Everyone, it's time for me to come clean. I can't keep it up anymore, the screen of falsehoods has fallen on me and I can't get up. I realized yesterday at baby group that in interesting phenomenon occurs every time I get around women I don't know very well - I lie my pants off about how much TV my baby watches. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I dumb down how much he watches to every parent I know. I'm not sure why I do it, it isn't really anyone else's business what I let my baby do, but when the topic comes up, I always say what I'd rather he do than what I actually let him do.
I don't lie about anything else. I told almost everyone I knew when he ate a string when I wasn't looking. And 2 seconds after he may or may not have chewed a piece of my phone off I told at least 3 people. I think it's because I knew that those things could happen even if you are as vigilant as humanly possible, but I think I thought I would be able to play with him all the time without needing a break.
Yeah, that's so not possible and I think I need to give myself a break about the whole thing. Do I think letting television raise my kid is ok? No, it's totally not a babysitter or a way to keep the kid out of my hair. But I had forgotten one crucial thing when I made my 'TV is the devil' rule. And that's that I am a geek. It's in my genetics (probably from my dad's love of Star Trek) I love watching stories about crazy, fantastic people doing impossible and hilarious things. I want to be able to share those things with my kids (when they become old enough to not be traumatized, that is). So I am starting small, first it's My Little Ponies, Sesame Street and Family Matters Then it's freaking Star Trek TOS baby! Oh yeah, and I'm totally taking him to the Trek convention in Vegas this year and dressing him up as a Klingon or maybe a Vulcan. It's happening.
So that's the long and the short of it. I'm embracing my geekhood and I'm not going to apologize or lie about how much tv I let him watch. (He's totally not watching anything right now... Yes he is. No he isn't... Ok maybe he's watching the Smurfs, (He's totally watching Predator) actually he's taking a nap right now. Probably.:wink:)
