Some people have commented that I’m way too extreme as a mother to regulate tv in the house and not allow my children to watch cartoons on regular tv programming. Some have even gone as far to accuse me of depriving them of a childhood. There’s a story behind such a decision. So here goes:

“Once upon a time, the kids got to watch Handy Manny, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and some other random cartoons on Disney Junior at a specific time every day.

Then epiphany hit. Fatherkao and I realised that if we had cartoons available 24/7 on cable, we might inadvertenly use tv to babysit the children, that there would always be the “tv option”.

That was something we decided we will not do.

We also realised that whenever the tv was turned on, the kids were often found in a transfixed state and oblivious to their surroundings; and when the tv was turned off, they would immediately kick up a huge fuss. It was like an addiction, and they would get visibly upset with one of us (usually me) for switching it off. For most times, and I would say nine out ten, Ben threw temper tantrums so bad we ended up having to cane him for his bad behaviour.

So we made the decision to cancel the cartoon cable channels, return the set-top box in the living room, and declared a tv ban for a while (plus the tv-only-allowed-with mom-supervision rule) and never looked back.

That decision did wonders for our time together as a family. Fatherkao now schedules play time in place of tv time and the kids are often found shooting with their Nerf guns, playing tug-of-war, hiding-and-seeking and riding their horsey father. On my part, I read and read and read to the kids. In place of tv time, we also tumble and roll a lot on the bed and play peek-a-boo with the baby.

On rare occasions, I would allow snippets of animal documentary programmes. I’d watch it with them and talk about what we’ve watched. Our favourite last month was the series on Wild Artic on Nat Geo Wild. We learned about seals, polar bears and penguins. Becks has always loved penguins and seeing the different species in the Artic got her very thrilled; Ben showed me his sentimental side by crying twice when the eagle ate the baby penguin and the elephant seal chomped the baby’s momma. Watching cartoons never taught them empathy and helped them develop such love for animals. Watching animal documentaries gave me a wonderful opportunity to witness the  emotions that could be stirred up within them, and how they could express these emotions in such powerful, emphatic ways.

I’m not one of those who think that tv is evil. I just feel that we need to use it with more discretion. I cannot control the cartoon content and I do not know its storyline most of the time. Plus, tv programming is something not within our control and that sucks (don’t you just hate adverts?). Oh, and I also have one self-serving agenda: I want them to love reading, and to love holding books, just like I did when I was their age.

This is the story of why the tv is usually not turned on in our house and how we have found so many things to do together as a result.

And we lived happily ever after.

The End.”