T.V. Guilt

I am writing this entry for not only myself, but another friend who shall remain nameless (but I hope you like it!) She, like myself, is in the midst of settling into having multiple children. One of our major sources of mommy guilt always seems to stem from T.V. time, and how much our older ones seem to get of it!

You know how it is, when you have to get dinner started or the family will not eat, and it's 4:45pm - you turn on Sesame Street for a 1/2 hr. Or maybe you need to nurse the baby, and you stick in a movie for your big kid. Or on those days you just can't get motivated, you feel sick or tired, you say "do you want to watch ALL of Cinderella with me on the couch?" and of course they say yes! These are just a few examples of times when I feel so terrible letting Lydia watch T.V.; but I do it anyways. And yes, Luke is usually watching it right along with us about 1/2 of the time. (but thankfully, he doesn't really "watch" it yet)

Of course, none of this ever happened when Lydia was an only child. But a lot changes when you have more than one kid! I always told myself that I would never let my children watch T.V. until they were at least 2, and I eagerly judged others when they sat their kids in front of the T.V. for hours. I'm not saying that I agree with the T.V. being on all the time or people using it as a babysitter, but you can kind of see how easy it would be. And, my perception of what is "unallowable" always seems to be fluxing and changing as I go through different seasons of motherhood.

 These are not excuses, because some days Lydia just watches too much T.V. But, I have also noticed that she hasn't grown sick or crazy from it yet - perhaps she acts a little grumpier, but no permanent damage. There are certainly no studies out there that show watching T.V. is proactively healthy for your children. There are also no studies that say having a mom go insane is good for a family either. :)