Battling My Toddler's TV Addiction
As printed in My Village News April 2021.
My parental hypocrisy has reached new heights thanks to Bluey. It’s the show my daughter became hooked on while we were both holed up in bed with colds last month.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Bluey, in fact it’s probably the only kids show I look forward to because they manage to layer parent’s only jokes in with kid humour so spectacularly - but her TV addiction has become a problem.
I had to tell her a massive porky. Soon after we got well when I collected her from kindy a question she’d asked already that morning came up, “Mum, can I please watch TV when we get home?” Big breath in. You can do this, you can sell it, “Ah I’m sorry darlin’ but the TV is broken. I’m getting the electrician to come and fix it.” I sustained what I hoped was a look of conviction as I peered in the rear view mirror. Then watched her heave into a car-strapped sobbing mess.
What a damn hypocrite, I thought. Here I am trying to manage an addiction in our toddler I share. I mean, don’t we all? When I sit in a doctor’s lounge, stand in a coffee line or wait for someone to arrive at a meeting my mind screams out for it’s next screen hit. My hands won’t sit idle.
I’ve noticed though in a short time of eliminating her use of screens there’s been a lift in her overall home pleasantness. She plays alone longer with her toys, engages in more imaginative role-play and mostly forgets about television altogether.
What’s been bugging me is my own issues. If this is all it takes to lift her mood, is the grown-up’s modern secret to happiness that simple? If we gave up streaming or staring at our phones, would we be happier?
It’s an experiment I’m going to run until the next column with these four rules: I can answer/make calls, texts, emails and take photos on my phone and that’s it. I’ll treat my smart phone like a flip phone from the early millennium.
