What is it with kids and wanting to watch the same movie/tv show or hear that same damn song for the millionth time?
Even after numerous times of telling my kids as they cry and pout in the backseat that “Hey Duckbills” is a freaking CHRISTMAS SONG ABOUT DINOSAURS. Christmas was 2 months ago. It’s not a time for singing about Duckbill Dinosaurs and their odd shaped craniums. Yes, it’s cute to listen to them sing to it. Come on, how the hell can they put up with such repetitive behaviors?
Then there is the Napalm of all repetitive child behaviors, the TV. The greatest babysitter you’ll ever know when you just want 10 minutes of silence in the house. Which is much preferred to listening to crying as my kids hurt each other or do some of the other weird shit to get each other in trouble. Really, who practically LAYS DOWN in another kids direct path and then have the audacity to say they ran into you on purpose? My favorite excuse that my 4 year old Son normally employs is that his sister “Hit her Head on the wall.” In the middle of the room. 10-15 feet from any wall. Regardless, the TV is your fiend and your enemy. Crom save you if your kids end up having their head explode in excitement every time their favorite pile of kiddy crap show comes on. I swear that if I have to watch/hear another Bob the Builder or Max and Ruby I’m going to just go into a fetal position and cry it out while they sit on the couch.
I have numerous shows ingrained into my memory, I know all the characters, their nuances, their hopes and desires. We’ve seen so many Dora the Explorer and Curious George that I can nearly recite every plot summary. So when all of a sudden, after watching a million episodes of some show, they decide that they’ve had enough. I don’t give a shit if you don’t want to watch Dora anymore, I’VE INVESTED TOO MUCH OF MY MENTAL CAPACITY IN YOUR SHOW. I can’t give up on her. I sing the backpack and map song at random. When I finish a task at work. I’ll dance and sing “I did it, I did it”. Ok, maybe not that far.
I’ve tried killing the receptiveness of my children numerous times. I’ve deleted their favorite shows/movies off the DVR and claimed “Oh No! The DVR is brooooke, let’s watch Star Trek: TNG instead.” never seems to pan out as planned. In the end, I find myself going to the DisneyXD channel or NickJR and finding more episodes of we’re going to ask you a question and pause for you to sit on the couch and not respond but then pretend that you responded anyways show. All of my attempts at getting them to watch well…MY shows has failed, well, my sensible shows that kids can watch.
If someone has any advice, I’d love to hear it, until then I’ll be the dad sitting in the corner mumbling to himself in the tv show taught Spanish about some asshole fox stealing my favorite things.
There are a lot of factors here, but really it’s about control. We’ve decided that we only watch educational programs in our house, with a rare exception of something fun (like once a week)—Star Wars, X-Men cartoons, or (god forbid) Bob the Builder. My son got used to not being plugged into Sponge Bob 24/7 fairly quick. Now we do art projects and have a lot of free play time. It takes a bit more work, but is totally worth it. Then again, I only have one kid. I know the workload multiplies by 12 when you have two of them.
Imagine having three Nick. Haha I kid, we do mandatory TV off for a good chunk of the week. It’s even helped my marriage by forcing us to talk as a family instead of staring at the idiot box. Internet addiction though…
We really try to stick with the educational type shows only, or really anything that PBS airs, Aurther, Curious George, Wordgirl, Wild Kratts. We don’t mind that too much, like the dinosaur show that Lincoln always watches “Dino Dan”. For a 4 year old, he knows a shit-ton about dinosaurs and I’m proud of him when he spouts of a bunch of Dino facts. It’s just the dumb show they somehow catch on commercial for them that we end up having to sacrafice a month of getting them to watch good shows/doing something else. (RT)