Before my son was born i read a million books on babies and child psychology, brain development, disciplining etc etc... and although i consider myself quite a chill mom generally... there were a few big NO NOs for me where my son was concerned - One, no television as it can cause attention and brain development issues (yeah theres mixed research on this one i know), no fizzy soft drinks, and no sweets! Most people felt sorry for my child but these were habits i was totally against! Now that my son is 2.5+ I have been forced to relent a little - unintentionally...
TV came in to our lives because i was travelling for a week long meeting and he came with me and was stuck in the hotel room with my mom the whole day (they couldnt leave the hotel because there was a snow storm and the hotel was far off from the main city and there was nothing around) - and i had to keep him entertained in the room all day long so i introduced him to a Baby Einstein dvd that kept him busy for that one week... Then once we came back we didnt watch it again... then one day a few months later he was bored, i was on the laptop and i opened you tube and showed him a nursery rhyme kind of song on one of his favorite book characters... and then it started from there - 5 minutes ended up becoming much longer... he started exploring my DVD collection one day and found 2 DVDs that i had bought for that same trip just as back ups - one was barney and the other was sesame street... and then there were some tantrums to see them and finally i gave in... now 3 months later i want it to END and i dont know how... just like hes addicted to it i have started enjoying that one hour of peace where i can get stuff done around the house or i can read something etc... and ofcourse there are the tantrums... the good news is that on weekdays he goes to school and then to my moms where he is till evening... at my moms he doesnt watch anything as she doesnt even own a dvd player (thank God) so only when he comes home he watches a cd maybe once or twice but i still hate it and want it to stop... cant decide if i should not allow it at all and just hide all the dvds or regulate it more strictly lke just once a day... i HATE him watching tv - i just hate it... i wamt to see him playing with his toys etc but at home he never seems to want to play.... at my moms he plays so well ... my husband says that if i want to remove this from his life now i need to find him other distractions/activities... i take him swimming or to the playground 2-3 times a week, now i am thinking of enrolling him in some other sport kind of activity but eventually we will have to come home and that dreaded tv will be there... its a love hate relationship coz i genuinely cherish that time off i get but at the same time i wish it was something better he was doing during that time... sigh!
About the sweets, he was so disciplined till recently that even if he went to a birthday party and got a goody bag with sweets he would give them to me because i had told him its not for him... now in his school he was bribed with a lollypop by his teacher so that he would stay in class - would you believe he didnt even know what a lollypop was!!! He asked me in the car "yeh kiya hai" (what is this) and then once he took a lick he cherished it all day - he kept it in a small box and after every few hours he would go lick it and then pack it again!
Hes not even made it to 3 and i feel like i have given in on all the standards i had set for myself... thats very sad... but everyone tells me that it was only a matter of time because now that hes in school he is going to be introduced to sweets in parties etc and its difficult to control... sigh!
Lets see what i end up doing... very confused... not sure if i am making too big a deal of it or not...
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