Too Much T.V.

There are days when I wake up and feel like I've got way too much to get done. The dishwasher needs to be unloaded and reloaded, I haven't had my coffee and it'll be noon before I can pop my head above the pile of laundry that has accrued over the past two weeks. Occasionally my children come and wake me up before I'm ready to crawl out of bed, so what is the easy answer to these problems. A nanny... or perhaps a maid?!? Unfortunately that's not an option, so I guess the T.V. will be a good starting point.

Let me set up this wonderful scenario. It's Saturday morning, we are waking up slowly, then I eventually get around to making my lovely family a wonderful homemade breakfast. (Can you imagine the Leave it to Beaver scenario?) I've got bacon and eggs, toast or cereal. I am willing to be mommy restaurant this one day and serve my family - how would you like your eggs? In order to get all this done I decide to let my girls watch t.v. and have a nice relaxed start to their day until I can get the breakfast made. I would love that and would be so grateful if one morning I could wake up and be told, why don't you watch a little TV while I make you breakfast. The wonderful, ideal morning is running through my head. The making breakfast part runs smoothly (as the girls soak in the TV) then it's time for breakfast to be eaten and suddenly this utopia of a morning comes crashing down. My kids are screaming (despite the five minute warning that TV was to be turned off) and when we finally get to the table after crying fits, time outs or whatever the next five minutes entail, the breakfast is cold and we are all crabby.

The television. You hear us often talk about the negative affects of television, video games, computer time etc..., but you won't get us to stop talking about it. More research came out this month regarding the negative affects of television. Please take time to read it. I'm going to make a conscious effort to either leave my expectations of a wonderful Saturday a.m. breakfast (thanks for that reminder in the last post Nicole) or to include them in the process so they can be proud of the breakfast they made. What changes are you going to make to decrease the TV time in your house?

To less TV and more memory making moments,

Michelle