It's cold. And despite all my desires, when the windchill hits 35 below, I will stay home with the girls for the day. A lot of women I know never leave their houses. I have no idea what would possess them to do this. Actually, I do know, and they are good reasons, but not for us. Maybe two days during the week we stay home.
Anyway, during the dark, deep, bear hibernation winter, this all changes. I am required to stay home. Winter one was easy, b/c Maizie napped in the afternoon and so did I. Winter two, same thing. Winter three, tougher-two kids. Lots of t.v. for Maizie, and I kept telling myself it was because I had a new baby and that things would get better in years to come. Never again, I swore, would I pass a winter with television.
Results show: Winter four, not better.
As we speak, my napless 3 year old is watching Blues Clues. She's already watched Curious George (one and a half times), Superwhy, & Sesame Street. This is not good. She is like an addict. The more she watches, the more she wants to watch.
I feel pretty guilty about this.
But, before I am too "judged," let me tell you what else we did today.
We played: restaurant (a LOT), Pat-Pat Rocket, tickle war, dance-a-thon (mommy exercised), and magna doodle.
We had blanket time...this is when Maizie sits on her blanket for about an hour and quietly plays with puzzles, books, dominoes, and magnet sets while I sit on the
couch and read my Bible and other books.
We colored a zillion pictures from Maizie's coloring book with colored pencils, which she seems to be quite good at, but takes forever.
And we read about 100 books-half of them non-fiction (we're learning about birds right now), a science magazine (thanks, grammy!), and three iSpy books.
So....
My question is, those of you moms who rarely leave your houses and don't let your kids watch t.v....
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!
I am staring down another month of this, and I can't even begin to fathom coming out a sane person. I am afraid when it's done, I'll be a cross between Mr. Noodle, Steve, and June, and I'm not sure I can handle it. But on the other hand, at least those people can speak (MOST of those people, anyway), have friends (despite the fact that most of them are talking animals), and a fan base.
So maybe the t.v. is better than the alternative of no t.v. and coming out of the winter with a fake smile, wide-blinking eyes, glitter stuck in my hair, and responding to everything like a preschool teacher ("Ohhh....weeelll....oopsies....that blow torch to your sister is probably not a great idea, but what ELSE could you do, sweetie? *blink, blink, blink*").
I'm taking suggestions. Not one time craft ideas, but real life suggestions on what to do with myself and my kids for the rest of the winter. So, I beg, if you've got this under control, please give me the heads up. I feel like I need to take a community ed. class about mothering in a MN winter.
sigh...
And now,
more Blue's Clues.
7 comments:
I don't have much advice, seeing as I'm on "winter #1"...the glorious napping phase. :) But I do know that my mom was pretty strict with TV (at least it felt strict...when we were elem. school age she limited us to 1.5 hours per day,) and she was super creative with other ways to pass the time. I know she utilized the book "The Mother's Almanac" a ton. It's full of lots of creative things to do with your kids, from crafts to cooking to 'field trips' etc. Might be worth looking into! Good luck, and I'll be looking forward to hearing what you figure out, since I'll be in your boat soon!
Hey - cool site! thanks for sharing! i love real posts - and i'd love to know if anyone out there has an answer to this!!! I am thinking -- man, you already are doing a lot with Maizie so tv isn't that bad! but who am i? i just wanted to say that i am right there with an "amen sista!" b/c who the flip flop knows what the heck they are doing in this mom world.... i mean, really... and then we all sit around worried that we aren't doing it like so-and-so. Well they don't have our kids! I don't have any wisdom just a fellow mom who doesn't know what to tell ya... you already know a ton, and you can pull out your crafts if you want, or you don't have to - you can have a tv day or not, you can make cookies or not, you can make your day be what you want....i think...then again...i have the same questions as you :) hope you have a great day tomorrow! stay warm! love - Jen
OK, for those who do not watch TV, ask them if they are letting their kids do computer activities or listen to animated books, etc. That is the same as TV, just more technologically advanced. No TV to me means nothing electronic. Rick used to say he never watched TV, but he would spend hours glued to the computer--same thing. As long as you are talking to your kids and having one-on-one time daily, you are ok. You are always going somewhere with them--even trips to nowhere in the car are educational, because you are talking to them about "whatever." Don't worry so much. Save yourself and your kids will be happy.
Oh, btw. Below zero windchills like we are having now....well, all mothering techniques are off the table. This is just too dangerous to do anything but stay under a warm blanket and sleep or watch TV. Remember, too, that your girls are communicating with each other now, so you may feel guilty because you don't have to spend so much one on one time with them as they are with each other. And not a day goes by without me hearing about you baking something with Maizie or doing some craft. It sounds exhausting. I think you are ok.
Hey mama,
No stess! You are doing great! Seriously. The laundry list of fun things that you are doing *with* your children is unbelievable to me! We're at a point now where they girls mostly play together/on their own, so it's rare that I'm actually doing something *with* them! So go get 'em, mama.
If you're wanting hear how we roll as far as "screen time" (our all-encompassing term for computer and t.v.) goes, I shoot for less than 1-2 hours a day...unless I'm talking on the phone to Anna ;)
But seriously, your mom is right - you love your girls and you do good work!
Big hugs from less-frigid and snow-less VA,
Tara
I know how you feel about wanting to know what other people do. I really want to have a class or event called, the schedule swap. Moms would come with a typical day, week, month- whatever, and share it, tweek it, approve it. That is just not gonna happen. Cause I can't fit it in my schedule. ;)
Seriously, though, going it "alone" without tv is tough. I had to once because of our remodel. Let's just say, I went to the Y a whole lot more. If you are thinking about curbing the appetite of a tv addict, try using 30 min tokens. Give her how ever many sessions you feel comfortable with at the beginning of the day. She hands in a token (round scrap paper) for every show. When they run out...so does the tv.
Remember, there is no one way to be a perfect mom but there are millions of ways to be a good one.
Maybe they're canning veggies... one lady I know was teaching her goat how to pull a cart. But she had older children. Writing a novel, I guess? Actually, I'm pretty interested now, too.
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