We got to get away for a few days a couple of weeks ago to Seaside OR. It is a great little place to go with the kiddos-not too far of a drive and lots of things for the family to do. It also doesn't have Netflix or DVR...while on this little trip Justin and I realized what these 2 seemingly innocent little "improvements" to our world of TV watching has created in our lovely kids.
While both have been great for practical reasons-like saving money by cancelling cable and allowing us to watch favorite shows even if our small group night is Thursday :)...one of the subtle side effects in this next generation is lack of patience/understanding that you don't always get what you want.
I hope that Justin and I are parents that discuss these 2 things with our kids-not rewarding them for whining or allowing them to always get there way, but I learned that with TV watching they have gotten pretty accustom to, during there two 30 minute time slots, being able to simply tell me what they want to watch (now learning how to compromise) and if it is an approved show watching it without commercials. Harmless...or so I thought...
This was not an option on vacation, during their time slots we had to watch what was on and a couple of times during the shows we had to watch commercials...it did get give me hope that our older kiddo was quickly able to understand that it was this or nothing-and that during commercials it was a good time to talk, go to the bathroom, grab something you wanted...it gave me hope that Claire too will learn the lesson of patience and not always getting to choose as she was a very UNHAPPY camper when "George" was not an option and during most commercial breaks she frantically was searching for the remote and saying "All done, All done!"
Funny how little changes in our lives....advances made to make life easier/better...have side effects that could often go un-noticed until they are taken away...
