I am a horrible Daddy. I fear that I have already ruined my daughter's life. Yes, that's right - I introduced her to television.
Saturday night, Elizabeth went to bed early, right after Dorothy had woken up from her early evening long nap. My job was to keep Dorothy awake until 11pm for her 'late night' feeding, so that she would sleep longer at night. We were playing on the activity gym in the living room, and she was mostly entertaining herself. I was getting bored and decided to turn on the TV to see if there was anything to watch. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (the improv comedy show) was on; it's one of the few shows I actually like.
Dorothy tried to turn and see what the noise was. I sat her up facing towards the television, and she was transfixed. I'll have some photos up in the Gallery later this week. But even when a commercial came on and I muted the TV and turned her away from it, she kept trying to turn around and look at the screen. If I kept her facing away for a little while, she'd eventually forget about it. But then when I'd unmute the volume, she'd immediately be transfixed. She was also probably trying to figure out why Daddy kept laughing so much.
After 45 minutes or more, she eventually became bored with the TV. But that may also be because she was getting extremely sleepy. She nodded off, sitting up in my arms, and I couldn't really keep her awake anymore. By that time it was almost 11pm, though, so I took her in for bedtime.
Hopefully being exposed to television a couple of times per month won't leave her obsessed with the magic talking picture box. Because I do not want to bring the TeleTubbies into our home. :-O
Posted by Tom Nugent at August 30, 2004 11:04 AMParental awareness and control is what keeps "evil" things like TeleTubbies out of your home. I am certain that unsupervised TV watching will NOT be a "babysitter" in your house. You're still in the good daddy category - for selecting humor and sharing your laughter with your daughter.
Posted by: Nanna Chris at August 30, 2004 12:01 PMI guess this means MIT and Harvard are out.....she'll probably end up studying comparative lit or political "science" at Vassar or Holyoke or some other sixth tier school with plastic ivy hanging from a faux brick wall.
Don't let that happen again....she might get stuck at a state school!...
AND if you're going to let her sit in front of the TV, at least let her watch something worthwhile....like a Patriots game...the defending champs, and I bet you're not going to let her watch one game!
Posted by: Tom at August 30, 2004 06:05 PMI guess MIT and Harvard won't touch her with a ten foot cattle prod now.....she might have to settle for comparative lit at Vassar....poly sci at Holyoke...or bumming on a beach at some Pac-10 school.....
If you are introducing her to TV....at least let her watch a Patriots game....if she's really good, maybe even a Bruins game or two.