Shop Update.
I’m in the process of sewing pieces for the shop; however, I ran into a snag — I’m all out of Susie Mey clothing labels. Ahhh! I’m hoping my shipment arrives soon! Stay tuned for some quaint little baby things.
Sheep + Wool Festival.
It’s tomorrow, yaay! I’ve literally waited 2 years to attend this! Soooo looking forward to meeting and seeing shepherds in action, hand-spun yarn, spinning classes, folk + bluegrass music, the sheep to shawl contest, etc. Maybe I’ll even get to shear a sheep, who knows!?! : ) My festival experience and photos to come!
The Little One.
She’s been feeling under the weather these last 2 weeks. Last week was a fever and really painful ear infection — poor girl almost had to go to the emergency room because of the pain. This week it’s been a bad cold, congestion and coughing. One thing that does makes her feel better is watching Dave and the Giant Pickle. As parents, Greg and I are at a crossroads regarding having a TV in the home. We are not much TV watchers, so we don’t feel like we’re missing anything. But when it comes to our kids, we’re not sure how much TV we want our kids seeing. I don’t know how practical it would be to not have a TV — it’s possible, but practical? While most things on TV are not child appropriate, there are educational shows/videos out there which are age appropriate.
We’ve been particular about Dhara watching purposeful TV if she does watch TV– thus far, the only thing she’s seen is Dave and the Giant Pickle — which to us has biblical significance [David + Goliath]. She’s watched it over and over. While it does give me a break to get things done around the house, I want to be disciplined about how much TV I let her watch. These are just some thoughts I’ve recently been mulling over since she’s at an age that she can watch television. Any thoughts would be appreciated from parents “who’ve been there, done that”. Sorry for the low quality photos, these are from my cell phone.
dhara + her vintage patchwork quilt cozy up to watch a video
susie mey 
You have to make TV serve you and not the other way around. So 30 minutes here and there to get things done for Mama or Papa – its working for you, you know? you could pry get away with not having an actual television, since she can watch DVDs and instant watch netflix stuff, if you were so inclined. we watch movies ourselves (for grownups. lol that sounds like i mean adult films, but i just mean NON children shows), so we want one for that.
veggie tales and fraggle rock were john’s only first shows. then, i think after he was sick once, actually, he watched some pixar. then, last summer, we discovered PBS, so he will occassionally watch some of those shows as well, but i prefer them on instant watch (super why, cat in the hat knows a lot about that, kipper dog, thomas).
also, i firmly feel that tv time while you are sick doesn’t count. You’re sick for heavens sake, its not like you can be doing anything else when you’re feeling miserable. 🙂
but my thought is to hold out on every thing as long as you possibly can because once they start, it won’t stop :-p and you can’t avoid it – it will be on at the doctor’s office, at a friend’s house, etc etc, so its best to establish really firm boundaries at home. A veggie tales show sounds like the perfect amount for her age! i know some people do NO TV at all, but, like i said, I think there is nothing wrong with using it to work FOR you, which does admittedly require some self discipline (about not falling back on it too often).
lina, i agree that as parents we have to have the firm boundaries, I don’t ever want to get to the point where once they start the can’t stop…makes me not even want a tv. i don’t know why, but even showing her a veggie tales video feels like I’m opening her up to the whole world of TV…even if it is just veggie tales. for some reason I feel guilty…not sure if it’s a conviction or fear. guess i should pray about it! 🙂
The recommended amount of TV for a toddler is 15 minutes a few times a day. That being said when it adds up to more than an hour .. both Suresh and I start questioning our motives.
I prefer reading him biblical stuff.. his favorite right now is a version of Daniel and the lions and Abraham. (He now knows the books and picks it up and follows us saying Abaham ..if he wants it read). I have learnt that reading to him at a young age has now helped. He occasionally goes on his own to his big stack of books and flips thru them. This gives my mom a break and is a good sit down time for me too as opposed to chasing Isaac around the house and to the park.
