about animals from Zoboomafoo. TV is not all bad, if you let them watch the right stuff!

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    1. I love the language learning with Dora & Diego. I swear my little guy has learned more from Diego than from me! We're so lucky to have such great programming and to have control of it. Thanks for the comment, Lindsay! I love your blog!

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  3. I love Netflix too! When my granddaughters come over at some point we end up watching a show on Netflix. They love playing dress-up too. If we could only keep their spirit and imagination when we become adults, our world would be such a better place! Following now from the Sits Girls hop, thanks to Lisa Cash Hanson! LisaL.

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    1. I completely agree, the world would be such a better place if we could retain our sense of wonder and imagination... yet still phase out temper tantrums! Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. I am all for a little TV. Whatever gets me a shower every day without a kid destroying the house is a good thing in my book.

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  5. Hi! I saw you on the SITS linkup :) I so am with ya on the no spongebob rule AND on the spawning of creativity. I have 3 girls and they are always copying things that Olivia does or Strawberry Shortcake...they have SO many ideas and use such imagination!

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    1. I'm glad you dropped in! 3 girls... fun and drama!

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  6. I wish to be able to raise my kids (future kids) like this when I become a mom...someday. :))

    Dora is a really good show for kids, it's interactive, it's colorful, and it has lots to teach t kids!

    P.S. you've got wonderful kids I think. :)

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  7. Thanks for visiting my blog. Yours is super cool. The tv woes is something that every mommy has to face. My children watch tv, yup I said it. It makes me chuckle when we will have children over to play who do not have this as a regular option at home. Quite often they walk in the door of my home and beg to watch tv straightaway when my kids can take it or leave it.

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    1. Thanks for the compliment! :)
      It's like candy, I suppose. Give them a little now and then and they're cool. Restrict it completely and they go crazy over it!

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Go on, tell me what you think!