When eldest was tiny, I decided that too much TV was obviously bad for children, and I would limit the amount of TV he watched. Consequently, he didn't really watch any till he was about 18 months old. I was chatting to a friend about this today, and how I wonder if I did the right thing; does he now crave the TV because I made it "special" or withheld it, or does he like it because, well, it's generally pretty entertaining!?
Lots of stuff I read back then suggested no TV till 2 years old, and he was perfectly happy being entertained by me in other ways. But then when he did eventually get around to watching In The Night Garden for the first time, he broke his little heart when Iggle Piggle went away and the programme ended. Coincidentally, at dinner this evening, eldest randomly mentioned this incident, "do you remember when I cried because Iggle Piggle went away on TV mummy?" Leaving the weirdness of the coincidence aside for a moment, he is almost 5 now, and the Iggle Piggle hysteria happened when he was 18 months old. How the hell does he remember that?
I don't allow TV before school at all, but he is allowed to watch it after school once he's changed out of his unifor. On Saturdays, his first words on waking are often "is it the weekend today? Can I watch TV?" My other half has told him that if he watches too much TV his brain will melt, after a period where he asked about it ALL the time. But have we created his fascination by making it a special treat, would he be as interested if we had it on 24/7 and had done since he was born?
Youngest is now getting to a stage where he's noticing the TV on in the room, and obviously this time around it won't be fair or practical to keep him away from it for another year. Only time will tell if we created the eldest's fixation, and maybe a softer approach will mean that youngest isn't as bothered. Or maybe his brain will melt.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
A worrying hobby
So it turns out that not everyone worries quite so much as I do. I seem to have turned it into a hobby of sorts. A spare 5 minutes? Let's fill it with a quick worry about whether they're getting enough protein. An early night in bed? Might as well have a good long worry about schools, and whether I really should have home educated.
I've always been a worrier; I distinctly remember lying in bed the night before my 7th birthday, worrying that I couldn't go to sleep, and how terribly tired I would be the next day, and how it would ruin my birthday. Apparently I did this every year, and also before other special occasions: Christmas, holidays, first day back to school, I'd be worrying away into the wee hours the night before. When I got older, the worrying moved to more pressing matters than sleep: boys, sex, exams, friends, dying; the usual suspects. Then I went to university, and somehow eventually the combination of huge volumes of alcohol and living away from home seemed to cure me for a while (after the first 2 weeks anyway, where I abstained from alcohol just in case I got drunk and lost on campus, or taken advantage of. Like I said, I worried A LOT) Then, a few years later, I got pregnant. And a whole new world of worry opened up to me! Since then I have worried about everything from birth to feeding to sleeping and everything in between. I have two little people now; they bring me endless joy, but holy shit they're a worry!
For anyone reading this blog, if you too worry about the effect your decision to not co-sleep will have on them when they're 18, WELCOME! Anyone who doesn't worry about this kind of shit and has stumbled here by chance, I can only apologise, and urge you to leave, now, before you get sucked into the worrying too!
I've always been a worrier; I distinctly remember lying in bed the night before my 7th birthday, worrying that I couldn't go to sleep, and how terribly tired I would be the next day, and how it would ruin my birthday. Apparently I did this every year, and also before other special occasions: Christmas, holidays, first day back to school, I'd be worrying away into the wee hours the night before. When I got older, the worrying moved to more pressing matters than sleep: boys, sex, exams, friends, dying; the usual suspects. Then I went to university, and somehow eventually the combination of huge volumes of alcohol and living away from home seemed to cure me for a while (after the first 2 weeks anyway, where I abstained from alcohol just in case I got drunk and lost on campus, or taken advantage of. Like I said, I worried A LOT) Then, a few years later, I got pregnant. And a whole new world of worry opened up to me! Since then I have worried about everything from birth to feeding to sleeping and everything in between. I have two little people now; they bring me endless joy, but holy shit they're a worry!
For anyone reading this blog, if you too worry about the effect your decision to not co-sleep will have on them when they're 18, WELCOME! Anyone who doesn't worry about this kind of shit and has stumbled here by chance, I can only apologise, and urge you to leave, now, before you get sucked into the worrying too!
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