While I was expecting my now 8 year old son, I had a lot of thoughts on how I would bring him up and turn him into one of those perfect kids with the best habits, intellectual interests and articulate mannerisms. What I never realized was that this child will have his own personality, habits, tastes and interests which will be evident from day 1. Children are not meant to be a replica of your image of perfection but individuals who find and create their own spaces, albeit with some guidance from our experiences.
Television is an integral part of kids growing up and I learned this from my own experience. If used intelligently, TV can actually be a source of great knowledge for kids. My son, Shaurya, like any other child, was very fond of TV since the time he was a year old. He would stare at the moving images on the TV set. There was no point keeping him off the TV so I decided to put it into good use. I also realized that kids need entertainment and variety in what they do. So while we allowed him to watch TV, we restricted the types of shows that he would watch. Ofcourse cartoons are a part of growing up and all of us still remember our favorite cartoon characters. I didn’t want to deprive him of this experience so I allowed him to watch his cartoon channels, but his time slots were decided. I also used TV time as a reward, for his accomplishments.
Shaurya has learned a lot by watching sports channels, discovery and animal planet. Not to say that he doesn’t watch his cartoons and movies, he does, but I make sure that TV is a restricted form of entertainment for him and that he doesn’t watch TV when he is supposed to play in the park. I organize a movie day for him and his friends once a month, all the children gather in our house on that day for a movie, some popcorns and ice cream. They watch TV and enjoy some kiddie time.
Shaurya wants his personal space and ‘my time ‘……and he generally loves to unwind with a cartoon show on TV, which is not that bad a thing. I have tried making him realize that TV is good but an excess is not allowed. Rather than putting restrictions, we as parents have decided to allow TV viewing but with a degree of responsibility integrated into this form of entertainment.
Created by Parentune Support