UO

Drea926

I was a super TV kid. I watched a ton of it and I am a healthy, intelligent working member of society. I don't want DS sitting in front of it for hours on end, but it's not the devil either.  I completely agree with keeping balance. I always did my homework, took dance, was in theater, did sports, but I enjoyed winding down with some shows. I still do. 

To each their own, but I don't see the point in anyone getting their panties in a twist about it.

(I don't think anyone on here is, I'm just speaking generally. )

ETA - I think as kids age the importance with monitoring TV should have less to do with time, and more to do with content.

wifeofadam

Sidra - I'm a fellow Luddite.  As you can see in the above picture, we still have a 15 year old tube TV.  No flat screen anything.  No cable.  And we still watch movies on VHS.  I don't even have texting and I hate hate hate it.  I get annoyed when people text around me.  My phone is a hand-me-down flip phone that's at least five years old and I will use it until it dies and then recycle someone else's hand-me-down phone.  We only own a microwave because it came with the house and it built in above the oven.  We're building a house next year and I have no plans to buy a microwave for it. 

Anyways, we live in Amish country and I am fascinated with the simplicity of their lives, so I get what you're saying.  Oddly enough - since I'm a skirt-wearing, head-covering woman with a lot of kids, I've actually been asked if I'm Amish while out and about before.  It's such a strange question, as I pile out of my CAR.  lol

wifeofadam

Rynleigh said:

My UO: I really don't give a damn about how much "screen time" my older kids (11yrs and 6yrs) get. I really just don't. They self-regulate

What's your trick with the self-regulation?  I don't know if it's a boy thing or what, but my boys (6 and almost 5) would play video games all day if they could.  No ability to self-regulate at all.  Do you think that's something that comes with age? 

It could also be that they are home all day long.  Most kids are at school all day, so when they get home they have to fit in homework and chores, so they are limited in the amount of time they get to look at screens all day.  Since my kids do school at home, they are here all day and then once they get their work done they entertain themselves here, which often means they are begging for the video games for HOURS.  We had to set rules so that they could only play them in the evening after Daddy gets home just so they would stop annoying me all day long with their begging.

Rynleigh

You know, I wish I knew! LOL I have always treated my kids like little adults, I guess... I've always had rules like, "You need to finish your homework and clean the kitchen, and then you can go play video games"... or "The television in this room (the family room) is just for you guys! You can watch whatever you want, but you need to make sure you change the channel if anything makes either of you uncomfortable, scares you, or makes you feel angry"... or "This computer belongs to you guys. It's protected from viruses and spyware, so you'll need our help to install new things. As long as you always ask before you go to a website you've never been to before, you don't need to ask to turn the computer on." 

Couldn't tell you if it's a girl thing or if it's just their personalities or what... they aren't the sort of kids to really do the back talk thing - if we disagree on something, we make compromises in a whole lot of situations. If I cannot compromise, I go into a lot of detail about why I can't - maybe they just get so tired of hearing me talk that they just try to avoid lectures lmfao

They're just so fairness oriented it's almost bizarre. Like, if you give my 6yr old something, she instantly assumes that you are either giving her another to give her sister, or that she must split what she has with her sister. No instruction, never made any rule about it - she just has a lot of empathy and believes that fairness and compromise mean she must go hunt down her sister and share the thing she has to enjoy. Of course that also goes for chores, too. They have to share those also lol

singingsea

2 under 2 - sounds like a nightmare to me.

Santa - We're doing it. My son needs to be just a traumatized as I was

Tv - we eat dinner in front of the tv because our kitchen table is a black hole for mail, coats, gloves, purses and other random items.

My UO: the elf on a shelf thing is super creepy. It moves at night while I'm asleep? Yeah no thanks. Also stop posting pictures of it on facebook.

Dannysmama

Santa - would like to if we make it over, but I REFUSE to go to the mall on a weekend.  I do all of my shopping online unless I must go in person.  The idea that you have to sit in line to exit the highway, to wait in line to park, to then fight the crowds just to buy stuff blows my mind.  Such a time waste.  In the right mood, I like to shop, but not during the holidays.

DS will believe in Santa.  My family is Catholic and we grew up just knowing the difference between Santa and Jesus, so I'll try to keep the two elements separate.  I don't know how I'll do it in the age of babies with iPads, but I want my kids to grow up loving the season and that magical feeling, and not the gifts.  Maybe do stuff like what we did, delivering Christmas baskets to the needy every year.  Or maybe it's because my mom is brutally honest and I just knew that I couldn't get a pony.  (I did get a poster of a pony and riding lessons!).  

Screens as baby sitters - I judge.  A girl I knew in HS would regularly post pictures of her daughter in front of an iPhone with captions like "watching yo gabba gabba so Mommy can enjoy her coffee."  I think it's outrageous.  I almost lost it when she posted another picture of her daughter propped up with a teething biscuit and a caption detailing how the baby just loves the Real Housewives of Beverley Hills.  Are you f'n kidding me?  I love me some Bravo, but that's just shameful.

Now, we have watched TV with DS (football games, a few Disney music videos), and using TV as a reward or special thing is great in my book.  I do draw the line at video games solely because I want to use it as a reward or treat, so I've already told DH I won't buy them.

And for those of you with me in the "iPad for babies is insane" camp: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/ipad-bouncy-seat_n_4374308.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents

 

SidraJedi

Dannysmama said:

Santa - would like to if we make it over, but I REFUSE to go to the mall on a weekend.  I do all of my shopping online unless I must go in person.  The idea that you have to sit in line to exit the highway, to wait in line to park, to then fight the crowds just to buy stuff blows my mind.  Such a time waste.  In the right mood, I like to shop, but not during the holidays.

