I just came across this post.. kind of funny, written aug 2009

First, let me start off with a disclaimer.. if you think that television is suitable for children under 2 then this post is not really for you.. if you choose to read it.. then know that I am a firm believer in a non-television induced parenting style.

So it goes... today I am under the weather. My head is pounding, my sinuses hurt, I am tired and I just do not feel like playing today. If you are a stay at home parent and you know how every day is consumed with the same mundane play time.. then you know how it is.. you cannot be sick... you cannot lounge around the house, lay your head on a pillow and just drift off into sickie sick sleep. I did not want to read about the Hungry Caterpillar again, I did not want to read about the bread making hen once more, I did not want to build a tower today.. I just wanted to have silence and stillness in a house with a rascally and somewhat recovering sick almost 16 month old boy.. is that too much to ask? Well yes.. it is.

So I did it.. I booted up the Cookie Monster on youtube.. I sat Huddy in his chair.. and let the wonderful world of our version of tv work its magic. This was not meant to be an experiment.. it was meant to provide me with 2 minutes of peace and quiet and if it worked.. then maybe another 2 minutes.. and then maybe another.. cause it could not really hurt, right?

Well what I saw was unbelievable. This was Huddys first real exposure to television. He became a zombie. There was no life, no expression, no nothing in my television watching baby. A baby that runs from room to room all day.. making towers, reading books, causing havoc, singing, dancing, and much more. He was consumed by the Cookie Monster.. he saw no reason to move, to be engaged, to be creative, to be anything.. just a viewer. When the 2 minutes were over he screamed MO MO MO and when I told him it was ALL GONE.. he threw a major tantrum..And people wonder why kids have a hard time being engaged in the classroom, to learn, why we are medicating beyond belief for things like attention deficit disorder.. maybe it is because kids spend too much time having images forced into their faces.. their brains working at rapid speeds to figure it all out.

I got what I wanted.. I got silence..Lack of movement in my cloudy head.. AND I will never do it again.. It is going to be a long day.. I might have to endure a little more crying than usual from Huddy because Mama is moving a bit slower than usual, and that clock is really not moving fast enough to get us to 6pm.. but I tell you.. Huddy will not be sitting in front of the computer losing his ability to engage and imagine..


So, I ended to giving Huddy a ton of utensils that he does not usually play with and a plastic container.. for the past 30 minutes he has played with them with such a delight.. and I must go because he is trying to feed me some of his imaginary soup...