Is the TV on in your house all day?

How much stimulation is too much stimulation? If you are a stay-at-home parent; What does your child do? Do you constantly have the tv on? What are the effects of having so much background noise? I am no expert on that question, but I am pretty happy with how my husband and I have decided to raise our child and what we have agreed on as far as noise during the day. We read a lot of books before our daughter was born and even just after she was born. We both weren't completely on the same page about the tv. My husband thought it was o.k. to have the tv on as "background" noise when he was home with her and she was really little. I disagreed. One day I found an article that talked about keeping the tv off until your child is at least 2. Why you ask? Well, the article stated things like...if you are the parent and you are watching it you may get focused on the tv and not pay as much attention to your child. Another point, even if your child isn't paying attention to the tv they hear it in the background and it can diminish their ability to learn how to fantasize and pretend play. Both of these points hit my husband pretty hard. From then until the present, the tv has been off when our daughter is up and around. Sure, for very special occasions such as President Obama's inauguration or the olympics, we had the tv on but 99% of the time it is off. Have the benefits been worth it? Oh my gosh yes!!! The creativity and pretend play she is involved in is amazing. She sits and plays with her puzzles, or takes out her books, or musical instruments. She plays with her dolls and stuffed animals, talks to them, takes care of them. In her crib in the morning and after nap she plays with all her animals and dolls. The other morning I walked in to get her at about 7:20 and she asked me to turn the light off and leave. So I did and she played and talked with her dolls for another 30 minutes. Developing this sense of play is so important and I have to think that having music on, or nothing on instead of the tv has given my daughter the opportunity to develop this part of her and I love watching it day in and day out. It amazes me what she does each day as she becomes more independent in her playing. Again, I am no expert but I do have strong beliefs on the amount of tv kids should be watching a day from when they are very little to school age. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Routines

Recently we have had people ask us, How is your baby so easy? Some say..."The next one won't be like this." Others say, "No one has an easy baby like this, this is not normal." First of all, what is normal? Second of all, I disagree with these statements. Why is our daughter so easy? and yes, our second child will be the same. Why? I truly believe it comes down to routines, routines, routines, consistency, consistency, consistency. Every family is different and they do what works for them but why wouldn't you have consistency in your child's life. Children need routines. When having routines they know what to expect. They don't like to have surprise all the time. It is too much for them to handle. Being an elementary school teacher for the last 14 years, I know that routines are essential. If elementary age students need routines, why wouldn't the babies and toddlers need it. I have had my days where I have changed the class routine and what happens? BLOW UPS! Kids freak out. Behavior changes, kids act out, they don't listen, and by the time the day is over you are exhausted. When you reflect on why...it is b/c the "routine" was changed. This is the same for babies and toddlers. Our daughter is ready for nap at 1pm and she is ready for bed at 7:30. We have no issues putting her to bed even when her cousins are visiting from out of town and they aren't going to bed. She knows...this is her routine and when bedtime hits, she is ready to go. Why is our daughter happy? One reason...routines and consistency.

bed time

Well, last Monday, the 29th I drove to Denver with the 2 year old to celebrate Passover with our extended family. I was trying to figure out the best way to go about the bedtime thing since her bedtime is at 7:30 and we are very strict about following this. There have been times where she may have been up closer to 8 but it is very rare. Like I said in my last post, we bring a pak and play if we know we will be staying at a friend's house well past her bed time. This night though...with the many people and the many young kids there I wouldn't have a prayer putting her to bed in a bedroom upstairs at the house we were at with her knowing there were many, many young kids running around. I figured since we were supposed to be there at 5:30 we had a chance on getting out by 8. I should have known, timing doesn't ever go the way you want. Everyone arrived at 5:30, we didn't sit down until after 6 to begin the seder and by the time the first course was served, matzoh ball soup, it was 7. I was cringing inside thinking this is going to be a late night. She has never had a late night like this before, what will it be like. I guess we will find out. A friend of mine and his wife actually left with his 2 year old just after 7:30 b/c that is his bed time. It reminds me of us usually, but my 2 year old sees this extended family once a year if we are lucky so I had to get over it. Well, by the time dinner was done it was just after 8 and then there is desert. Now my 2 year old helped me make the passover cake so she was looking forward to having it so I couldn't leave and deny her the cake. She had her cake and strawberries and by the time we left it was after 8:30. We weren't too far from the house we were sleeping at. She had been a rock start this entire time. She wasn't cranky or moody even though she was almost 2 hours past her bedtime. I expected her to crash out in the car but to my surprise she was on the lookout for "big trucks". By the time she was in her bed it was almost 9:30. Yes, she crashed out. I knew she wouldn't sleep in later than her normal time but I didn't expect her to wake up before 6. She did and played for over an hour until I got out of bed until 7. The day was fine...as we got closer to nap time she was exhausted and getting a bit cranky but she was a trooper as always.

Interestingly enough...I received an email newsletter from "The Sleep Lady" the author of the book, "Good Night, Sleep Tight" I would definitely recommend this book and signing up for the newsletter. It is free and great information. Anyways, her article talked about what happens when a child goes to bed too late...they tend to wake up earlier than normal. It all made sense to me now. That is why she woke up before 6 the morning after Passover.

Needless to say, the next night she was in her crib and lights out at 7:15, back to normal.