Archive for the 'toddlers' Category

Raising kids in a TV-friendly household

Published
by
RBM
on April 5, 2010
in family, parenting, reality tv and toddlers
. 0 Comments

dinseys-hannah-montanaFirst off, this post was spawned from another post by a colleague of mine over at Laptop TV Mom. So first, go over and read her post so you can jump in feet first here. Done? Ok, so…

We’ve just started letting my daughter watch Hannah Montana and the likes of iCarly. Her first three episodes were spent alongside mom (me) providing the “moral compass commentary” along with the show. For example, the sister is routinely making fun of the brother (I’ve even noticed this on Olivia and it bugs me!) and the brother is sadly dumbed down (what a shame to teach to young boys watching with their sisters). We have a brother and sister combo in our house too and there’s no way we’d let our daughter treat our son that way and we made sure she knew it.

In order to curb behavioral influences on the kids by these shows, what I found incredibly helpful to do at a young age, even during the Dora years, was to educate a lot — even slightly “over their heads” around TV, because it tuns out it’s very much *not* over their heads. An example? Calling out commercials so they understood the difference between their shows and commercials and what certain wording means, like “as much as” or “simulated flying action” so that the kids understood that not everything is exactly as TV shows it to be.

Fast forward two years or so and it’s moved to the point where the kids understand that these are just characters on a show with a script and that there are real people with real names and real families playing these roles. They seem to get that it’s “make believe” actions that way and so far it’s been working to curb real-life influence. This proved invaluable in the Star Wars series, when Darth Vader can seem very scary if you didn’t know that’s simply James Earl Jones talking, the same nice fella from The Sandlot movie. And aside from making things not so scary for them, it also teaches them that the behavior is not “real life” behavior either. When we’re watching together, I like to ask “Do you think it’s ever okay to yell at your parents like that?” So far we’ve gotten the answers we’re looking for. I’ll let you know if that changes once we hit the  teen years - ha.

However, on the reality side, my son idolizes certain individuals that are the real deal - like Shaun White and Tony Hawk. And to be honest, I don’t know what I’ll do if they ever slip up in the public eye in front of our son. Despite mom and dad teaching our son that everyone makes mistakes and that’s how we learn, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that White and Hawk can keep it clean so we don’t have to test that out on his idols!

Feeding toddlers

Published
by
RBM
on May 6, 2009
in family, food and toddlers
. 0 Comments

Does this sound familar?

Parents: We’re having quesedillas for dinner, and they’re all ready! We even have sour cream! 

(expecting applause, or at the least a “mmm”)

Kid(s): I don’t like quesedillas. 

Parents: You just ate one last weekend. 

Kid(s): I don’t like quesedillas. 

Parent(s): Grrrrrr. 

15 minutes later…

Parent(s): Here’s some chicken nuggets. 

Score?

Parents - One. They’re Morningstar nuggets and full of protein. Better for them than a quesedilla anyway.

Kid(s) - One and a half. We lost the battle and the 10 extra minutes to bake the nuggets. Also, they ate that for lunch. 

Horton Review. We went to see it, will you?

Published
by
RBM
on March 18, 2008
in dr. seuss, horton hears a who, movie review, ratatouille and toddlers
. 0 Comments

First – NO SPOILERS HERE (even though you’ve probably read the book 543 times).

Took our kids to see the latest Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who, to make it onto the big screen and it was a great time. It’s worth a post for this proud mom because it’s the first time we’ve taken our son to the theater for a flick (he’s just about three). I think he was most excited to eat Red Vines (a family tradition), rather than being excited for his first movie but oh well.

Horton was the third trip to the movies for my daughter (four and a half), although she’s made it through only one other full length feature in a theater before. Our first try, we had to leave Ratatouille when the rat kept biting the chef about 30 minutes into the flick. My daughter insisted the rat was mean and that we should leave. So we left and went and shared an ice cream sundae instead. For the other movie she remained engaged throughout, see here. It might surprise you. But back to the topic at hand.

My son and daughter cackled their brains out for the first 15 minutes of the movie. For me, it was the truest parental bliss ever watching our two kids giggle and clutch at each other out of pure joy like a pair of best friends having the time of their lives.

As the storyline matured, my daughter became completely entranced, taking in every line, hanging on every joke and taking care to tell me when one of the characters was being mean. She did like to point out on a few occasions that in the book she reads at home Horton sits on an egg and that there is no egg in this movie.

Meanwhile, my son began to fidget around…asking when Dr. Seuss would appear and he became very disappointed when he discovered Dr. Seuss would not be appearing on the screen. (Bets placed now our guy is a performer and not a behind the scenes guy.) Fast forward ~30 minutes. This disappointment led to being thirsty, then to having to use the potty and then to playing video games out in the arcade instead of watching the movie. Maybe next time…

Take away: For the four year old in your life, this is definitely an RBM endorsed flick.