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Broke Wife, Big City
When your kids have too much scream time
By Aprill Brandon
I had always thought of myself as someone who doesn’t follow the crowd.
As the type of woman who blazed her own path, made her own destiny. I
was a lone wolf. Who was also a unicorn. Who moonlighted as a succubus
on days when she was feeling grumpy.
Then I met my stupid future husband and we started dating and everyone
said “get married!” and we were like “ok.” Then after we got married,
everyone said “have a kid!” and we were all “sure, who needs a
disposable income?” Then after we had a kid, everyone said “have
another one!” and so we did mostly because we were too tired to think
of reasons not to.
Then, when we were drowning in tiny, adorable, self-destructive
gingers, those same people had the audacity to tell our exhausted,
disgusting, overwhelmed selves that we couldn’t plop those kids down in
front of a TV so we could get a moment’s peace in the diaper-stained
tsunami that was now our lives.
Oh, and not just TV. This was a moratorium on all screens. Phones. Tablets. Laptops. Laptops that turned into tablets.
“No screens! It will destroy their brains!” everyone shouted while sending torch and pitchfork gifs to our phones.
And that’s where I finally broke with the crowd. Because do you know
how long a day is when you are stuck at home with small children? It’s
57 hours. And that’s just before noon. I had no idea what to do with
them. I’d read books, I’d build forts, I’d play hide and seek even
though they hid in the same damn place every. single. time. (Spoiler
alert: It was inside the fort). Then I’d look up and realize 12 minutes
had passed. Which is when I would pull down all the window shades and
put on “Sesame Street” with the volume super low, the kids pushing
their faces against the television in order to actually hear Elmo.
“It doesn’t count if no one but me knows” I’d whisper to myself while creepily rubbing my hands together villain-style.
Look, I know too much screen time can have negative effects on
children. I’m not saying everyone is wrong. I’m just saying they need
to acknowledge that the alternative can be just as awful. That without
any screen time, everything devolves into scream time. Mostly by the
parents.
Kids are more than capable of destroying their brains the old-fashioned
screen-less way. Take this innocent little exchange between my kids I
overheard the other day:
6-year-old: Ok, so put on your cape…
3-year-old Ok.
6-year-old: And then I’m going to push you off the bed…
3-year-old: Ok.
6-year-old: And we’ll see if you can fly!
Me: NO!
Or this one…
6-year-old: Did you get them?
3-year-old: Yup.
Me: Get what?
*crickets*
Me: GET WHAT?
6-year-old: ...nothing.
Me: *gets up and confiscates the big pair of scissors and three steak knives the 3-year-old is hiding behind her back*
6-year-old: Well how are we supposed to play pirates now?
And for everyone who claims that video games make kids violent, I’m not
disagreeing. But I am saying that so do sticks. My children are
constantly picking up sticks and using them to beat each other
relentlessly. This usually escalates until they are using full on tree
limbs to bash each others skulls in, which is when the park magically
closes and we have to head home.
The thing is, sometimes you need screen time to make sure your children
stay alive. To make their savage little butts sit down for a hot minute
and kill pixels instead of each other.
And sure, maybe it will eventually turn their brains to mush. I, of all
people, am likely to find out considering both of my kids can quote the
entire “Princess Bride” movie verbatim. But honestly, have you ever
heard a 3-year-old yell “He didn’t fall!? Inconceivable!”? I’d argue
it’s cute enough to warrant a reasonable amount of brain mush.
In the end, I think, it's all about balance. Let your kids play on
their tablet guilt-free. Enjoy the quiet and peaceful non-homicidal
atmosphere without beating yourself up. And then have them turn the
tablets off so they can use them to hit each other over the head.
Can’t get enough of Aprill? Can’t wait until next week?
Check out her website at http://aprillbrandon.com/
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