Screen time benefits
I balk at screen time for my children. This is my membership card to parenthood: television disdain. Don't get me wrong, I personally love the tv, love binge watching shows, and we have a standing tradition of Friday as Family Movie Night. But the kids can get so locked in to only wanting the tv, that we had to draw a line. Prior to quarantine we had a rule in our house: no screen time on school days. Get your homework done, practice your instrument, play outside with friends. Now in the time of Coronavirus where screens provide the distance learning? There's no attendance at a school building on screen days. Things have really gone south.
One day during quarantine, the kids wanted to watch tv. This day was feeling exactly the same as the last 27 days - a blur of days running together. But since it was Earth Day, I was feeling generous and earthy, so I told them they could watch the Jane Goodall documentary mid-afternoon. The mere mention of possible screen time was enough to win some good behavior from them for a couple hours after lunch. I dangled the carrot, and they plodded forward with some attempt at playing and moving their bodies to placate me. When 3:30pm rolled around, just when their brains couldn't take anymore positive, brain-stimulating-living, they slunk towards me like a couple stalks of asparagus wanting to resume their rightful vegetative state in the soil.
But as soon as I cued up the Jane Goodall documentary, they rose up out of their vegetation and participated in the democratic process of discussing what they should watch. NO. That is not the point of this Earth Day! I will not accept your discussion! They persisted.
me: Fine. You don't have to watch the Jane Goodall documentary (though I hear it's very good), but you do have to watch a documentary. So - figure it out.
They finally landed on watching not just one but TWO documentaries: one about The Titanic and one about Amelia Earhart. I felt safe and secure with my decision. Look at me, I said to myself, holding my ground so they don't give over to a complete vegetative state. They will learn something!
Later that night as Tom was asking Audrey about her day, she told him about the documentaries they had watched. All the children shared in the sadness of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, and they puzzled over someone finding human remains on a remote island somewhere. Though I felt momentarily bad about the macabre turn in their Earth Day, I still knew that the push for documentaries was the best thing for them. Their brains were alive with educational facts! My Super Mom cape fluttered behind me as I listened to Audrey explain what she learned about the Titanic.
Audrey: There were places on the boat they found underwater, where they used the actual structure of the Titanic in the scenes for the movie. Like, the director said, there's one scene where you can, like, tell it's the same exact corner of the boat.
Tom: That's cool, Audrey.
Audrey: They said that it's a scene with two people on a couch.
Tom: Uh-huh.
Audrey: They said that the people on the couch are naked.
Tom: Huh...
Audrey: Do they actually show the people being naked in the movie?
Tom: Uhh... yes. They do.
Audrey: Well I am disturbed.
My children barely eat any vegetables, so why would they want to veg out? From now on I am demanding that if my children want to veg out by watching mindless Youtube videos of reality tv, then they must eat vegetables while doing it.
One day during quarantine, the kids wanted to watch tv. This day was feeling exactly the same as the last 27 days - a blur of days running together. But since it was Earth Day, I was feeling generous and earthy, so I told them they could watch the Jane Goodall documentary mid-afternoon. The mere mention of possible screen time was enough to win some good behavior from them for a couple hours after lunch. I dangled the carrot, and they plodded forward with some attempt at playing and moving their bodies to placate me. When 3:30pm rolled around, just when their brains couldn't take anymore positive, brain-stimulating-living, they slunk towards me like a couple stalks of asparagus wanting to resume their rightful vegetative state in the soil.
But as soon as I cued up the Jane Goodall documentary, they rose up out of their vegetation and participated in the democratic process of discussing what they should watch. NO. That is not the point of this Earth Day! I will not accept your discussion! They persisted.
me: Fine. You don't have to watch the Jane Goodall documentary (though I hear it's very good), but you do have to watch a documentary. So - figure it out.
They finally landed on watching not just one but TWO documentaries: one about The Titanic and one about Amelia Earhart. I felt safe and secure with my decision. Look at me, I said to myself, holding my ground so they don't give over to a complete vegetative state. They will learn something!
Later that night as Tom was asking Audrey about her day, she told him about the documentaries they had watched. All the children shared in the sadness of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, and they puzzled over someone finding human remains on a remote island somewhere. Though I felt momentarily bad about the macabre turn in their Earth Day, I still knew that the push for documentaries was the best thing for them. Their brains were alive with educational facts! My Super Mom cape fluttered behind me as I listened to Audrey explain what she learned about the Titanic.
Audrey: There were places on the boat they found underwater, where they used the actual structure of the Titanic in the scenes for the movie. Like, the director said, there's one scene where you can, like, tell it's the same exact corner of the boat.
Tom: That's cool, Audrey.
Audrey: They said that it's a scene with two people on a couch.
Tom: Uh-huh.
Audrey: They said that the people on the couch are naked.
Tom: Huh...
Audrey: Do they actually show the people being naked in the movie?
Tom: Uhh... yes. They do.
Audrey: Well I am disturbed.
My children barely eat any vegetables, so why would they want to veg out? From now on I am demanding that if my children want to veg out by watching mindless Youtube videos of reality tv, then they must eat vegetables while doing it.
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