Comment: Friend, Mother, Secret Lover

I’m not winning Mother of the Year anytime soon.

Why?

Because today my six year old son said, “Mom, I’m not doing enough coloring and stuff.”

Ouch. Truer words were ne’er spoke. (Spaken? Spackled?)

We’ve been spending too much time inside looking at various screens. And this is why we don’t have TV normally. Because we can't control ourselves. There is, however, cable TV where we are and it’s devilishly compelling. My kids know all the jingles for the shows on PBS Kids.



It’s easy to fall into bad habits, especially when you’re living in a temporary place with very little space. The TV and computer beckon. Hell, they beckon me. I’m online every other minute, so why wouldn’t my kids gravitate to screens too?

It's an addiction we have, to all things screen. We often spend more time with people virtually than we do in real life. That’s happening a lot to me lately, and I’m sure I’m only one of billions. You can spend the whole day working and only be in contact with people via email, IM, Facebook, or Twitter. (I’m not going there. If Facebook makes me compulsive, imagine what would happen to me on TWITTER. Shudder.)

So this afternoon my kids and I sat down and drew, wrote letters, colored. It was…fun. Imagine that. Fun without a screen.

But I will say this: virtual communication is better than no communication at all. I wouldn’t be able to talk to my little sister in England if it weren’t for Facebook.

But I’m back on my guard. And the other good thing is, we’re headed to Canada to see family who are more anti-TV than we are. They only get two stations. And it’s Canadian TV, so it’s earnest and poorly produced.

To quote former Canadian TV stars “The Kids in the Hall”: Yes, we’re safe, but for how long?