So, after a weekend of healthy, Reagan wakes up at 10:30 last night and has a fever of 103. I swear this child can not catch a break. She has a pretty big bug bite on her cheek and it appears to be really swollen and red, so I called the doctor to see if we should be giving her something like Benedryl or something other than Motrin. I am hoping that the fever is related to the bug bite and not another freak virus that we have to deal with. In the mean time, she is watching Strawberry Shortcake and sitting on the couch at the shop, happy as a clam. I normally don't let her watch TV, and I never let her watch it at the shop, but she is just so pathetic that I felt like she needed some down time. I just wish I had a babysitter around here that I could call at a moments notice and they could come to the house to watch her.
Now, let me talk about my views on watching TV. There are a lot of people out there that say children should not watch any screen till age 3. They even say "NO screens till 3". They claim that the tv can basically reprogram their brains and the screens mess up their eyes (i am totally paraphrasing). I have to admit that I don't think that is such a bad concept, but TV sure is convenient to keep them occupied. I never want to be one of those mom's who use the tv to babysit their kid. But, when Reagan is up in the morning and I have to take a shower, she will sit very quietly on my bed with her juice and watch Clifford, or whoever else is on at the moment. She has developed an EXTREME love of Strawberry Shortcake and we did buy a portable DVD player for long car trips. I define long as over 3 hours. That means no tv on a trip down to visit grandparents in O-town. The trips to Tenn and NC were quiet and nice and but she stared at the tv like a zombie and that made me uncomfortable. I just don't want her to be one of those kids that is obsessed with tv. Growing up, Beth and I were only allowed to watch 1 hour of tv a day and that started when we were young and went until we were at least in high school. I love that concept and I want to instill that in Reagan, but my question is, how plausible is it in our world today? Many experts claim that tv is why so many children are obese in our country and I do not want Reagan to fall into that category. My parents always told us that we needed to go outside and play, but that brings up a whole different topic on the safety of our children nowadays. Beth and I would play outside from after breakfast, till lunch, then back out again till dinner. My mom never worried about us, never checked on us or made us carry a cell phone or mace. Currently, I don't think that kids can do that anymore, not without the parents living in fear that someone will scoop them up and they will be the headline on CNN that evening.
Too much to worry about, or just let it ride off your back, what do you think?
4 comments:
She has a soft tissue infection, possibly caused by the bug bite. Starting antibiotics today. So, if anyone knows of a good bubble store, we are on the lookout for one to put Reagan in until she is 18.
I'm happy that your little pumpkin is feeling better. What a wild ride!
I have a few responses to your post. First of all, Whitebread and I try not to watch too much TV ourselves. Our TV has suddenly increased exponentially with the recent acquisition of a flat screen TV. While we didn't purchase said TV - we did ask for it - as we do enjoy watching movies together occasionally. Furthermore, the exponential increase in our viewing habits means that we now watch about an hour of TV a night if anything at all. We seem to be addicted to whatever show Bravo has on at 10 PM each evening (this is the first break we usually get together).
We have heard about the whole "no screen" thing for Loki and I'm mostly in favor of it. However, I also found a program on line (http://www.yourbabycanread.com/) that teaches very young kids to read. And I think its a GREAT idea but it does mean that he has to watch this program once a day. We haven't purchased it yet, but we are seriously considering it. I think if it wasn't a DVD thing we would already own it...so the debate is still out for the screen thing for us...
Now as far as letting Loki play outside...well, he's not quite old enough, yet - but I hope that we will be in a location where he will be able to do just that. I think we have to raise our children in such a way that they are able to make smart choices about where they go, what they do and who they interact with. Granted, there are ALOT of situations which may be beyond these values which they wouldn't be able to control but life is uncertain and I would rather see them grow, have fun, be daring and adventurous than keep them inside afraid of the evils that lurk behind every corner. I don't want to raise a child that can't handle any adversity that might arise in their lives. I think we have to empower them at some point to make smart decisions. I'm not saying Reagan should have the run of the neighborhood, but with age appropriate boundaries she can have the same wild childhood you and Beth had (for the most part)! And I hope that Loki will have the same!
Brian and I watch WAY too much tv and it seems to be always on at night. That is something I wish we could work on, but I am not ready to fight that battle.
I too have looked into Your Baby Can Read and I just am so on the fence about it. Again, I feel like that is just sitting her in front of a tv to learn things that I possibly can teach her. I feel like she is already so smart and picks things up so quickly, that yes, it would be good, but can't I do that for her. Then, Vivian, my sister in law and a past elem. ed. teacher, and I talked about it and she had a very strong opinion about it. She said that she noticed a real social delay in a lot of children that started to read too early. She taught 2nd grade and she feels that most if not all children will learn to read on their own time and there is no point in rushing it because it doesn't make them any smarter, just makes them learn things out of sequence and it isn't necessary. She feels that their brains should be learning other things, rather than how to read at 18 months. I value her opinion because she is a person that taught children how to read. She suggested a lot of different books and stuff, but basically said that the more your read to your child, the better and that is really all you need to do till about 2-3 years old.
I totally agree with you and the playing outside concept. I also hope that the area we live in is a place where she can play outside and do things on her own. I learned so much that way, it would be a shame to not give her that same experience.
oooh - that is a good point about children having natural learning milestones. I want him to read, but I don't suppose there is any rush and I certainly don't want to make him anti social. We were only excited about it as a nifty parlor trick (you know - entertainment at dinner parties and all - LOL) I think we'll reconsider.
PS - I think he might be sleeping through the night. Keep your fingers crossed that he keeps it up. He slept 6 hours last night - got up and nursed briefly and slept another 3!!! YAY!!!
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