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Michael's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 8/28/00 -------------------- 8/21/00 8/14/00 8/7/00 8/1/00 7/24/00 7/17/00 7/10/00 7/3/00 6/26/00 6/19/00 6/12/00 6/5/00 5/29/00 5/22/00 5/14/00 -------------------- Michael's Introduction

June 5, 2000

Dear Readers,
Last week was the longest of weeks and the shortest of weeks. It always seems that way before Lisa goes on summer break from teaching. The anticipation of free time combines with an abundance of end-of-year work to keep both us of busy and the time flying but never quickly enough to the eagerly awaited break.

An Unintentional Conspirator:
My son, Brandon, is finally going to sleep and sleeping normally again, but now, my daughter, Allison, is deciding to give us going-to-bed difficulties, which then foment nocturnal rebellion in him. What’s worse, is that I’m an unintentional conspirator in their devious plan to cheat sleep of its due. Just as my wife thinks she has silenced the rebels about 8:30 p.m., I come home from work and open the garage door right below their bedroom, causing them to rise in protest against their confinement and plead for an early release -- but not one based on good behavior, of course.

As soon as I enter the house, I hear their plaintive cries welcoming me home: "Daddy’s home. Out! Out! See daddy. Out! Play! Hug daddy. Waaah!" I immediately ask my wife, Lisa, what the heck is going on and very supportively tell her that’s it’s ridiculous that these kids are up. I usually add that I don’t have any problems getting the kids to nap, so what’s your -- "Thank you for your thoughtfulness," she usually interrupts. Despite the headache-inducing cacophony, Lisa always claims that the kids were sleeping or just about to fall asleep. I, of course, believe her.

The pleas continue, increasing in urgency and intensity: "OUT! Daaaddeeee! Seeee!" I ignore them and then exacerbate their displeasure and desire when I go to get a snack. The inmates hear the unmistakable crinkling, rustling sound of the pretzel bag giving up its contents or the humming, buzzing sound of the air popper popping popcorn, piff, piff, pop-pop-pop and prepare to riot, if they don’t get any.

The clamor increases and the cries become more desperate: "Pretzel, daddy. Please, popcorn. Out daadee. Out. Eat." Lisa is usually content to ignore them but the unending pleas usually break me down. After all, how can I enjoy my snack with this din of agony in the background? Anyway, they are calling for me. So I give in and liberate them. For a few moments, I’m the rescuing hero. Brandon and Allison celebrate their release by eating my snack with me. As soon as it’s finished, they discard me like an empty bowl and sneak away to play some more before Warden Lisa arrests them again. As she leads them away, I offer to be a witness for the prosecution and cheer her on: "Arrest those vicious pretzel thieves, duplicitous con artists, and noxious disturbers of the peace! And throw away the key, until morning."

Powerful Attraction:
We installed the Reader Rabbit Toddler computer program this week. And wow! What a powerful attraction. Brandon really took to this game and quickly improved his ability to manipulate the controls. He liked it so much he didn’t want to stop playing. Allison watched him play without complaining or trying to grab at everything, completely mesmerized by the sights and sounds. Powerful stuff, scary stuff, the way these programs on a screen seduce young minds with their pretty bouquets of pictures and effects.

As you can probably tell, we’re not proponents of our kids getting their entertainment and knowledge from a screen, whether a computer or television. We think they’re better off doing, as in playing, exploring or reading books. To this end, we limit screen watching to one hour a day, from our collection of videos and software or those that we check out from the library. Most days, fortunately, we’re too busy to watch for even an hour.

Interestingly, this view caused some defensiveness in my family, who jumped to defend television as a learning tool and claimed that TV taught me and my wife and brother-in-law our ABCs and 123s. They were really irked when I told them that TV is really the Great Babysitter, freeing parents to get some things done around the house. They grudgingly admitted this but tried to deflect the criticism by trumpeting its teaching prowess again. Because of my anti-TV position, my family thought I was living in some nostalgic past or reactionary present and needed to get with the times. I disagreed then, and I disagree now. Only now, I’m vindicated. I could barely contain my pleasure when I told them that the American Pediatric Association said, in a report last year, that kids under two should not watch any TV.

With an empty snack bowl and the TV turned off,
Michael