Comments for blog.limedaley.com/post/tv

Comment #969

2006-10-26T18:36:34Z

Mandarin Chinese.

Comment #968

2006-10-26T17:25:59Z

That's cool that you have Muzzy, Kelly. Which language?

Comment #967

2006-10-26T15:06:47Z

I'm glad we don't have a TV because I know I would be tempted to turn it on. Sometimes I feel like I need a break and that seems like it would be a good solution, except that I know it's not good for the kids. We do have a few carefully selected videos, Muzzy and Boz, but we try not to watch them too much. As for the nursery situation, I was shocked the first time Hannah came back talking about Thomas the Train. While I can understand why parents plunk their kids in front of the TV (to get a break after being with the kids ALL day, to get other things done, etc.), I see no reason for videos to be shown during church events. Kids are there for no more than two hours and the childcare workers have nothing else to do except entertain our kids at that time. Sometimes they're even paid to do it! And there are other kids there to play with and lots of toys. All this is to say that we shouldn't feel bad asking the childcare workers to not show videos. I'm talking to myself here as well. :)

Comment #966

2006-10-26T13:06:48Z

That's another thing about the night this post was mostly about - I felt like my parental authority was being undermined. I'm sure that's not really a goal of our church!

By the way, I'll add a positive in here. A few parents at the women's Bible study at Ascension have asked that the sitters not put in videos. They respect that and I really really appreciate it.

Comment #965

2006-10-26T10:35:15Z

The older I get, the less I mind being weird. Ain't it the truth! So now you know my secret. :)

Ya know, it used to be that those who provided services believed the customer was always right. Now we as customers fear demanding even reasonable service. "Watching my child" should mean caring for him. Child care is not a valet parking service.

Comment #964

2006-10-26T02:26:10Z

Don't forget televisions in restaurants, even non-bar-type ones. Another reason not to eat out, I suppose.

I feel as thought I'm always the one who is asking a nursery worker, receptionist at the doctor, or even Sunday school teacher to please not pop in a video. I suppose that when one is providing a service, such as watching my child, then I'm not supposed to complain. But I have research and common sense on my side, and if I never speak up and assert my standards, then television and media just becomes more normal.

The older I get, the less I mind being weird.

Comment #963

2006-10-25T16:29:13Z

Yeah, most people who run lifetype have it on, I believe it is on by default. I forget why I turned it off...

Comment #962

2006-10-25T13:02:18Z

I was shocked that Ellery sat still, like a zombie, for 70 minutes.

That's why Marie Winn called TV The Plug-In Drug. And why it's SUCH a temptation for frazzled moms. In a way, it's a reflection of the pharmaceuticalization of our culture. (I knew the 60's would come back to haunt us. The zoned-out hippies are now working in legitimate drug companies, still seeking chemical answers to life's problems. But I digress.) Why take the time and effort to help your children learn to entertain themselves when a TV can buy you all the time you want? (Add a DVD player and you can assuage your conscience by playing only "good" shows.)

The benefits of (and to) a self-entertaining child are enormous and long-term, but this is delayed gratification at its hardest, VERY difficult for busy, harried parents to stick with when there's a handy, easy, socially acceptable alternative that provides instant results. And for a woman who's struggling to be a good mother while holding down a full-time job...well, I digress again. But my heart certainly goes out to parents these days.

Comment #961

2006-10-25T12:39:57Z

By the way, Soot-su came back by Tuesday.

I remember those choir sleepovers. I never got enough sleep because the movie always kept me awake instead of settling me. I seem to remember they would put in more than one, and I would eventually fall asleep just because I was so tired.

Speaking of TVs in waiting rooms - our worst experience with that was last year when Jon was in the emergency room with meningitis, so sensitive to light and noise, and the one guy was so offended that we wanted it off.

Comment #960

2006-10-25T11:10:30Z

I agree with Serina. When we were at the church-nursery stage (some things we didn't learn to avoid till later), TV was not yet a problem there. But even then I was driven crazy at children's choir weekends, those otherwise good and useful events at which movies were always shown to "help the kids settle down and fall asleep."

We watched movies very rarely at home; they were special family events, and I would plan a night for the latest Disney movie, say, only to be told, "We already saw that one at school." (Well, that had a bright side. We then concentrated our attention on things like Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, which never darkend the door of the school. You haven't lived until you've heard your tiny kids quoting lines from The Pirates of Penzance to each other.)

What annoys me most these days is TV in waiting rooms everywhere: the doctor's office, the airport, the oil-change place (that's one thing saved now that Porter is changing the oil himself again!). I can avoid the visual distraction by keeping my eyes on my book, but it's so hard to read anything of any importance with the unavoidable audio blasting.

Comment #959

2006-10-25T10:55:59Z

There's a suggestion for LifeType, Jon. So many people are accustomed (by experience with the hand-holding blogs) to having their comments formatted as they type them (at least the paragraph spacing) that the time may have come for that to be a useful plug-in. (Or maybe it's already there and I just haven't added that feature....)

Comment #958

2006-10-25T03:33:23Z

Hey, that last post had paragraphs when I typed it. Can I use HTML here? Let's try.

Did it work?

Comment #957

2006-10-25T03:32:05Z

It's so hard. Just plain hard. Television is everywhere--even in church nurseries--and the assumption, for most people, is that childrens' programming is fine for children, in uncontrolled amounts. It really disturbs me to hear parents boast about how much their children learn from such-and-such program, or how they *need* the DVD time to get dinner cooked.

We generally keep our children with us during church, as well. Whenever our kids have watched something on television, they just sit and stare. It's sad, and almost bizarre. Ellery doesn't sit and stare all day, except for last week when I had to calm a hysterical child I was watching by popping in a DVD her mother supplied. I was shocked that Ellery sat still, like a zombie, for 70 minutes. Every time I turned off the program to see what happened, my kids popped up and resumed playing while the other child just resumed her screaming. I was totally boxed in, and I will never do it again!

And this long comment is brought to you by television-frustrated Serina. Thankyouverymuch.

Comment #956

2006-10-25T02:10:22Z

YAY for anti-television biases!!!

Comment #955

2006-10-24T21:09:42Z

Keep the faith, baby! (Definitely revealing my age there....)