We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2004 - (Mamma)
Why Jack Doesn't Watch Television
Jack's current favorite!
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
There are lots and lots of theoretical and scientific reasons not to expose kids to television, but the real basis of my reasons for not exposing my kids to television go back to my experience.
I grew up watching television, just like anyone else, until I was about 15 years old. That year, we moved to the Republic of Panama, and that changed everything.
You see, in the Canal Zone, back then anyway, television programming was broadcast in English for three hours a day. The rest of the time, you were on your own with the local Spanish language programming. And what they had in English was ... well, boring. Reruns of shows that had ended 20 years before and locally produced "news" shows that really weren't very informative.
At first we lived about 25 miles from the Canal Zone and were the only American family we knew for the whole first summer. That lack of television pushed my family away from the television and into life. We talked more, played more games, and got a lot closer while we were living in La Chorrerra and we got to know a lot more about our neighbors and our neighborhood than we ever had back in th US.
Later, when we moved to the Canal Zone and had more friends who spoke English, our family drifted apart a bit more -- but there still wasn't enough on television to keep us amused, and so we continued to amuse ourselves.
After the shock of the first few weeks without television, I felt vividly alive and began to really enjoy life! Not only that -- but since all of our English-speaking friends had the same lack of access to inspiring television viewing, we all had interests!
When we returned to the US after I had graduated from high school, I found that television no longer held as much appeal for me. I enjoyed life more when I was "out amongst it".
And so, with the exception of several interludes with partners who couldn't live without television, I have lived without it for the last 30 years.
During those interludes, I sometimes found my life submerged into "television land" where months would go by with nothing really happening as I sat in front of the screen, watching.
Did I learn things? Sure, I did! I loved the food and cooking channel, I loved the home and garden network, I loved the History channel ... there was always something interesting and theoretically enriching to watch. But ... I watched instead of living.
All that I learned on television was also available from books, magazines, and other people and I prefer to get it that way. Books and magazines don't suck away the weeks the way TV does for me -- and while people are every bit as engaging as the television, I think engaging with people is a lot healthier, both physically and emotionally.
So, having learned this, I raised my older two kids essentially without television. (I'm sure they did watch TV at my exes house, though.)
What I saw was that TJ and Corey were easily able to entertain themselves for hours and days at time. Never did I suffer the sort of badgering my mother endured whenever there was "nothing good on".
Corey and TJ spent a lot of time outdoors and they invented new games constantly. They were a lot more like the kids my parents had described being...and I enjoyed them a great deal! As a bonus, because they spent so much time outdoors "being kids", they managed to avoid becoming the fat kids at school, in spite of a genetic heritage that would have suggested that they probably would have been. (Both are lean and muscular, in spite of having a pair of fat parents who *were* the fat kids at school.)
So, there is the crux of why Jack is being raised without television. I want him to grow up engaged with life and fully alive. I want him to have time to enjoy being a kid and to learn all he needs to know to have a happy and fulfilled life. Like a lot of people, both Rod and I have a tendency to be "sucked in" if there is a television in the place. I'm sure Jack would be the same way, but I'd really rather spend his childhood with Jack, rather than side by side in front of the flickering screen. There will be plenty of time when he's an adult for him to watch TV, if that's what he chooses.
Interestingly, TJ and Corey have both decided to make television a part of their adult lives -- but both seem to be able to have a coherent conversation in front of the television. That's something I can't usually manage.
I'll go into more of the philosophical and scientific backing of this decision another time.
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