The terrible “forever” has been going on for a month now. These are difficult times for mom. But she holds on. And that’s why.
Once upon a time there was an American mother whose four-year-old daughter loved to watch TV. Especially one show where adult actors play with dolls. It was like one endless commercial for overly expensive and unnecessary plastic toys.
Mom understood that advertising creators were using the latest scientific developments in the field of psychology to hook kids on their toys and their programs. However, every evening, when her daughter began to beg her to turn on these shows, she agreed, because it allowed her to redo a lot of things herself without hindrance.
But once my mother took unpopular measures – she forbade watching TV “forever”. It happened in the evening, when the mother was preparing dinner, and her daughter stuck her nose to the screen, where one of her favorite programs was playing – plastic Elsa and Anna chilled out on the sun loungers by the pool against the background of a pile of other plastic junk. My daughter knew that in five minutes she would have to have supper, but when her mother’s hand reached for the switch, she made a real hysteria. It was then that the wrapped up mother uttered the fatal words. “You will never see any TV again!” .
Mom’s intonations were so convincing that her daughter completely believed her. After several sluggish attempts to get the show back, the girl resigned herself to the punishment.
It happened a month ago. For 30 days, the children (the heroine still has a two-year-old son) have not watched a single children’s show or even a single YouTube video. True, it cannot be said that the house without the included screens turned into an ideal blissful children’s utopia. Four weeks seemed terribly long and noisy to my mother. Several times she herself managed to hold out without a TV, only by mobilizing all her will.
Children constantly and loudly quarreled about everything in the world: who would close the front door, who would get the first waffle for breakfast, and who would get the rag doll that was pulled from the bottom of the toy box for the first time in a year and a half. They dragged each other by the hair, pushed, screamed, bit and cried. The abandonment of the digital baby sitter turned into psychological torture for the mother, which was exacerbated by the chronic disorder in the house.
Why doesn’t she give up? Because, despite the screams, fights and chaos, she sees the benefits of living without a screen for children.
First, they read more. Much more. If earlier she read to children only before bedtime, now she and her husband read to children all day, and the two-year-old son, who had not shown any interest in books before, literally demands that they read to him. They visit the local library regularly and read 20 children’s books a week, some of them multiple times.
Games have become much more creative. Yes, they are noisy, yes, there is a lot of cleaning after them. But children use their imaginations with might and main, and Mom loves to hear how their little brains creak. They play more outdoors, build pirate ships and castles for princesses on the playground, and come home dirty and sweaty. Therefore, now they spend more time in the bathroom, after which they fall asleep more easily and sleep longer at night.
Mom also has less guilt than she did a month ago when she allowed her kids to be plant-based in front of the screen because she couldn’t make time for them.
Of course, “forever” does not really mean forever. Children’s television will once again become a part of their lives. But so far, everyone is not against this experiment. And the main hope of the mother is that by the time the blue screen turns on, the daughter will forget about the terrible advertising of expensive toys.