Television

So I just read again that children under age 2 shouldn't watch television. And so I offer this story to you. As many of you already know, we watch television only on the weekend in our house, and usually just 30 minutes or an hour in the morning, after breakfast (so usually the TV is off by, say, 7:30 am which leaves the whole day for creative play (or chores)). On Sunday, though, we watched a lot more television, because Tommy was grumpy from (1) having a broken arm and (2) not having had enough rest. So I told him that after he had a nap, he could watch more television. He woke up right about the same time as Lulu, and we went down to the living room to begin viewing. His selection was, in retrospect, inappropriate for Lulu (and probably also for him).

Eli has been recording a BBC series about dinosaurs for Tommy, and while Tommy loves them, they are violent and scary. On Sunday, Tommy opted to watch the one about the Allosaurus (Tommy's third favorite dinosaur).

So the story is that during the climax of the 30-minute program, when the Allosaurus is fighting with and ultimately eating another dinosaur, I heard Lulu say, "no! NO!" and I looked over at her and she was staring intently at the television, her eyes open wide, and clearly scared.

Parent of the year, right here.

(This morning on our walk to school, Tommy was describing a television show about a goat and the moon and ended with a request that I purchase the DVD. I said no, and then I said, "wait, is this a pretend television show, or a real one?" and he said, "pretend, of course!" and so of course I said we could buy the pretend DVD.)