Day 121
04/09/09 13:42 Filed in: Diary
How much is the TV on in your house. Do you leave it on constantly for background noise? Do you kids watch it when eating their meals?
Today was supposed to be cleaning day in readiness for the guests tomorrow. Despite the fact that we are planning on spending most of the time, if not the whole time, in the garden I still need to make sure the house is tidy and clean. My partner kept pointing out that they weren't coming until later in the afternoon tomorrow so there was no rush. It will be too late tomorrow, I will be too busy rushing around doing other stuff, I thought. However if I did clean this morning I wouldn't get any business work done. So in the end I decided he was right, (but don't tell him that!).
Youngest and I were out in the afternoon. We had been invited for tea and biscuits at the house of her old nursery friend. She hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks and she was excited as normal. I wonder how much we will keep in touch once both children are at their respective infant schools? I doubt if she will see him as often and it will probably tail off completely after a while. After all, how many of your infant and junior school friends do you remember or keep in touch with, let alone nursery friends?
The afternoon was pleasant enough. The kids played, we chatted, the two year old fell asleep on the settee, and all the while the TV played comedy or kids shows. I wonder whether they ever turn it off except maybe when they go to sleep. Her children probably eat their breakfast in front of Peppa Pig. Not good for conversation and not conducive for getting them ready in the mornings. Don't get me wrong I am no saint. There have been lots of times whilst youngest has been with me that I have let her watch TV first thing in the morning. She has watched it before she has been dressed, whilst I do some work. But after a while she will turn it off voluntarily and come upstairs to get dressed, or I will tell her to turn it off. If we have guests around it is a definite no no unless we are all watching a film or sport together.
I am sure some psychologists somewhere will say even letting youngest do that is bad for her, let alone having the TV as a constant presence in the house. Or have 'experts' opinions changed on that nowadays? I know when I was young my Dad didn't let us put the TV on until after 4pm. We were never allowed to watch the popular Saturday morning kids programmes that our friends watched. I didn't see Swap Shop or Tiswas until I was older. I was so deprived! No, I wasn't really. We didn't lose out. It made us use our imagination more and play outside. It also encouraged me to read more. Although from what I have seen on the internet that probably contributed to my poor eyesight, so it wasn't all good!
Anyway, sorry I was digressing again. Nether myself or the other lady were feeling very good. We were both tired and feeling like we had the onset of a nasty cold. Just what I needed before a day of entertaining. As it happens on this occasion, with feeling tired and snotty, I was quite happy to let the TV fill some of the silences. I would have been just as happy watching some weepy girly afternoon film at home on my own. But I was supposed to be chatty and sociable, not a zombie. After a couple of hours I made my excuses and left. My partner had driven to collect our son from school and I didn't think it was fair to leave him sitting outside the house again waiting. It gave me a good reason to move anyway before I set on the sinking settee in front of the TV never to be seen again
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Youngest and I were out in the afternoon. We had been invited for tea and biscuits at the house of her old nursery friend. She hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks and she was excited as normal. I wonder how much we will keep in touch once both children are at their respective infant schools? I doubt if she will see him as often and it will probably tail off completely after a while. After all, how many of your infant and junior school friends do you remember or keep in touch with, let alone nursery friends?
The afternoon was pleasant enough. The kids played, we chatted, the two year old fell asleep on the settee, and all the while the TV played comedy or kids shows. I wonder whether they ever turn it off except maybe when they go to sleep. Her children probably eat their breakfast in front of Peppa Pig. Not good for conversation and not conducive for getting them ready in the mornings. Don't get me wrong I am no saint. There have been lots of times whilst youngest has been with me that I have let her watch TV first thing in the morning. She has watched it before she has been dressed, whilst I do some work. But after a while she will turn it off voluntarily and come upstairs to get dressed, or I will tell her to turn it off. If we have guests around it is a definite no no unless we are all watching a film or sport together.
I am sure some psychologists somewhere will say even letting youngest do that is bad for her, let alone having the TV as a constant presence in the house. Or have 'experts' opinions changed on that nowadays? I know when I was young my Dad didn't let us put the TV on until after 4pm. We were never allowed to watch the popular Saturday morning kids programmes that our friends watched. I didn't see Swap Shop or Tiswas until I was older. I was so deprived! No, I wasn't really. We didn't lose out. It made us use our imagination more and play outside. It also encouraged me to read more. Although from what I have seen on the internet that probably contributed to my poor eyesight, so it wasn't all good!
Anyway, sorry I was digressing again. Nether myself or the other lady were feeling very good. We were both tired and feeling like we had the onset of a nasty cold. Just what I needed before a day of entertaining. As it happens on this occasion, with feeling tired and snotty, I was quite happy to let the TV fill some of the silences. I would have been just as happy watching some weepy girly afternoon film at home on my own. But I was supposed to be chatty and sociable, not a zombie. After a couple of hours I made my excuses and left. My partner had driven to collect our son from school and I didn't think it was fair to leave him sitting outside the house again waiting. It gave me a good reason to move anyway before I set on the sinking settee in front of the TV never to be seen again
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