Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Television

We are a TV watching family. Jeff and I find hours of entertainment watching TV, watching movies. Perhaps it is that acting bug, that production passion... We enjoy others things, too. We both enjoy reading. When we actually do it, we enjoy playing cards or board games. My kids like TV. Teagan especially. And that mostly doesn't bother me. Because she also loves to jump on her bed, ride her bike, blow bubbles, read books, dance, run, play with her brother, bake, cook, and more. We've been slacking, though. As parents. We aren't being as careful with what she watches as we should be. We've been letting Disney decide what she watches. We've been lazy because it's easy. We start the day with Phineas and Ferb. Or Lilo and Stitch. I don't really like either of these shows for her. To be honest- Jeff and I enjoy Phineas and Ferb. It's a really fun and clever show. But since my daughter seems most focused on the older sister... and since the older sister is prone to histrionics and complaining... it's not a good combination. Same for Hannah Montana. Or Zach and Cody. Or any of the other Disney shows geared toward older kids. So it's time to lay the smack down on what we watch. Phineas and Ferb needs to be reserved for adult watching. Weird, I know. Jeff and I will come up with a short list of shows that we feel are appropriate and positive. Like Imagination Movers, Sesame Street, and Little Einsteins. And we will record these shows and watch them when we want some TV viewing time. Because I think my mom is right... I think Jeff and I have been right about this before... when we get lazy and watch these shows... Teagan's behavior gets worse. Teagan's choices get worse. And it's well past time that everything gets better.

9 comments:

Garret said...

Ut oh, censorship! It's starting!

Just kidding.

Joanna Jenkins said...

Good for you. It's shocking the stuff on television for "kids". It's either dumbed down sweetness or very inappropriate content. Ugh. Let the games begin :-)

Valerie said...

Good for you!

I will advocate for Sid the Science Kid (also found on PBS and geared to the 3-6 crowd)...

Miss Moon LOVES it, and today they learned why humans move one way, and snakes or monkeys move in another. It was all about joints and skeletons...Miss Moon also has numerous science tools at her disposal now, thanks to Sid her interests have bloomed!

We don't watch the disney channel. We used to watched Mickey mouse clubhouse, and my friends tigger and pooh but these days we're more into Franklin, Sid, Some sesame street, Word World (also PBS) and Super Why (again PBS)!

Eternal Lizdom said...

Good point- I need to move back towards more PBS shows. We loved Sid when it first came out but then the shows went into repeat mode and she lost interest. And she loves Word World and Super Why!

C. Beth said...

Wow, great post.

Alison said...

This is one side benefit to not having kids, for me--I have no idea how I'd handle tv. We don't watch much anymore, and I can imagine severely restricting access, BUT--how do you handle it when they go to school and find out what Everyone Else is watching?

It's scary how easily we use the tv as a babysitter (and not just for babies...how many lonely elders spend vast hours in front of the boob tube?). I'm not criticizing; in our nuclear-family society, how else are you going to get dressed & breakfast on the table? I don't know how I would do it, and I'm glad I don't have to figure it out!

Y'know, though, what's even scarier than the shows is the commercials. Start that consumerist mentality early! PBS is definitely a better choice.

Tom said...

We had to establish a list of unacceptable programs, and unfortunately most of them are on the prime-time lineup of The Disney Channel and ABC Family. I can't believe some of the junk they have on that show. One of the things we really don't like portrayed is disrespect for parents. This seems to be a mainstay for kids shows these days.

I'm with you on the good stuff for kids, like Little Einsteins and Imagination Movers. Nick has a pretty decent lineup in the morning too: NiHao, Wonderpets, Olivia and Dora. My five-year-old likes all these, and I'm fine with that.

Nancy said...

We love tv here as well. Delainey watches more movies than actual tv. We have invested money in dvds over the last 3 years, but I am more comfortable with the movies (even all the princess movies that she watches).

She really enjoys some movies that have I wouldn't have thought she would watch at her age (Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, Nim's Island). We love the library for the movies that we can rent!

Mary Ellen said...

My kids loved TV (although as young men, they watch very little - go figure!) and I had rules about what they could watch, although I'm sure they were a little on the lenient side compared to some. Mostly I didn't let them watch things I thought were exceedingly rude or stupid.

As far as learning to act disrespectful from TV, I never had that problem - I had much more trouble with them imitating or repeating stuff they learned on the school bus!