How much privacy do you give them?

chiam margalit wrote:
Clisby Williams wrote in message ...

Barbara Bomberger wrote:


Well, she may be the meanest mom in the lower forty eight, but Im the
meanest mom of all. Tv is for weekends only, during the school year.
No iffies, andsies or butskies..............Same with playstation.

Barb (who doesnt even get english tv anymore)





No, no, no. We have no TV. No playstation. If they want wild and
wacky entertainment, they can listen to NPR.



I always have to laugh at these kinds of statements. How old are your
kids, Clisby? IIRC, they're still quite young.


Yes, you're right. 7 and almost 2.


You know what? I grew up in a household like this, and guess what? My
parents, well meaning fools that they are, have a big bunch of
TV-aholics, media mavens, and stereophiles you can imagine. My brother
has not one but THREE huge gigantic TVs in his home, including a
plasma one to die for. He also has regular sized tvs. My sister
*works* in the entertainment industry as a script editor. :-)


So what? I don't have anything against other people watching TV. My
husband and I find TV incredibly annoying, and don't want it around.


My parents tried to restrict TV, but it never worked, and IMO is an
incredibly CRUEL thing to do to children. Although I grew up in a home
without a television, we watched TV the second we got to friend's
houses, and with such rapt attention it was ridiculous just because it
was necessary to memorize facets of the shows so we could participate
in converstations with our friends. TV is an equalizer. It allows kids
with not the greatest social skills to talk opinions with pretty much
anyone. When you take that away from your kids, what you've got left
is nerdy kids who can't keep up socially, and who become
laughingstocks because they don't know WHO the other kids are talking
about. Unless your children are astoundingly astute socially, you're
putting them at a complete disadvantage and for what? For YOUR vanity?


Where does vanity come into it? Our decision not to have a TV wasn't
based on the potential effects on our children. FWIW, I grew up in a
home without TV from the time I was about 5 to when I was around 10.
(Our TV broke, and my parents just didn't bother to get another one
until then.) Sure, other kids talked about stuff I hadn't seen.
Again, so what?


You can restrict TV in such a manner that it never becomes much of an
issue, but to say that NOTHING is good if it's on television is a
moronic way of looking at the world. Try and convince me that Ken
Burns movies are bad, for example. Just try.


Are you sure you aren't responding to someone else's posts? I've never
said there was nothing good on TV. Of course there is. Just not
enough to tempt me to buy another one anytime soon.


Marjorie

chiam margalit wrote:



Really? I must be losing my touch. :-) How's this? I made them go
with me to a sing-along version of Fiddler on the Roof this weekend.
They were mortified that I actually *sung along*. Can you imagine the
horror and shame? :-)

Marjorie


Sounds great fun to me, but my 10 year old would be bored
witless. We're 6 months to a year away from mortification.
:-)

Lesley

Really? I must be losing my touch. :-) How's this? I made them go
with me to a sing-along version of Fiddler on the Roof this weekend.
They were mortified that I actually *sung along*. Can you imagine the
horror and shame? :-)

Marjorie

Oh I've changed my mind - lol. Hey, we're supposed to embarrass our kids
though. I know my husband can't wait - lol.

" Really? I must be losing my touch. :-) How's this? I made them go
with me to a sing-along version of Fiddler on the Roof this weekend.
They were mortified that I actually *sung along*. Can you imagine the
horror and shame? :-)

Marjorie

We took kids 12 and 14 girls and 16 boy to sing along Wizard of Oz. Much to
their shock they loved it and had a great time.