Media

March 20, 2016

I often hear parents saying that they do not let their children watch T.V. or play video games and if they do, it is a set amount of time each day.

 I AM NOT THAT PARENT!

Courtland watches a lot of television and I am okay with that. He watches Treehouse, YTV, (Teletoon if appropriate content is on), PBS, Knowledge Network and of course anything sports related.

Courtland is a very engaging little boy. He is interesting to talk to because he knows about a variety of things. Most of which, he has learned from T.V.

Because we are concerned about the content, we often police even the kid shows he watches, and he is starting to know the things that we deem appropriate or not.

Television has also been great because he has an inquiring mind. He hears words on T.V. and is constantly asking "what does that word mean?" It is funny how as an adult you can understand a word but cannot explain what it means in kid terms!

Then there is the issue of video games. I do not believe children need to be constantly playing video games. Kids need to play outside and build relationship skills etc. We only allow him to play X-box on weekends. He started playing video games when he was quite young because using the controller was/is good for his fine motor function. His motor function has improved so much just from playing video games.

The T.V. at our house is constantly on.... I think our house would be far too quiet if it wasn't. We only have Courtland, no other kids, so often times the television is just providing background noise and/or company.

I know that some people who read this will feel that the television is evil and that I am a bad parent for allowing so much media time. That's okay- that may not be the way you do things, but it works for us. Courtland is very well rounded and adjusted. I have a hard time limiting T.V. time when clearly he has learned so much from it. He still plays and has fun aside from T.V. and he is not a couch potato.

This year, I am making a conscious decision to do more stuff with him instead of so much T.V., but it is not going off completely; just long enough for us to get in the back yard and play and spend some quality family time together. That is how memories are made... In 20 years he will not remember an episode of his favorite show, but he will remember the time we spent with him having fun!