My Rant About TV

I'm not sure what I want to say right now...I'm in the mood to write something. I've been online for a while and looking at a DVD set called Your Baby Can Read. Usborne Books (I'm a consultant through them) used to sell the set until the makers of YBCR discontinued it. I was disappointed because they pulled it only weeks after I joined so I didn't get a chance to buy it at my wonderfully discounted price. So I hopped online to see if I could find it and how much it cost. Its like, 4 times more expensive online than it was a full price through Usborne. I'm not going to get it :( I did read several reviews though. Some people were in awe that their two year olds could read 6 words after only spending 2 weeks with the program and others were freaked out about a TV teaching their child to read. My thoughts? I don't care if my daughter starts learning how to read by memorizing words rather than the phonics way, but I do care that she has to watch a minimum of one hour of these movies Per Day in order to see results. I don't think I even care too much that the TV would help teach, I just care that she would be staring at a screen for potentially hours every day. Matt and I have decided that we aren't going to be a TV family. Our only tv is a 13 inch television and it is nearly dead anyway. When it goes, its gone. We have it in our bedroom, not in the livingroom, so it requires effort to watch it. And since my room is not Emmaline-proof, I'm not going to put her in front of the tv as a 'babysitter'. Now, anyone who reads this, please don't get offended. I think every family has to decide what is right for themselves and if, as a parent, you need to have the tv on (either for a sanity break from the children or as a babysitter so you can get some cleaning done) go right ahead. We have more or less decided to not have the TV because we know how we react to it. I have this tv addiction...once its on, it doesn't get turned off. And Matt gets sucked into tv like a 10yr old to video games and I can never get his attention. So for the safety of our own selves, we have decided its better to not have the tv as a focal point in our home. Besides, with such a busy schedule, all I would be doing is bemoaning every show I miss because I have to do homework, run an errand or spend time playing outside. That was quite a tirade as well. I knew I was in the mood to talk. No pictures today, its a bit more work than I'm up for to download more pics. Too bad I can't download pics from my phone, I have a really cute pic of Emmaline surrounded with books. Maybe I'll 'stage' the picture and get it on our real camera. Until next time: It doesn't really matter how fast our children learn, as long as we are teaching them good values.