Remember, like, 5 years ago, when experts where touting the power of Baby Einstein. Baby Einstein was the key to unlocking your child's limitless potential. It would help them read and comprehend and get into Harvard before 18...basically turn them into little prodigies. Remember how parents clamored for all the ridiculous, ridiculously expensive Baby Einstein videos, not to mention all the other crap and swore up and down that it was really making their children smarter. Well guess what, smarmy, "my kid read Nietzsche yesterday, thanks to Baby Einstein" parents. Sorry to ruin the ivy league dreams, but those videos were actually giving your children A.D.D. That's right. "leading experts" have confirmed there is NO SAFE AMOUNT OF TELEVISION/VIDEO VIEWING for children under the age of 3. That means my children will be on Ritalin before age 10. I'm guessing these experts never had children. I'm assuming that because these experts never had children, they've never had to prepare a meal with an extra 18 to 30lbs attached to each leg, whining and complaining and making demands...or do laundry, dishes, vacuuming or go to the bathroom under those same conditions. Of course, I could be wrong. "the experts" may have had children. Children who never watched a second of television. Children who are now discovering new elements, or heading world renowned surgical teams, or proposing new fossil fuel theories. We'll never know.
I need television. Sometimes, yes, it's my babysitter. And, sometimes I will admit, it's a technological saviour. I don't stop doing, from the moment my feet hit the floor to the moment their heads hit their pillows and I am able to maintain my sanity thanks to the modern marvel that is broadcast television. I can't give you a rundown of how many hours a day my cherubs sit, quietly, indulging in what I feel is educational programming. An hour or two in the morning, maybe one in the afternoon...since they don't fucking sleep and I need some way for their bodies to stop and rest for more than 5 minutes...and after dinner until bedtime, maybe another hour or two. I've definitely exceeded what's considered the healthy maximum, for Ev. Quinn is completely screwed. That girl is going to be some teacher's foaming, screeching,disciplinary nightmare. I'm not sure her television viewing will be the sole cause of that outcome, but it definitely can't help...if I agree with the experts. Which I don't.
I watched television as a kid. Hours of television. Sometimes starting at 5 in the morning. Anyone else remember Saturday morning cartoons as a staple of childhood? Granted, I'm not the Proust of my generation, nor am I sitting around a think tank, solving exhaustively complicated mathematical equations, but I've never had trouble focusing when I needed to and I've never been diagnosed with A.D.D. The article I read stated, in so many words (because I don't feel like looking up the direct quote), that rapid development occurs mainly in infants and toddlers and that viewing a program for even 5 minutes can be overstimulating. That a child's brain then becomes wired for constant, rapid stimulation and can no longer slow down and process things...in so many words. Are they right? My daughter, as I've stated many times before, is a whirling dervish of curiosity. She is also easily amused by my key chain. She can sit on the floor with my key chain for a half hour; clinking it, dropping it, moving the keys from one side of the clip to the other. I wouldn't say she actively watches television on a consistent basis, but sometimes she does. Sometimes, it's just background while she fiddles with her colorful and stimulating toys. Either way ,it hasn't seemed to affect her and somehow, even when she really starts to appreciate t.v. for what it is, I think she'll be okay.
Maybe A.D.D. is the product of outside sources; television, sugar...etc. Maybe A.D.D. is genetic, occuring in some regardless of abstinence from over-stimulation. I don't fricking know. I know that tonight, when I got home from work, after I put Quinn to sleep, I propped my son in front of the boob tube and put my feet up for the first time since I'd woken up this morning...and I'm okay with whatever results from that in the future. I could go on, but I've got some shows On-Demand that I really need to catch up on. Viva la televisione!
