The TV Pass

Lately, life has been happening too fast for me to blog about! Since it has been almost a month since my last entry, I decided to ease myself back into the blogging pool with a small entry rather than diving into the deep end trying to document everything we've done in the last month. So, here goes!

I think I've mentioned before that Jackson has a bit of an affinity for watching TV. That's putting it way too mildly! I really don't exactly know how we got from my staunch position of "kids should not watch very much TV at all; it only leads to attention deficit disorder" to my lackadaisical daily offer of "Jackson, do you want to watch TV while I do xyz?" When Jackson was born everyone raved about the Baby Einstein DVDs that were supposed to make your kid do something ridiculous like do geometry at the tender age of 9 months. I was vehemently opposed to such garbage citing research about PET scans of kids' brains while watching these supposedly educational DVDs showing brain activity only in the visual reception areas. You get my point. I certainly didn't want my kid to be a TV junkie. Yet here we are. It's been a slippery slope with Selah's birth and us starting a church (and having a lot of meetings at night) certainly being two major contributing factors. Jackson could watch TV all day long if I let him. I don't let him, but I do allow way more TV than I ever thought I would. I have been guilt ridden about it lately and have been wanting to make a change, but honestly I think I'm just as addicted to him watching TV as he is!

I don't mind Jackson watching a little TV, but recently he has been using TV as a first resort when he's bored or when I'm not available to play with him. As soon as I go to put Selah down for a nap or cook supper, the TV comes on (yes, he knows how to turn on the TV and change the channel to three different cartoon stations by himself). I want him to be able to play independently. Enter....THE TV PASS.

Now I know I'm not the first mom to think of this idea, but I decided I wanted to limit Jackson's TV watching and computer playtime, yet give him ownership in his decisions and budgeting of his time. I took some paint color sample cards and wrote "TV" and "computer" on them with a silver sharpie. Then I glued the cards to some clothespins (or as Jackson says "nosepins"). I clipped the cards to a door hanger that we had leftover from a dismantled craft, and voila!...we have TV passes. He can watch 3 shows per day and have one 30-minute playtime on the computer. He gets to choose what to watch (within reason) and when to watch. I try not to judge his decisions, but occasionally I will offer a little guidance like, "OK, Jackson, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has gone off. Do you want to use another TV pass to watch the next show or do you want to save it to watch Scooby Doo tonight?" When he's used a pass, I just turn it over. So far, it has worked beautifully! It has taken my emotions out of the equation. I don't feel like a good or bad mom when I let him or don't let him watch TV, because the decisions are his. He has not complained one time about not having enough passes or not getting to watch TV. I am very proud of him, and, to be honest, I'm proud of myself, too. We're getting back on track, and it feels good!