Kids and TV.

I grew up in a home where we watched little to no TV. We were only allowed to watch it on Fridays and Saturdays, and only after homework and chores were done. Incidentally, those days I wanted to spend doing other things, so I really didn't watch much TV growing up, period. So I'm having a hard time understanding what it is about my kids that gives them the ability to watch endless hours of TV without interruption without any hope of satisfaction. Admittedly, I have never tried letting them watch that much TV, but based on the amount of times in a day I hear "Mom, can I watch a show?", I have little doubt that they prefer it to just about anything (except candy, of course). If you ever get a chance to meet Tim's Grandpa Toney and watch him while the TV is on, you might gain some insight as to the possibility of my children inheriting the TV-devouring gene.

Anyway, today was one of those days. We had to stay inside because Rachel has been pretty miserable with a cold and I just wanted to allow her the rest she needed to get over it. The girls cleaned their room, we put away all their summer clothes and got out their fall clothes, we made a Texas Sheet Cake, colored, played in the rain, played hide-and seek, played I Spy, danced to a great CD called See Me Run... it's not as if I didn't keep the girls occupied. But I still got "Mom can I watch a show?" at least five times, including when we had a friend over to play.

Still, I kept my resolve and am grateful, because I just stumbled across this article on the web about the link between TV viewing and behavioral problems. Though it does leave room for the possibility that behavioral problems actually contribute to more TV-viewing instead of the reverse, I am strengthened in my own resolve to keep saying "no" to the TV, even though it takes a lot more work on my part. A lot.