Vegging Out

Every morning A watches her favorite episode of the Wiggles while having her cup of milk. In this particular episode, the Wiggles instruct their little charges how to dress up to go out in the rain. Every morning, A races out of the family room to put on her coat, hat, and boots. And every morning, it catches me by surprise. You would think by now I would clue in and have the outfit all laid out, but every morning I have to go digging to find everything.

I think part of the reason it catches me by surprise is that even though it happens every morning, I am still not expecting it as it is so different from how C watches TV. C uses the TV to veg out and destress, much like I do. He tends to want to watch TV when he is tired, and lies down on the couch to watch passively. No matter how you try to get him to answer the characters when they ask him a question, or do the dances being done, he refuses to get out from under the blankets. I understand that, I use TV for the same reasons. And if I am watching TV I certainly do not want to leave my couch to jump up and down.

A, on the other hand, watches TV with passion. She chatters back at the characters, dances around the family room, and acts out all of her favorite scenes. Watching TV with A exhausts me. I guess you could say her way of viewing is "healthier," if watching TV could possibly even be categorized as such, but to me it defeats the purpose of being one with the couch and letting something else do the thinking and amusing for a spell.

Every time I put on the TV for my kids I feel a little guilty, but for some reason I feel less guilty putting it on for C as I understand the reasons why he wants to watch TV. When I put the TV on for A, I'm fairly confident that she would be just as happy bouncing around the playroom as I sang and danced a jig. But since I don't sing and I don't dance jigs, the Wiggles will have to fill in until she's old enough for dance class.