Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
Hudson’s favorite shows these days are Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Peppa Pig. It’s fun to see Hudson appreciate the same shows that Haley loved as a toddler. Let’s face it—most of the time, she gets pretty into the episodes, too. Funny how easy it is to catch “big kids” enjoying the “baby things” they claim they are too mature for.

The truth is, I miss the days when TV could capture my kids’ attention and provide me with a crucial ten minute respite to make a call, clear some dishes, or just use the facilities. These days, it’s all about the iPad. While Haley and Hudson each have a few favorite apps—many of which are educational and impressively innovative–their favorite entertainment is YouTube. Fortunately, there’s a lot of great learning content on there as well. Haley has become engrossed in topics ranging from outer space to ancient Egypt. It’s pretty neat to be an inquisitive kid in an age where interactive answers are at your fingertips.

Hudson gets pretty frustrated when iPad time is over, but it’s something I try not to budge on. I appreciate that he’s learning a lot about colors, shapes, numbers, etc., but I also want him to learn primarily through experience. A few minutes into playing kitchen or Legos or dinosaurs and his frustration subsides. A video on a screen may make him laugh, but it’ll never be as hilarious as Mommy’s real life roars.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Disclaimer 1: There are many opinions regarding children and audio/visual content’s risks and benefits. The purpose of this blog is not to discuss what my kids watch or how often they watch it. This is my observation of HOW my son consumes content in our house and how it is dramatically different than even a few years ago.

Disclaimer 2: My husband helped me this week. This blog is from a conversation we had about our kids.

We are a tech savvy household. We have a broad taste for movies, TV and music. My husband has a wide collection of electronics including DIRECTV, Netflix, XM/Sirius Radio, Blu-Ray, DVD, DVR, WIFI, LCD(s), Laptops, Xbox360, iPhone and Apple TV.  It sounds excessive, and my husband could explain how it all works, but that is for another blog.  What’s interesting is how our children interact with all this technology. Jack doesn’t understand the difference between regular television, internet and web content. He knows he likes PBS Kids programming. He knows what “shows” he likes but he doesn’t care if he gets that show over the air, DVR or streaming from Netflix. More importantly, he doesn’t care if he watches it on the TV, the computer or my phone.  In his mind there is no reason to wait until a show is on.  With the tap of a finger or click of a mouse he can watch, interact or play immediately.

It is convenient to have children’s programming at your fingertips, but it can make for a very aggravating four year old. Jack has instant media gratification. For example, he plays with Thomas toys in his room and then wants to watch a Thomas program.  He will grab my phone and find the Netflix App and watch one of Thomas movies instantly. A few years ago he might have reached for one of his DVDs. Now he can get almost any children’s show ever made. This did not happen in my household growing up. We waited for a week to see our favorite show.  Therefore, we learned to wait for things.

The real risk we see as parents is Jack might think that all wants and desires can be instantly satisfied. If Jack wants lunch it takes patience to wait for me to make a PB&J sandwich. We have to remind him that things take time. Most of the world doesn’t offer instant gratification.  The good news is that every gadget and device has a common feature; the off button.