Well...I never wanted to be
that parent. The parent who had another seperate television for their child in the childs bedroom. I figured, why? Surely it would only lead to more television watching time and eventually just plain anti-social behaviour within the family (
and all the other horrible things about too much television watching such as obesity, lower I.Q. etc etc). I certainly do not want to be the parent who has a child I never see or talk to because they are always upstairs in their bedroom glued to the tele! But I see now, that it is down to the child really. I mean...just because you have another television for them (in a seperate room of the house) does not mean that they will always watch it. It also does not mean that it will turn them into a zombie television child either. It
also does not mean that you have to be more controlling about television watching time either!
We gave it a practice run at Grandmas house. We always go up there for Christmas holiday - usually about two weeks. The thing is though, television at Grandmas house is always what Grandma wants to watch. But they have a television in the guest bedroom (
the bedroom that Duncan and I share whilst we are there - DH sleeps in his sisters old bedroom because the guest bedroom bed is not big enough for us all) that is just a television to watch videos on (
it works for nothing else) so before we went up there, I pre-recorded all his favourite shows on some VHS for him so he could watch it anytime he wanted on the television in the bedroom whilst we were up there. I figured, he would be up there all day watching tele. I also figured that it would prove to be an 'issue' at bedtime...
I was wrong! I was amazed actually! It took me by surprised... Duncan watched much
less tele (a few hours of the course of the two weeks we were up there, instead of the few hours of tele he would normally watch in a day) whilst we were up there with that arrangment. This is mostly because the 'living' room (
rightly named so) is the room that we all spend the most time in - so whilst he enjoys tele every now and then, he would rather be having fun with family than up in a room watching tele. At night, I simply unplugged the television and he never asked for it then.
Another 'issue' was also solved...I could (when Grandma was not watching her shows) watch what I wanted to watch (instead of having nothing but Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tele all day long! hehe) - which Duncan also sometimes watched as well giving him a bit more variety than he normally would choose from (
we are everyday learning about taking turns and generosity and that sometimes, maybe Mummy or Daddy would like to have 30 mintues to watch something of their choosing on the television and not Mickey Mouse all day long! hehe We are getting there slowly, and consensually as best we can!).
So maybe it wouldn't work out this way for another child in another family, but it seems to have worked out wonderfully in our family with the child that we do have. So today - I just won (
on ebay of course! hehe) a little television of our own that we will have in a cabinet in our bedroom that Duncan can watch during the day if he wishes. It will be
his television (its a little 14 inch tele/VHS combo - so will only be able to be used for videos) and the television in the living room will remain for family watching (which means that it will be off most of the day!).
One day I am sure we can pass it on to another person, and if it turns any of us into a zombie, then I will not hessitate to find it a new home a.s.a.p! - but I think for now it will work great into our family life. I may be crunchy, but I am not television free crunchie!
Lunch first!
Going up
Balancing act
Tube
Crawling
Over...
Ball pool!
