The TV Rule

I was growing concerned about the amount of TV watching Sean had been doing. One of the reason is that everyone at home likes to watch TV and everyone, including myself, has used the TV as a way to occupy Sean when we need to do something. Bad habits!

Another concern of mine was that Sean liked to watch really close to the TV. He practically walks right up. So we've used the coffee table as well as the foot rests to block the TV to give him at least 1 meter away from the TV.

I still found it too close to my liking, so I decided on a little experiment. Sean has to sit on a chair if he wants to watch TV. No more walking right up to the front. I use "Cars", his favorite movie, for the experiment. We put one of the lower arm chair (so he can climb in and out of the chair easily) in the TV area for him to sit on. He has to sit there or anywhere else that's at least 2 meters away. Whenever he moves to the front of the TV, I'll pause or switch the movie off. Of course this erupted in many tantrums at the beginning.

Sam couldn't understand at first why I was being so "strict". He said that he was brought up on TV and doesn't see anything wrong with it. Yeah right.... Sam's idea of baby sitting Sean is to let him watch South Park! Now when I need Sam to occupy Sean while I do something, his trick is South Park, which I don't really approve of. I've asked Sam to find something else besides South Park. Unfortunately, the "Cars" dvd doesn't work in the PC. Even "The Three Mousketeers" and "Nemo" doesn't divert Sean's attention as well as South Park. So Sam still has to find something else to entertain Sean. If possible, something not TV related.

I'm not really against TV in general. I still watch TV together with Sean. But there needs to be some rule regarding the amount and the way he watches it.

But the experiment is working. Last week, Sean was watching 'Johny & The Sprites". The Astro doesn't work when it rains heavily. The TV turned blank. Sean went to the remotes and "tried" to fiddle with them. When he saw me, he quickly scurried to his chair... he he he...He thought I switched the TV off because he was in front of the TV again. I said to him "It's not mummy this time round." Since he behaved so well, I let him watched DVD in the room instead. Reward for good behavior ha ha ha... It's just so funny to see his face when he realized that he broke the rule and then scurried to the chair.

Now he doesn't insist on watching his "brrr brrr" movie when we go downstairs anymore. I let him walk around the living room to find something to interest him. I try not to switch the TV on for as long as possible. So of course I don't really watch TV anymore. Later on he'll ask to watch TV. Since he has behaved well, I let him watch, but not as much as he used to. I still let him watch other movies in the room when he's restless though. One step at a time. At least experiment No.1 works! =D

Mummy controls the remote! Yeah!