Tuesday, January 23, 2007

What happens when I ban TV for the afternoon


"Ice skates" made out of playing cards and rubber bands, in case you were wondering.

We had a horrible morning, which included me almost carrying Jo out the door coatless, sockless and shoeless. That was after I left her in the house screaming while I loaded Opie in the car. She finally gave up when she realized I was serious about taking her to school barefoot.

So that was fun. Somewhere during the tantrum I revoked TV privileges for the rest of the day. I wavered on the way to pick her up after school, and was about to tell her that I was sorry, that wasn't the right response and that instead of no TV, she would be going to bed early instead--a more appropriate consequence, since her behavior clearly stemmed from fatigue. But when I got to school and learned that she'd been misbehaving all day, I returned to hardass mode and decided on both no TV and an early bedtime. She has been so tired lately that I am starting to get a little concerned. She sleeps 11ish hours at night with a 1-2 hour nap probably 5 days out of 7--but lately that's not enough. Maybe it's just fallout from my absence last week (I was gone from Monday morning to Friday night) but if things don't turn around soon I'm marching her in to the doctor.

In the end, the TV-free afternoon flew by pretty fast. We leafed through an Us Weekly coffee-table book of Hollywood photos found under the living room couch (unclear where that came from). We banged on the piano. We played 52-card throw-down (precursor to skating). We cooked and ate noodles and edamame with a nanabit chaser.

And tomorrow is another day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I've been wondering myself if Tacy is getting enough sleep. She sleeps 10 hours at night (give or take), and I honestly don't know how well she naps at school, but it's rare that she does so at home.

Yesterday, I rebuffed all of CJ's attempts to hand me the remote control (including putting it on top of the refrigerator - she can still see it when it's on the kitchen island), and she cried herself hoarse. Which makes me feel like a shitty mother because really, WHY is my child crying herself hoarse over a stupid yellow sponge?

Anyway. Tell Jo I like her skates.

Anonymous said...

Cute skates! I bet you're right about her just being exhausted and maybe still edgy from you being gone. My kids always do that during growth spurts, too. Even at age 15, Gothboy will come home from scool, nap for two hours, be up for an hour or two, and then sleep 11 more hours. He'll do that for about two weeks, then stop, and I'll notice it's time (again!) for new jeans because he's sprouted right out of them. He is now over 6'... this must end soon. Kids are funny creatures. I enjoy your blog, by the way.

mamatulip said...

The ice skates are quite hip. ;)

"No TV" is always the worst thing EVER if you ask Julia, but we do end up having a lot of fun when we're trying to get through a no TV day. Sounds like you guys did, too.

tallulah said...

Love the picture!
In our house, your earn t.v. or computer time based on a one-to-one match of how much time you have spent playing outside.
Since we started this new rule, I can't tell you how much fun my kids are having exploring the world around them outside. Building forts, looking for snakes, playing at the six playgrounds in our neighborhood etc. Sometimes they even forget they have earned their t.v. time!

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

If you have a minute can you write about how you manage daycare when you travel for a few days? I am trying to figure out how to do it myself, very daunting.

Lady M said...

Love those skates!

We're in the first stage of time-outs, or "quiet time" experiments. It's going ok so far, but I wish I could do a better job anticipating when the need will arise!