If you have ever had a conversation with me about a television show or movie, chances are it was a quick and dull conversation. It probably ended with me saying I had not seen the mentioned TV show or movie and you rolling your eyes at me as I ranted about how I don't like TV very much, in fact, I find most selections on TV either boring or stupid. Now don't get me wrong...I do watch TV, just not a whole lot of it. I have been known to get hooked on a series or two (some of the worst ones ever!), but I would say I may watch about 1-2 hours of TV a week.
If it were my choice, we would not have a single television in the Aiden house. It's not all my choice and the TV vote swings in the other direction. So, there are some rules in our house (for the kids) that help me feel a little better about the box sitting in the living room.
- No television during the school week. This rule is a little looser during the summer, and I always work my some other angles, which are...
- If the weather is nice, go outside and play!
- If the weather is not so great, you begged for toys and gadgets, you have great bedrooms, go play!
- No TV in the bedrooms.
- When you appear to be zoning out and going into a TV comma, turn it off and go play!
How did I get this way? Well, we were always playing when we were little. We were always inside. I don't remember having a friend over to watch TV or a movie, we played!
My dad was very strict about our TV viewing. He would grab the TV guide out of the Sunday newspaper every week. He would go through the TV guide and do the following:
- Cross out what we absolutely could not watch (Cell Block H, Three's Company, Archie Bunker).
- Circle what we could watch (Good Times, The Jeffersons, Gilligan Island, The Brady Bunch, McGyver, Zoom), ***There was a catch though!!!
- If we wanted to watch the circled items, we had to first watch the items that my dad would put stars next to (Jacques Cousteau, National Geographic, Educational Shows). These were required viewings if we wanted to watch the other shows!
What kid in the 70's and 80's wanted to watch educational TV shows when there were neighborhoods to roam, bikes to ride and adventures waiting at the parks? Not me. I woke up every day in the summer and went outside with friends. We would be gone ALL day long. Our only rule...be home by the time the street-lights came on. We would stop at someones house for lunch or a snack, but never to watch a TV show. It was a great life, and I grew up not watching a lot of TV. Oh yeah, there also was no cable or DVR!
So as I got older, I had no interest in the TV. I just didn't turn it on too much...too busy growing up and still exploring the neighborhood, college campus, night clubs, beaches and malls. When I did have time to settle down to watch a little TV, I realized that there was really nothing on to capture my attention, I would doze off right on front of it.
Flash forward to life with children...barney, tele-tubbies, real world, 16 and pregnant, reality TV, secret life of a teenager and the news? Go play! Have I seen any of these shows? Yes. Now I see why my dad censored so much of our TV viewing! I know I cannot protect my children from the harsh realities of life and I cannot be keep them blinded from all of the unsavory stuff out there, but they don't have to be force fed the stuff all the time. While they are outside playing exploring their neighborhood and having adventures they may witness some of the unsavory stuff...that's reality! Now, we will talk about it. Our dinner-time conversations would blow some people away, but they are honest and real. Their experiences come from the real world, not scripted TV that is sensationalized to keep them coming back. They know the truth about the real world and are able to distinguish between that and media propaganda.
They will tell you they are deprived because of their lack of TV-time. I felt the same way too when I was a kid. Hopefully, they will remember this and fully understand it when they are parents someday.
All of this TV rant came about because I recently stumbled upon a blog entry that addressed the TV stuff:
Watching Television Is Relaxing
I Don't Know What It Means, But It's True (More About Watching TV)
Now go outside and play!
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