Written by contributor Amida of Journey into Unschooling
I grew up on a lot of TV. The first show I remember ever watching was a cartoon called Xiao Tian Tian. I had lived with a lot of other kids and every dinner, we’d all grab our bowls of rice, leave our families, and gather around the tiny screen to watch. I don’t recall a single dish I ate, but can still hear the theme song in my head…
We got our first TV set when I was around five. It had turn dials, rabbit ears, and no remote control. The first show that came on was Wile E. Coyote trying to catch his Road Runner.
I spent a huge chunk of my childhood glued to that set, watching black and white shows like Ma and Pa Kettle and Shirley Temple. I moved on to Land of the Lost, Lost in Space, The Brady Bunch, Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Family Ties, Diff’rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, Small Wonder, Out of This World, Valerie, Valerie’s Family, Hogan Family, Punky Brewster, Growing Pains, Just the Ten of Us, Who’s the Boss, What’s Happening, 21 Jump Street, MTV, and Headbanger’s Ball, just to name a few.
Not to mention Looney Toons, Popeye, Smurfs, GI Joe, Transformers, Robotech, He-Man, She-Ra, Thunder Cats, Jem, and Dungeons and Dragons.
Most of the homeschooling kids I know nowadays don’t watch a lot of television. However, we parents do, late at night, when said kids are in bed. I’d tell you we’re catching up on TED talks but more often than not, it’s the latest Two and a Half Men episode or mindless action flick.
Just last night, we watched Judge Dredd take out a whole block of drug dealing baddies. Welcome to the wonderful world of streaming media.
I would worry about a lost childhood filled with useless cultural references (Hannah Who?), but my kids are at least addicted to Minecraft. They have an in, a conversation starter. So what if they aren’t personal with SpongeBob or speak Spanish a la Dora the Explorer? I am sure they will be fine.
My own TV addiction filled my mind with all sorts of useless trivia and jingles. It has allowed me to understand what it means to say, “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!” and not let anyone switch stations when At This Moment comes on the radio. I learned opera (“Kill the Rabbit!”) from Elmer Fudd and know that maybe the world is blind and just a little unkind.
I have been known to hum the Smurfs'”La la la la la la” song for no particular reason.
Or interrupt conversations with “Thunder! Thunder! Thunder Cats! Hoooooooo!!!”
Or even rattle off things like:
I’m Adam, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said, “By the Power of Grayskull! I HAVE THE POWER!!!” Cringer became the mighty Battle Cat and I became HE-MAN, The Most Powerful Man In The Universe!!!”
But I digress. The point I’m trying to make is, my kids don’t watch a lot of TV. It will rot their brains.
Now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Yo, Joe!
Do your children watch TV? Are you a closet TV viewer?
The tone is a bit hard to understand, so I also feel a bit perplexed.
My kids watch some tv. Not a lot, but some. Everything in moderation. It’s not how they spend the majority of their time.
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Too funny. Quirky. I liked it. 🙂
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Yeppers, here’s mine from childhood:
“Jem, Jem is excitement!
Oooh Jem, Jem is adventure!
Glamour and Glitter, Fashion and Fame.
Ooh Jem is outrageous, truly, truly, truly outrageous.
Ooh Jem, Jem the music’s contagious, outrageous!
Jem is my name, no one else is the same.
Jem is my name.
Jem.”
Really?! And now I watch the Bachelor. I know…but I digress. How is that all that time can be spent watching pointless crap and my mind still yearns for the good stuff, for learning and to top it off, I even want to teach my own kids and feel competent (sometimes) to do it!? Wow…humanity.
God really made our minds to be amazing. His grace gives us all we need in the moment. Being a new creation really is awesome and no matter how much TV I watched in the past, I have the mind of Christ? Man…amazing!
Of course my parents encouraged all kinds of activities and I had diversity in my life. But, I appreciate what you’re saying Amida. Sometimes I think we’re too hard on ourselves (I know I am) about the whole TV/videos issue. There are bigger battles to fight and sometimes I just need to relax and enjoy watching it with them instead of waiting until their nap to get my “fill.” Of course…I’ll watch the Bachelor on my own. Even my husband doesn’t wanna join in on that one. Ahh…oh well 🙂 Thanks for the post!
Lana W.
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Oh my, someone else who remembers Jem! Thank you for the lyrics. 😉
Wow, that is totally a blast from the past.
