And Another Thing...

And on that happy note: if I have to listen to one more pedagogical lecture on the dangers of children watching television, I am going to lose it. When are we going to learn that it isn't THAT kids watch television, it's all about context?

I watched TV as a kid. I watched a LOT of TV as a kid, especially the older I got. You know what?I am a functioning member of society. I am not out climbing Everest, but I'm not a total slacker either. I can hold a job, I am both well-educated and well-read, and I am fairly socially adept as well, in no small part because I am able to carry on a conversation about not only the mundanities of the political landscape in America but the fact that Seals and Kroft's Saturday mornings shows were clearly the result of somebody's acid trip.

It isn't about keeping kids from watching TV. It's about:
- not letting the TV be the all-day-long babysitter for your children (tempting as it is);
- knowing what your children are watching, and ensuring that the content is both age-appropriate and educational (e.g., Sesame Street has enriched both my children's language skills more than I ever could have, in spite of all the books we read together; The Teletubbies, by contrast, are forbidden in this house as they have no redeeming educational value whatsoever, nonsensically baby-talking their way through mind-numbing non-adventures);
- knowing when to turn the TV off, and not apologizing to your kids for doing it.

I watched a lot of TV, but my mother also made sure that I watched Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, and not soap operas and game shows. On nice days, she forced me to go play outside. She limited the amount of time I could spend in front of the TV, even on rainy days. Consequently, although I watched TV, I also had a healthy imagination, learned to love reading, and could happily entertain myself for hours on end without the aid of the boob tube.

In the meantime, I learned to read a newspaper and watch a nightly newscast. I have a graduate degree, but I've learned more from watching Jeopardy than I probably retained from fully half of my college courses. There's no question I enjoy unwinding by aimlessly watching some bubble-gum kid-friendly flick like Enchanted or The Princess Diaries, but I'm also fully engaged by Clive Cussler novels, Vaclav Havel's memoir To the Castle and Back, and the Sunday Post. So, do my kids watch TV? YOU BETCHA.