TV time- Isaac loves animals.. and loves his Baby genius Baby Animals & Trip to San Diego zoo. He also loves watching other kids play .. we have a few baby genius nursery rhymes with kids playing. So far we have been able to keep him away from the animated … which can be very addictive (even at our age). This morning I switched to Seasme street and I was very pleased when about 10 minutes into Clifford .. Isaac got up and said ‘Don’t want’.
Another favorite for Isaac is Animal planet … especially a series on Zebras.. currently his favorite animal. We found these online.
Another variety is ‘The Wiggles’ just for some jumpy fun.. its has become a household favorite.
Suresh and I are keen that Isaac learn a bit of Malayalam and Tamil. So we found some nursery rhymes online in these languages.. these are animated though .. so now we have learnt them and we try singing it to him… Isaac has his version of ‘Dosa Amma Dosa’
Two thumbs up if you can try the ‘no TV’… lots of educational DVDs can be found and you can be disciplined about the amount of time you let Dhara watch as opposed to TV where one program runs into the next. Even with youtube videos .. you can form a queue that last no longer the 15 minutes.
rohini…regarding our motives, a couple times I’ve shown her the veggie tales in the morning AND in the evening…and I really questioned my motives…which obvious to me was to give me time to get things done without her wanting my undivided attention. I don’t want to be that kind of mom that puts the TV on to distract her…no offense to anyone reading this! it just doesn’t sit right with me.
like I mentioned to lina (above), for some reason I feel guilty, and I don’t know why… maybe it means that I watch an educational show with them? i dunno.
although, i do love the idea of teaching malayalam and tamil via the online rhymes…very cool. thanks for your input!!
how was the festival? i wish i could have come with you. maybe we could have bought ourselves a sheep. 🙂
and on the tv issue, i say hold off for as long as you can. although jude and ethan were “allowed” to watch tv, i never really sat them in front of it. and, it’s only now (at 4 y/o) that they actually express the desire to do so and can usually be dissuaded.
if/when you start, limit the time they spend in front of it and encourage other creative play instead. this of course requires your involvement. but i’ve found that once i get them started on something else, they can usually go on their own. the earlier you start this, the easier it will be for you later. because the older they get, the more insistent and whiny they can get about tv.
at dhara’s age, i think the concern is really about proper stimulation of her mind vs. in/appropriate material. even educational/christian value viewing can be too much for their brains. although not always possible, i would try to have her around you while you get your work done. either playing with her own things or sitting in some sort of seat while you work and talk with her.
and finally, sometimes… it’s better for baby if momma has a break vs. being a not so nice mommy. so, really our children will not disintegrate into horrid, mindless creatures because they watched a show or two. repeated exposure is the danger. it’s ok to take a break (occassionally). 🙂
be prayerful, be intentional and be balanced.
faith, festival was fantabulous. dhara’s tv time thus far has been limited to around 15 minutes every 1-2 days. she doesn’t watch everyday; just because my initial rule was to have her not watch any tv at all…so much for that! 🙂
I’m still debating about this still…and hope I can be disciplined about no tv. she is with me all of the time…so hopefully I can find things to stimulate her more when I have things to do. thanks for the advice!!! see you soon! 🙂
We actually didn’t have cable for a long time, but I have a ton of videos.. I do have cable, just in my bedroom only, but there are certain things I will let him watch (he is 4) and others I really monitor. I think its ok, as long as tv isn’t the main thing they are doing. He loves video games and we do allow him to play them, but only on the weekend. As she gets more into toddlerhood, its not always easy to get a break, so a little bit is probably ok.
Try not to beat yourself up about it though. I was very stuck on how I wanted to do things, and a lot of it I gave up on. it doesn’t mean your child wont have a great relationship with God, or that you are a bad parent! Also, be sure your Husband and you are in agreement on what shows she is allowed to see and the time limit.
christi, thanks for the advice. i do need to stop beating myself up about it. Greg and I originally decided “no tv” — so we might go with that…let’s see how it goes! 🙂
also, i love the sheep and wool festival! I was bummed I couldn’t make it this year!