Not taken today, but a peaceful photo, no?Since my last post I decided that there will be no TV in the morning. No Curious George, sorry George you are so very cute, but what a horrible way to start the day. I'm also going to be cleaning out our movies and getting rid of those that aren't very interesting or too fast-paced. He'll be able to watch one movie a day in the afternoon or evening, if he asks.
Waldorf warns against TV. This is what scared me straight from "You are your Child's First teacher", by Rahima Baldwin
...kindergarten teachers of long experience observe that children today have less initiative than formerly, and expect grownups to start something. They wait passively for something to stimulate them when indoors. Their play lacks the imaginative inventiveness children once had.
Michael has always been imaginative, but I started to worry when I saw that he was playing less and less by himself, acting very bored and constantly asking for a movie. I began to think he was just lonely as an only child, or needed more activities. Some of that may be true but mostly I think the TV was overwhelming to him.
This information was also a motivator.
In development of the brain, words are taken in through stories, and then images are developed that connect the intellectual brain to the outside world through the midbrain (limbic) metaphoric structure. Television, however, floods the child with both the sound and the image at the sensory motor level. It gives the system a synthetic counterfeit of what it is supposed to create. The child's first seven years are devoted to development of the symbolic, metaphoric language structure in the midbrain, and all future development rests on the functioning of this imagery. Television disrupts this development of an inner imagery by furnishing that imagery from an outside source.
There was also information on the link between learning disabilities and TV as well as evidence that a child before the age of about 11 can't even process and understand a movie or TV show as a whole. That's whether it's educational or not. I can see this with Michael when he asks simple questions about what's happening in a move or show showing that he doesn't understand the story line. He can't grasp the movie in it's entirety, only in individual scenes. There was more information, but I won't belabor.
So no TV this morning and this is how our Saturday went. Michael played while I made breakfast, I could hear him having little discussions between his toys. We had a leisurely breakfast together and talked. His Daddy woke up and they played and hung out until he left for work. I began sewing another bird and when I saw Michael was acting bored I moved myself and all my sewing outside to the patio. Michael played and played with his trucks and his sand box outside. He made a bug cake and a worm cake and told me a story. We watched the bees and a wasp that found our chime bells a suitable place to live. We sat in silence most of the time and then listened to Raffi. When he was tired he came and sat in my lap and lay his head on my shoulder and we rocked. I can see his energy is much more calm, his movements are slower and flowing, not jerky and quick like after TV watching, another point Baldwin makes. Michael asked for a movie in the early evening so I put on a episode of "Blues Clues" for him. After that we played with play dough and I finished my bird. I noticed after his movie time he was a little more jumpy and loud but nothing compared to usual.
Baldwin talks about a parent or Waldorf teacher sitting quietly, maybe singing softly or humming while doing creative work, while the child plays nearby. I have to say when I read this I thought, yeah right, not an only child! While I'm trying to sew Michael is acting out and not allowing me to. Well, today I tried it and it's true. I'm loving the beauty and meaning that Waldorf is bringing into our daily lives. All in all, a very peaceful day.
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Sounds really nice, Becca. I've never regretted the lack of TV in our home. We have a rule that the kids can watch a 30 minute video on days that Zephyr naps AND I leave the house for something- so it happens just about never. I do think Zephyr and Jubilee have really good attention spans for their ages, and also love looking at books, and will sit and listen to a dozen stories at a time. Also, you can often find them paging through books independently. I thought parenting without TV would be much harder than it actually is.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that this post reinforces the way we've done things. I'm glad it's working for you, too.
That's a good rule. At some point I'll have to narrow ours to something like a half hour. I always thought it would be hard to parent w/ out a tv too. But, I was really fighting my own addiction to the tv and justifying it for him. Life is so much simpler and more peaceful w/ out.
ReplyDeleteMichael does all of those things as well. He's hooked on books, we've always read a lot to him. And he's always been so imaginative, that's why it scared me when he stopped playing as much. Anyway, we've corrected it Yay! And good for you guys for starting out that way!