The Root of All Evil?

The answer to the title of this blog? Television. What are my kids doing right now? Take a wild guess. Yeah, that.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children under 2 years old. We adhered strictly to this policy in our home when the twins were small. However, they spent the first 16 months of life at a home daycare where there was not strict compliance. This difference of opinion lead to quite a nasty e-mail exchange, where studies by experts were exchanged and parenting techniques were belittled. We lost the battle, but kept fighting the war.
Today, our self-proclaimed policy is one hour a day max. Exceptions are allowed when children (or parents) are sick, it is raining, or for a weekly movie night where the max is increased to 90 minutes (and, if I'm being honest, for whatever other reason we can justify). Today, it is raining. We took baths. We spent two and a half hours in our playroom. We sang songs, read books, built towers, and put together puzzles. Then, we hit a wall. Tempers grew short (theirs), patience dissipated (mine). It was 11:15am. So, up the stairs we came. On the television went. They are watching Dora. When I asked my two year old to count for me today, she stated, "uno, dos, tres, quatro..." The influence of Dora and Diego.

They look forward to their one-hour of t.v. They take turns picking which shows to watch. Some shows have been banned in our house. Max and Ruby is no longer mentioned. Jack had decided Max was a good role-model and began to speak only one word at a time. It. Drove. Me. Crazy.

We make the decisions for what is best for our children. We will live with the consequences of those decision. This is true of television and every other minute decision we make on a daily basis. Today it is television. Tomorrow, it gets harder. Or maybe just different.

The decision for this minute is lunch. The request is quesadillas. I think I can handle that.