Dinner and a Movie

Make that lunch and Sesame Street.

Ah, the best-laid plans...

The other day I was reading an article from one of my favorite writers about the parenting rules we lay down, only to cave on. Take a look and you'll see why I so quickly related. In it, she speaks (hilariously) about how she and her husband were not going to stoop to the level of using television as a babysitter for their energetic twin boys. And then reality struck. She already put it much better (and wittier) than I'll ever be able to, so suffice to say, ditto.

Obviously, the evidence clearly points to a guilty verdict.

I remember the good old days, when I could watch hours of Say Yes to the Dress while nursing Violet, reasonably confident I wasn't polluting her rapidly forming neurons. We tried a bit of Baby Einstein, but she never seemed that interested, confirming that we could keep watching whatever we pleased without too much of it soaking into her sponge-like brain.

As Violet grew, however, so did her awareness. Now Elmo has struck. She's actually started responding to the show, saying "buh-bye Noo-Null" when Elmo bids farewell to Mr. Noodle (also,  hello two word sentences!). She knows what the remote does, and gets mad if I don't fast-forward through the boring segments to get to her furry red friend. We see a lot of Sesame Street in this house. Perhaps too much.

And then, while staying home with her all summer, teetering on the verge of losing my mind from a combined cocktail of boredom, irritation, and shimmery, heat-induced mirages, I decided it would be a good idea to let her eat lunch in front of the tv.

So sue me.

Actually, it's worked wonders. Ever since her dinnertime meltdown and the ensuing revelation that Violet has decided she is far to grown up and sophisticated to be strapped down in a high chair, all mealtimes have commenced at the kids table. Even when she eats alone. But alone without the boys modeling what to do (at least some of which is putting food into mouth), she is easily distracted. So in a spur of desperation one day, I plopped her in front of Sesame Street while I went to slap my own lunch together.

I'll be darned if that girl didn't clean her plate and ask for more without a single murmur of dissent or displeasure.

So now this is our new routine. And you know what? I don't feel too bad about it. I'm filing it under "you do what you have to, " cross-referenced with "oh well" and "it could be worse". Besides, daycare starts up in a few weeks and there's no tv in there!

So, what's on your "oh, I'll never..." list that you caved on?