Im not hideing anything. It's not like you cant learn about the world just from tv. Its not hiden. I know he will see it elsewhere but at the place where he is most he will not be subjected to it. He is 2 and he's no couch potato. I told him we threw it away. And he's not crying about it. He's jsut doing something else because it's not in front of him in the living room. No button to push on.
Some people have acted as if this is one of the worst choices I can make for my child when in all reality ( I guess my reality) It is a great choice. I am not going to HIDE anything from my child. If anything I'm open to telling him more truth about the world then most parents I know. I don't judge others for letting their kids watch tv. It's just a personal choice based on the info I have been learning about why its not good for me or my family to have it in our home. I am setting up a learning environment based on his actual developmental needs which should be commendable. And as someone else stated that getting rid of yoru tv is very liberating.
Megara, I agree with you. I don't subscribe to the "shelter my kid from all the bad things in the world and paint a fantasy picture of life for them" style of parenting. Whether it be television, politics, drugs, social issues, etc I think the best thing to do is encourage children to do their own research, teaching them to look at both sides to the same coin and then come from an educated place to make decisions. If they do that, and then still make a harmful decision, it can be an amazing opportunity for learning. You don't learn to walk without falling down. This is why we have chosen to take it out of our environment. We have taken an extensive look at the facts, analyzed both sides of the coin, and filtered it through our own personal experiences. That is the process that has led us to this decision. And thats the process I'd like my son to follow. Removing the television for me was nothing more than acting out of my integrity. A trait I'd like my son to learn, acting from his Integrity, not mine. So, rather than expect him to live life without television. I fully expect him to experience at other places, including other family members. Maybe one day he will ask, how come we don't have a tv at our house. I will tell him that we researched it and decided it was best for the health of our family to not have one, and everyone has the choice to make those decisions for themselves and their familys. I don't think i'd be opposed to him buying his own television either when he's old enough. Again, I'm more interested in helping him develope the following things than I am in restricting television access: 1) A strong parent-child bond 2) The ability to produce his own mental images 3) A healthy inner dialogue If as a parent, i'd rather watch a show then spend time interacting with my child, then that harms the parent-child bond. If you watch a regular schedule of television as a young child, all the time you watch it, you are not activating the area's in your brain that produce mental images internally, in other words your not developing an imagination. While I'm sure this will be received differently on this board, I consider imagination of the utmost importance to society and development of a human being. Same goes for the healthy inner dialogue. It's easy for children to turn on the TV and be fed images at an extreme rate than it is for them to sit down and think of a new game to play. Children that have a strong inner dialogue are more apt to work through challenges rather than become frustrated and angry. A healthy inner dialogue is also associated with a positive self image and the ability to make decisions based on inner morals/values rather than external pressures and propaganda. Now that I think about it, I fully expect him to want to rebel against this idea as a teenager. That will be his job at that point. Push us as hard as he can to see if we waiver. I'll let him watch television if he buys his own. Then he can make his own decisions about his life for whats good for him. The idea here is to set up his development now so he can come from a place of self knowledge later in life. Not to "protect him from the evils of society by blinding him from reality".
exactly. so don't criticize someone for getting rid of something that is certainly not an integral part of a child's life - and readily replacing any possible loss with equally informative alternatives.
i have television and a wide selection of books at my disposal...the history and discovery channel are awesome and very informative. I just disagree with the hiding the tv approach, I think it does help the imagination(though i have done lots of reading myself, so maybe thats why i find it so). No one wants kids to be watching 8 hours of tv a day, but a few hours a week isnt going to screw up your kid physically or mentally. There are plenty of good things on tv, sports being one of them. Sports(Football and baseball particularly) are a big part of our culture, i think its wrong to deny kids the chance to atleast see that part and let them make decisions on their own if they want to watch it. Watching the superbowl and the world series isnt going to turn your kid into a noodle.
Dont get me wrong, i'm happy you care about your child and you are doing what you think is best for your child, that IS commendable. I just dont agree with it, but thats alright. Personally i think you are hiding the TV. You can tell your kid you threw it away(did you?), but you're telling it to a young kid. You could tell him his daddy is dead and he probably wouldnt think twice since he doesnt full comprehend what that entails. Anyways, while most of TV is crap, not all of it is. Anyways, kudos for caring about the development of your kid, most parents dont care.
Dont get me wrong. I'm not saying that every good parent should throw their TV away. And I don't want to seem like the intolerable ranting raving arrogant person that doesn't accept any other views. Cuz I really do appreciate everyone's individual style of parenting. Writing all of this out in debate is a kind of creative self discovery process for me as well. I'm glad when someone makes a point that makes me think deeper. Just wanted to throw the disclaimer out there that I'm not forcing this on anyone but rather just trying to articulate as best I can the reasoning behind the decisions. I know its against the grain =\ I appreciate everyone's active participation and input.
And yeah, Apple, your not being honest. hehehe love you babe. She did hide it, not throw it away. Personally, I want to cut out its inside's and plant some flowers in it and put it in the backyard.
I can't afford to get cable tv jsut so my little guy can watch a few hours of discovery chanel and a few otehr good shows that are on. I do however try to get him to the zoo at least oncea month and we take trips to the pet store. We have fish and we have friends with pets and grandparents with dogs that he helps care for. When he's at my parents house he gets to watch tv which constitutes his few hours a week or so of tv. Which I think is enough tv for him. and I think it's not nessessary to have it ready for him to turn on here. We read daily, dance to all kinda of music, run wrestle, play games, talk constantly, get creative, go for walks, play with others, go to the zoos, go to the park, learn, and do quite a few art projects..scratchboard, paints, play dough, water color books, crayons, colored pastels, pencils, we go outside and smash rocks open and crunch leaves and investigate bugs and blow bubbles. I think these things are just more important then a tv. And when he needs to learn about something in the world that constitutes having the tv involved then I will let him see it.
I hid the tv so he wouldnt go looking for it. because he did go looking until i told him it was gone.
Go Apple I don't like TV, either... it's just annoying, Sure, there are some good channels, but they're not THAT good, not so good as to constitute getting cable. there are better ways to enrich your kid's life than watching the History Channel. *does the go applespark dance*
I was wondering if Blackie was replying to Apple or to me?People who post on this forum know who I am and I hope they don't thinj I anonymously defend my opinions. If I spoke harshly i didn't mean to. The reporter in me has trained me to write drectly. I am sorry if my terse manner offended you. I've just worked a ten hour day, pretty punchy. Wanted to defend myself briefly. more tomorrow- peace to all h
Blackie, why so angry? Go easy, bro. I told my students today that I don't have a tv. The girl in front looked at me in total disbelief and said, in all seriousness, "You better get to rent-a-center". It was an interesting response. Most people can't even fathom the notion of not staring into the tv screen for hours every day. I thought it would be a hard adjustment, but it's not. It's been over three months and I don't miss it a bit. In fact, things are a lot better without it. I have no intention of going back. Instead of flopping down on the couch when I get home from work, I'm much more likely to get things done or play with my kid. He's learning how to read, which is really exciting. And instead of staring into it while we eat, now we actually talk. We have a game where he tries to ask me questions to stump me. After dinner, we usually go outside in the yard, or over to the park. It was the same with meat. I thought that would be a big deal, but it wasn't. We only get this one wonderful wild short life. It seems such a shame to waste it on something so artificial.
ROFL!! Ya blackie I think you and I have hit common ground on this subject, would you agree? To the teacher, what class do you teach?