Ludicrous

A few months back, my husband and I witnessed the most ridiculous television commercial. It opens with a couple of young kids watching TV in a dark family room. Next you see the kids levitate ala superman as they are slowly sucked toward the TV. Just when I think, good, somebody out there gets it - here's a mocking commentary on the evils of television and its suffocating grasp on our children, the mom and dad pop their heads into the shot with a cheery, "Hey kids, we've got donuts" (or something like that). Now we see the vortex of television go limp as the kids run toward the Dunkin Donuts contraband delivered by their folks. That's right kids, not only do you win, but you can have it all. Watch all the television you want AND feast on fatty fried donuts.

Television

I'm a TV kid, born before limiting television could earn you bragging rights. Still, I've always been willing to adapt to the new regime. Ten years ago as a fledgling parent, I nursed my first baby with abandon (in front of the television). As those days waned, I retained a routine which included NBC's Today Show. One day, my husband gently reminded me that the Today Show wasn't a news show per se. In fact, I realized that the Today Show provided nothing more than a video version of People Magazine. Say no more, I went cold turkey, eliminating any form of morning television believing it wasn't a suitable background noise for my kids, present or future. The only TV time that remained on the schedule for me arrived after 8 pm. When the kids go to bed, my husband and I join one-another on the couch for together time. Unfortunately, the networks aren't in cahoots because (in our opinion) TV sucks. Every night, we banish our children to their bedrooms in the event that the networks might deliver sixty watchable minutes (or even 30 for Heaven's sake). The kids don't always cooperate. They creep down again and again to glimpse our program, overtly coveting it. We know that we should expand our world to include our nine year-old (and maybe even our soon to be eight year-old) with suitable family prime-time programming. We are rigidly reticent to lose our precious adult time. Yet we both hear the clock ticking. Like it or not, our TV world will soon evolve to include our children.