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TV is Chewing Gum for the Eyes ~Frank Lloyd Wright

One of the constant themes of parenthood seems to be how much everyone claims it changes you as a person.  There are certainly many things about my lifestyle that have changed in the almost two years since Nathan was born.  I definitely watch fewer movies in the theatre, read more children's books, and attempt to eat more veggies.

However, perhaps the biggest change has been my TV viewing habits.  Erin and I both decided early on, that we didn't want to watch TV with Nathan around, and for the most part have stuck to that commitment.  The TV is just not on while Nathan is around.  Now this hasn't drastically changed our TV watching habits, but rather just shifted them.  We just wait for nap time or for Nathan to go to sleep.  His bedtime until recently was 7pm so we still had plenty of time to waste time watching television.

There have only been two specific instances that we have intentionally let Nathan be around while our primary activity was watching the Television.  And of course both involved football.  One was the Las Vegas Bowl, in which we were at my father in law's house with no DVR, and lots of blocks to attempt to distract Nathan from the flashing screen with lots of colors.  The other of course was the SuperBowl, which must be watched live, just as life principle.  In that case Nathan's cousin and toys were able to distract him most of the time.

We decided to be very intentional about limiting Nathan's TV exposure for many reasons.  One is that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two do not watch any TV.  And while studies seem quite inconclusive as to the actual effects of TV on young children, it seems pretty clear that it will not hurt to limit exposure.  From brain development, to obesity, to developing a love of reading, there are many common sense reasons to not expose him to television.

Now the question becomes when do we start to let him watch TV and how much to let him watch.  This article by USA Today states that children on average are exposed to four hours of TV daily.  That is way too much, even if it is only in the background.  We currently listen to quite a bit of music around the house as background noise and we all enjoy that.  Do we only let him watch on weekends?  Only "educational" television?  Only sports?  The last one works for me.  It gets quite hard to wait till bedtime to watch 12:30pm Husky game.  (of course astute readers and Husky fans know that the 12:30pm game has been more and more rare lately)  But still, being able to root for the Huskies with my boy sounds like fun.

We could all use less TV in our lives and having small children around certainly helps in making healthier decisions.  While I admit I still watch too much TV, I have been much more intentional about what I watch and have made specific goals to be sure I am also reading books very regularly.  While once Nathan turns two the floodgates of TV watching will not open wide, we may allow him to begin to watch educational and age appropriate programs.  Plus it will pretty awesome to watch raise his hands and shout, "Touchdown Huskies!"

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