Yes, We Watch TV Sometimes and I'm Not Ashamed!

The other day I let the kids play by themselves in Munchkin Girl's room, which is risky, I know.  But at almost 4 and 2, they are really starting to play well together and I want to encourage that, so when the begged me to go to her room to "play", of course I agreed.  I was pretty shocked actually.  They did great and I could hear them up there, discussing things and having a great time.  Mostly Munchkin Girl bossed her brother around and delegated room-cleaning to him, but he happily agreed and kept saying, "Okay, sure."

Then after about 20 minutes, I suddenly heard, "Nooooo!!  That's MYYYYYYY fox!!!  Mommy help!!!!"

I went running and found them wrestling around on the floor, fighting over some stupid stuffed fox.  I broke it up but then I noticed that look in Little Buddy's eyes.  It was a look that said, "I have now tasted what it's like to irritate my sister and I'm ready for more.  I want to make trouble."

At that point, it was almost nap time and I quickly decided that if I didn't want more stitches or knocked out teeth (yep, those both happened recently, feel free to read about it!), TV was a great solution.  Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that when it's nap time and the kids are wound up, I think TV is a wonderful way to calm them down, especially if it's a show that is nice and soothing.  So one of our favorites is Little Bear.  It's on Nick Jr. and he is always playing outside with his friends and using his imagination to come up with songs, games, etc.  In fact, sometimes I wish I could live with Little Bear.  Life would be much simpler.

Photo courtesy of epguides.com

I know experts say you shouldn't let your kids watch TV, but I would like to tell the experts this...one day when Munchkin Girl suggested that we paint outside, I was inspired.  There was one episode where Little Bear was painting on a tree so I got out a few simple materials.  I love using old egg cartons for paint holders because then I can just throw them away without washing them.  Then all I needed was some construction paper, paint brushes, and a few large thumb-tacks:


The kids were really excited about this.  They just loved acting out something Little Bear has done and an added bonus is that it really eased my guilt they are using creativity and benefiting from their TV-watching!  Now, as someone who almost got kicked out of art class in 5th grade, I have admit that I was very proud that day to look out at my little artists! (Oh, and yes, Munchkin Girl is in her PJs...this was first thing in the morning and I never said I was a perfect Mom!)



Surprisingly, Little Buddy (2) stuck with this longer than his big sister.  He went through several pieces of paper and I was shocked that his attention span has improved so much in the past few months!  I guess imitating his friend, Little Bear, paid off!







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