I’ll have to agree 🙂 I’m terrified at the thought of how much time I’ve spent watching TV as a teenager! There were some good things, but mostly trash that wasted my time – of the things I could have done with that time! We don’t have cable and I pick and choose exactly what my toddler watches on YouTube, usually a couple of videos a day that are educational and feed her curiosity. My 1 year old doesn’t care for the screen at all, yet. 🙂 I can’t wait till it is warmer, when we can be mostly outside and it isn’t tempting to play ‘just one more’ video to get some work done! (I work from home)
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I feel the same way Anastasia- sad that I wasted so much time watching tv when I was young, and that is how I feel with my children- not necessarily that tv itself is bad, but I’d rather they do something else. I have the opposite situation that most of you complain about- I have people telling me how weird my kids will be b/c they don’t watch much tv and don’t play video games. My friends gave their toddlers hand held game things and now their 1st graders have ipads. They call me Laura (as in Ingalls) b/c I don’t have a Facebook account. I hear a lot can be leaned on Pinterest- be a better cook, a more creative mom- but I also here people say before they know it, 2 hours have gone by! I’m really not anti-technology, (I read blogs, I email, I text!) I just choose carefully how I spend my time, and want my children to do the same. Yes, moderation in all, but everyone’s definition of moderation is different!
Loved this! My little brother and I were pretty much left to ourselves (my mom worked, dad farmed so he was always out and about) and we watched SO.MUCH.TV. By the age of 10 I was living off of reruns of Wings, Golden Girls, Designing Women…so many sitcoms, so little time. And we lived for TGIF and Mom ordering pizza.
So it leaves me conflicted, right? I wouldn’t have the sense of humor I have today (or the pop culture saavy) without all that television, and there are a lot of happy memories wrapped up in those Friday nights or times with my brother, but I’m not choosing that in any way for my own girls. Limited time, limited selection; not that it matters since we seem to watch Bambi on loop these days…
Anyway, just wanted to say I loved the perspective and could totally relate!
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Made me laugh!
I just have to laugh at this! My husband and I talk about this phenomenon SO often. We grew up on things we would NEVER let our kids watch and when I think back to how many brain cells I probably killed, well, you get the idea;-). Anyway, anyone who doubts that habits are built in childhood have only to look at those who grew up in the 60s-80s and are now responsible adults trying to raise families counter to a media saturated society only to discover they can’t give up their Thursday night Grey’s Anatomy! Thanks for the laugh!
We don’t have strict limits on how much tv our kids watch, but I find that they prefer to find other things to do most of the time. Once in awhile they want to veg out in front of the tv. But, what I am most concerned with is the advertising. Commercials seem to get worse all the time – especially during sporting events. We are big sports fans around here and if we are watching a game, I’d rather not have them see stuff like women feeding each other fast food sandwiches while wearing skimpy clothing. Advertising also promotes materialism, etc. As a gen-x girl, I know way too many jingles in addition to tv theme songs. I have been guilty of making the kids watch a few old commercials on you-tube, I do admit : )
I am a big time closet tv junkie!
We don’t have “regular” tv, but only watch on Netflix and sometimes Hulu Plus, so commercials are not so much an issue. Netflix instant viewing has been a life saver for kid’s tv! Tons of appropriate stuff and no commercials! I do want my kiddos to watch less tv, but during the winter, stuck inside, they want to curl up and watch a few shows a day…
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I grew up without TV and while I love other activities, I love watching TV! I have actually found that my very visually and audio learners, learn a ton more from a movie, audio book or story than even from doing a workbook! So, I do let them watch TV, some!
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This post made laugh! When I read the title I got all geared up to feel guilty. As I sit here surfing the Homeschool blogs for freebies, my lovelies are watching TV.
We limit television too. I do find since we are in an apartment for the next few months I have allowed it more often for fear all of the jumping boys will disturb the neighbors. I did balance it out with a gym membership, which we use OFTEN!
sniff….sniff…..gotta run, I smell rotting brains! (BIG SMILE)
Enjoyed my time on your blog!
I once saw a bumper sticker that said “kill your tv”. Putting the tv in the closet when my kids were babes was the best parenting decision. Now, we have a physical tv, a screen, but it has no tv service. We use it to watch videos. I can recall many a time over the past 18 years when new friends would come into our home and you could tell they were looking for the tv in the family room. Doesn’t everyone have it as the center of attention with all the furniture arranged facing “it”? Not in our house. If we really want to watch something we go next door to grandma’s house.
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Loved your article! Speaking of great shows from the 70′ and 80’s, which I can still sing the theme song to 🙂 Maybe we could all learn from it?
“Now, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
A man is born, he’s a man of means.
Then along come two, they got nothing but their jeans.
But they got, Diff’rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.
Everybody’s got a special kind of story
Everybody finds a way to shine,
It don’t matter that you got not a lot
So what,
They’ll have theirs, and you’ll have yours, and I’ll have mine.
And together we’ll be fine….
Because it takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.
Yes it does.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.”
I so wish we’d all stop with all the judging, shaming, and my way is the highway & only way & best way, prideful puffed up silliness we hit each other over the head with to make ourselves feel better. TV no TV, workbooks vs free range, organic foods vs not organic, strict bedtime or more relaxed, morning schooling vs afternoon schooling, scheduled down to the minute or no schedule…the list goes on and on. No one family is exactly alike and no one system of “rules” will work or is even best for every family. Like the song says “Because it takes, different strokes to move the world” 🙂