Comments on: TV Deprived http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/ a little of this, a lot of that Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:47:27 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: eclexia http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1693 eclexia Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:57:32 +0000 http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1693 Thanks for the vote of confidence, Terri. I don't know about every kid's dream. There's too much "real life" thrown in there with the verbal snapshots I put up here on my blog.... These are individual photos, but not the whole big picture. Struggling with burnout and realities of single momming, I tend to feel pretty acutely how not with it I feel in the day in and day out of parenting. I tend to hope that the "snapshots" and individual things I can do or be along the way will outweigh all the things I can't be or do so many days. But, some days I'm not too sure. All I can be is me, and some days that, only weakly. But the thing is, I am me. (To quote Martin Luther rather loosely and out of context "I can be no other" ) And so I pray, "Lord, let that be okay, and please, make up the difference, big time." Thanks for the vote of confidence, Terri. I don’t know about every kid’s dream. There’s too much “real life” thrown in there with the verbal snapshots I put up here on my blog…. These are individual photos, but not the whole big picture.

Struggling with burnout and realities of single momming, I tend to feel pretty acutely how not with it I feel in the day in and day out of parenting. I tend to hope that the “snapshots” and individual things I can do or be along the way will outweigh all the things I can’t be or do so many days. But, some days I’m not too sure.

All I can be is me, and some days that, only weakly. But the thing is, I am me. (To quote Martin Luther rather loosely and out of context “I can be no other” ) And so I pray, “Lord, let that be okay, and please, make up the difference, big time.”

]]> By: Terri http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1688 Terri Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:03:13 +0000 http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1688 i remember you mentioning that tension between what happens at your house and what happens when they're at their dad's. that's a tough situation. sounds like they're coming through it pretty well though. your place sounds like every kid's dream. i remember you mentioning that tension between what happens at your house and what happens when they’re at their dad’s. that’s a tough situation. sounds like they’re coming through it pretty well though. your place sounds like every kid’s dream.

]]> By: eclexia http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1687 eclexia Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:36:58 +0000 http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1687 Thanks, Terri, for sharing your story (I love hearing other people's stories, and it is fun to me when mine prompt someone else to tell one of theirs.) I should say that my kids do watch a good bit of TV and play computer games at their Dad's house on the weekend. At first it was kind of a tension and hard to adjust to not having it here. We had some talks about dopamine and how the "feel good without exerting effort" from TV and computers does make it hard to withdraw when they switch to doing without. They seem to have adjusted better now and not resent what they don't do here. I didn't try to turn it into a battle, and now they just accept what they like here and what they like there, and separate it out as two different worlds. It's sad to me to have to say that, even while I'm grateful that they seem to be coping. It was funny. The other day we were playing Apples to Apples. The adjective was "cheerful" and my five year was judging which of the nouns the others had chosen was most cheerful. One of the choices was "video games". As my one son pondered the options (and he does so very intensely and verbally, which is a hoot to listen to), my 12-year-old spoke up and said, "Actually video games aren't cheerful, because they leave you grumpy when you stop playing them. And then nothing else is fun afterwards, in comparison, not Legos, not playing outside...." I had to smile, because we've talked about it a lot a while ago, and he recalled the conversation pretty accurately (even if his purpose was to try to talk his brother out of choosing the "video game" card in hopes that HIS card would be the one chosen :) ) Thanks, Terri, for sharing your story (I love hearing other people’s stories, and it is fun to me when mine prompt someone else to tell one of theirs.) I should say that my kids do watch a good bit of TV and play computer games at their Dad’s house on the weekend. At first it was kind of a tension and hard to adjust to not having it here.

We had some talks about dopamine and how the “feel good without exerting effort” from TV and computers does make it hard to withdraw when they switch to doing without. They seem to have adjusted better now and not resent what they don’t do here. I didn’t try to turn it into a battle, and now they just accept what they like here and what they like there, and separate it out as two different worlds. It’s sad to me to have to say that, even while I’m grateful that they seem to be coping.

It was funny. The other day we were playing Apples to Apples. The adjective was “cheerful” and my five year was judging which of the nouns the others had chosen was most cheerful. One of the choices was “video games”. As my one son pondered the options (and he does so very intensely and verbally, which is a hoot to listen to), my 12-year-old spoke up and said, “Actually video games aren’t cheerful, because they leave you grumpy when you stop playing them. And then nothing else is fun afterwards, in comparison, not Legos, not playing outside….”

I had to smile, because we’ve talked about it a lot a while ago, and he recalled the conversation pretty accurately (even if his purpose was to try to talk his brother out of choosing the “video game” card in hopes that HIS card would be the one chosen :) )

]]> By: Terri http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1686 Terri Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:31:17 +0000 http://eclexia.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/tv-deprived/#comment-1686 that, my friend, was some great stuff. i also loved hearing about your tv-deprived family and i have to say i was pretty jealous. i always wanted to ditch our tv when our kids were growing up (actually, i'd still love to do that) but my husband is a sports freak and would have none of that.) i'm willing to bet your kids are going to think fondly of this aspect of your lives. when i was about thirteen years old, our tv broke just as we were going on christmas break from school and my parents couldn't afford to have it fixed because of the extra christmas expenses. i was completely horrified at the thought of no tv on our break, but it turned out to be the best christmas vacation ever. we played board games and played outside, and all kinds of other things. i'll never forget the feelings of depression and disappointment when that tv repairman came to fix the tv. *sigh* that, my friend, was some great stuff. i also loved hearing about your tv-deprived family and i have to say i was pretty jealous. i always wanted to ditch our tv when our kids were growing up (actually, i’d still love to do that) but my husband is a sports freak and would have none of that.) i’m willing to bet your kids are going to think fondly of this aspect of your lives.

when i was about thirteen years old, our tv broke just as we were going on christmas break from school and my parents couldn’t afford to have it fixed because of the extra christmas expenses. i was completely horrified at the thought of no tv on our break, but it turned out to be the best christmas vacation ever. we played board games and played outside, and all kinds of other things. i’ll never forget the feelings of depression and disappointment when that tv repairman came to fix the tv. *sigh*

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