DS will believe in Santa.  My family is Catholic and we grew up just knowing the difference between Santa and Jesus, so I'll try to keep the two elements separate.  I don't know how I'll do it in the age of babies with iPads, but I want my kids to grow up loving the season and that magical feeling, and not the gifts.  Maybe do stuff like what we did, delivering Christmas baskets to the needy every year.  Or maybe it's because my mom is brutally honest and I just knew that I couldn't get a pony.  (I did get a poster of a pony and riding lessons!).  

Screens as baby sitters - I judge.  A girl I knew in HS would regularly post pictures of her daughter in front of an iPhone with captions like "watching yo gabba gabba so Mommy can enjoy her coffee."  I think it's outrageous.  I almost lost it when she posted another picture of her daughter propped up with a teething biscuit and a caption detailing how the baby just loves the Real Housewives of Beverley Hills.  Are you f'n kidding me?  I love me some Bravo, but that's just shameful.

Now, we have watched TV with DS (football games, a few Disney music videos), and using TV as a reward or special thing is great in my book.  I do draw the line at video games solely because I want to use it as a reward or treat, so I've already told DH I won't buy them.

And for those of you with me in the "iPad for babies is insane" camp: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/ipad-bouncy-seat_n_4374308.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents

 

I saw that article and lmao on the embarrassment to humanity quote. Also, a screen is not bad for special needs kids????? I obviously don't have a special needs child but I used to be a TA for special meds classes and I am tired of hearing/seeing children with special needs being held to an arbitrary different standard like that. IMO special needs required less screen time not more.... (Maybe public education for special needs is just lackluster in my county but I have seen some situations where the kids were way under stimulated)

@+adamwife+ we're also planning to build our own home. We have an area outside of town that we would like to buy in, a couple expecting a baby early this February who want to homestead with us, and plan to use alternative building methods to do it all and build it ourselves (with our friends). If our plans work out we should be ready to buy in late winter of 2015. One of the first dates DH and I went on we talked about how we wanted to build our own home and he talked about reading books on earthships (I wanted a treehouse but I love cob and stone now).
I've been a city girl for so long but I also love the country. I also used to work on an organic farm and still sometimes volunteer there. I love it!
I hope I'm around when you start building. I'm interested to see how it goes!

eriannc22

I have another one stemming from the confessions this week. I don't get why people are so upset over Paul Walker! Sad for his family, but really people?

wifeofadam

SidraJedi said:

@+adamwife+ we're also planning to build our own home. We have an area outside of town that we would like to buy in, a couple expecting a baby early this February who want to homestead with us, and plan to use alternative building methods to do it all and build it ourselves (with our friends). If our plans work out we should be ready to buy in late winter of 2015. One of the first dates DH and I went on we talked about how we wanted to build our own home and he talked about reading books on earthships (I wanted a treehouse but I love cob and stone now). I've been a city girl for so long but I also love the country. I also used to work on an organic farm and still sometimes volunteer there. I love it! I hope I'm around when you start building. I'm interested to see how it goes!

We're doing a concrete home.  We live in tornado country so this was a good compromise so we don't have to build a basement.  It should be interesting!  We just finalized the house plans and if all goes well with the bank, we will break ground as soon as it warms up this spring!!!

musicalmama5

PeanutR1 said:

I was at Buy Buy Baby today and was astounded by the number of toys I saw designed to let infants and toddlers play with a tablet or smart phone.  There was an activity table that lets you mount a tablet in the middle of it!  WTF.  My 10 month old needs no part of playing with a $&%@ tablet!

I don't let DD play with my iPhone or ipad. Those are also known in our house as "Mommy"s toy. Here's YOUR toy". However I was at a play date today and apparently she kept swiping my friends phone to unlock it. I have no idea how she knows to do that. My friends kept saying "she must see you do it! How smart!" Yeah, just f-ing great. Sigh.

For this reason, I actually try to limit the amount of time I spend on my iPhone in front of DS. Also because I don't want him to have a distracted mommy. Obviously I can't eliminate it completely, but if we're playing together, eating, or just hanging out, I put my phone somewhere else. I try to reserve the doodling around on my phone for naps and once he's in bed!

And since we're talking about technology... Once I walked by a local restaurant that has full length windows and saw all five of the families sitting at tables and every single person (kids and adults) were looking at a device. I almost died. I mean, why even go out? Just stay home. It's cheaper.

SidraJedi

@+adamwife+ that's so awesome! The coliseum is made of concrete so you'll be in good company. I'm excited for you! Keep us updated.

@musicalmama I wish that I was strong enough to just put the phone down all day long but at the end of the day I escape to the Internet and she sees that. She supposed to be spending time with her father though so...

musicalmama5

SidraJedi said:

@+adamwife+ that's so awesome! The coliseum is made of concrete so you'll be in food company. I'm excited for you! Keep us updated. @musicalmama I wish that I was strong enough to just put the phone down all day long but at the end of the day I escape to the Internet and she sees that. She supposed to be spending time with her father though so...

Oh, I hope I didn't make it sound like I am never on my phone in front of him!! I certainly slip up here and there. But I do make a concerted effort. Part of it is modeling for DS, but honestly, part of it is modeling for DH. He's kind of an iPhone addict...