TV

[crazychicknlady]

I've traveled quite a road with my attitudes about TV.

I used to watch it quite a bit, but always felt guilty about "wasting" my time. For the first few years of DD1's and DD2's lives they were allowed to watch, with a few limitations, however; I could proudly declare to the world that we had a Barney and Teletubby free household. But when the girls watched a lot of TV, I still felt like they were "wasting" their time sitting in front of the "idiot box".

About 2 years ago I pulled off the antennas and unplugged the TV. Now after 6 months of no TV and over a year of just videos, I put the TV antennas back on, and we have broadcast TV again (this was about 2 months ago). I'm even toying with the idea of getting cable or satellite.

The amazing thing is I am able to see the value in watching TV now. I can give myself permission to enjoy the things I enjoy, even TV. I can encourage my kids to enjoy what they enjoy, even TV. I can watch along with them, and be a part of their joy and learning, even with TV.

This gradual transformation can be attributed to lurking on unschooling lists for the last 18 months.

Now, at the ripe old ages of 6.5 yrs and 4.5 yrs my DD's have discovered a love for the Teletubbies and Barney. DD2 was using the digital camera to take pictures, and she especially wanted to remember the pretty flowers on the Teletubies show. I was going to post a picture, but I can't get photobucket to give the the right code for a thumbnail pic. I'll see if DH can help me tomorrow (well later today ;-)






Got it, I figured out what I was doing wrong, here's the photo. Something that would have horrified me two years ago, now I see the flowers and my DD2's joy.

Comments

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my opinion of TV (for most people) is that it is just another media. Some of these Waldorf crowd folks that basically seem to think that anyhting invented after the phonograph is inherently evil kind of baffle me. That said, my mom spends $100 a month on her cable. I can not concieve of that. Nor can I understand how folks can just have the TV on all day as "background noise." I, however, need the inherent end of a DVD to avoid getting sucked in to an all day long couch potato-fest. I can't ignore the TV if I am in a room with one. So K gets to watch videos from the library or one of the couple that we own.

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

See, I also doubt that anyone whose TV is tucked in among that many battered paperbacks is likely to be raising kids who hate reading. :)

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I left the books in the photo when I cropped it cause it is such a nice picture of some of our Niven and other Sci-Fi.

same here!

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if you will ever see this or not -- but my attitude has changed in the past few months for the same reason. I have been reading a lot about unschooling. It is so liberating to just ENJOY it and let my daughter (who is almost 2) enjoy it. I like your blog! I just started one.... I found you from your post on Always Learning...

my blog is

www.xanga.com/CrunchyConMom

Re: same here!

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I get an email when someone posts a comment, so even though I don't check very often, I finally noticed your comment. I'm glad my post resonates with you.