I love entertainment. I love TV. I love technology.
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I love sitting down to watch a movie with my kids, even if it's Kung Fu Panda three for the 43rd time.
I am a HUGE Bluey fan. That show is pure magic.
But whilst the TV is a big asset in our house, it's also a curse.
My daughter has inherited my love for TV it seems. And when I turn it on she turns into a total zombie. She can't get dressed while watching Paddington, she can't hear us when we talk to her during Kangaroo Beach and don't even try and interrupt Octonauts.
That's all fine. Multi tasking isn't necessary, especially when you're four.
But then, when you turn it off, yeeeeshhh.
First we have to anticipate the tantrum. The "jjjjjuuuuussstttt oooonnnnneeee mmmmoooorrrreeee eeeeeppppiiiiissssoooodddddeeeee" tantrum.
Then she seems to adopt an argumentative personality I never see anytime else. It's no to anything. Drags her feet to everything. And just plain ignores everyone around her.
Then come bedtime she's absolutely buzzing. Can't wind herself down.
![I turn into zombie mode myself when Bluey is on. Picture is from file I turn into zombie mode myself when Bluey is on. Picture is from file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc72vymlfy8hl80z1ki2d.jpg/r0_0_8000_4498_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
On the days we do no screens, it's remarkably different. She has the ability to play independently, you can have a conversation with her and generally she's not AS argumentative. Look, not perfect, but life is easier for everyone involved.
My two-year-old doesn't seem to have turned-into-total-TV-zombie mode yet, although I can see it in his future. Obviously, a different story when it comes to tractors on YouTube.
I know there are a lot of families who don't use screens at all. I know that, because they'll tell you about it.
So you would think the solution is easy, no TV for the kids, right?
Except it's not that easy.
TV is such a way for the kids to wind down, particularly at this time of year with school holidays around the corner.
It's how I keep the peace while I'm trying to get some work in that hour before they're due at preschool and daycare.
It's a way to bond when no one has anything in the tank on a Friday afternoon.
A way to pass time on a rainy day.
![Surely TV isn't that bad...right?! Picture is from file Surely TV isn't that bad...right?! Picture is from file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-32z5JWtZskaWW7gHSWV22Jr/b63ca2ee-7bee-44db-be57-119512bb7e2a.jpg/r0_12_460_271_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A way to actually get some housework done without tiny people under your feet.
A way to get through the last hour of a five hour trip.
I read an article in New York Magazine's The Cut recently, about not judging anyone else's screen time, called "I don't need your opinion on my kid's screen time".
"I love reading about all the things people think they're going to do as parents before they actually have any kids," columnist and working mother Amil Niazi writes.
"Their precious little angels abstaining from sugar, back talk, or screens - all because of how well, how perfectly, they'll parent them. But I really love checking in on the people who've said such things to me after they have their own kids, their cupboards now overflowing with cookies and candy, their kids screaming for another episode of Cocomelon on their iPads. It's not so much 'told you so' as it is 'welcome to hell.'"
I'll admit I was one of those people, before I had kids. And if I had of known how incredibly hard it was going to be, I'm not entirely sure I would have had kids.
So the perfect mum I thought I was going to be would probably be a little (or a lot) disappointed by the mum it turns out I am.
- Grace Ryan, The Catch-Up
So the perfect mum I thought I was going to be would probably be a little (or a lot) disappointed by the mum it turns out I am.
But who am I to judge, myself or any other parent. We never know how many tantrums someone has dealt with, what kind of bribery they've needed to get a kid out of the car, or what they've got going on in their life.
So pass me the screen, let's have a moment of peace and quiet and enjoy the coffee hot for a change.