I Am A Television Whore

Maybe that title is misplaced. I don't watch much television per se. The only two shows I watch regularly are Desperate Housewives and Coronation Street. But the television is on in my house a lot. For a long time it was locked on TreeHouse and the last six months or so it has been pretty much locked on Discovery Kids.

After I dropped Riley off at school one day other parents were standing around talking about t.v. Most of them don't let their kids watch much. One said her t.v. was off Monday through Thursday and even after that it was heavily regulated. Another said he had definite time restrictions for his kids. I immediately felt like a television whore. And the biggest consensus was that they didn't like the behaviour of their kids when they watched what they felt was too much. They argued, threw fits, basically unpleasant stuff.

Ironically I rely on our television for some inner peace. I don't even hear it most of the time. But when I am one-on-one with my five-year old for months at a time I need some escape to keep my sanity. It allows me time to take care of the essential, have some time to think about something other than the non-stop (bless his curious soul) questions and attention. And frankly when I say we are going to turn off the t.v. and do something else (go outside, play a game or whatever) he easily agrees and is happy to do something else. It's not like he sits like a zombie, entirely mesmerized. He is always doing something else while sort-of-watching. And we do get out of the house other than school hours. He is enrolled in swimming and music. Weather permitting (above -20 C and not wet) we go to the park, down to the waterfront, walk the dogs - plenty of things that don't involve the boob tube. He goes over to friends houses and has them over to ours.

So why do I feel a little guilty that I am letting the t.v. run too much? I am a television whore. It has been two days since my last t.v. show.