TV is Rotting Their Brains!!

I'll be the first to admit that my oldest child is L A Z Y ! ! !

Seriously. She wakes up and wants to watch cartoons. All morning long, shes asking me to change to this channel and that channel. She's already seen this episode. Doesn't like the characters in that show anymore. This one has a sad song she doesn't want to listen to. And OMG?! Sofia is on?! She NEEDS to watch the same episode she's already seen fifteen times.

NEEDS to.

It has gotten so ridiculous lately.

So has her behavior. {And her sleep. -- But I'll save that for another time.}

So I decided enough was enough. For both of the kids.

This week, we started our new "plan of action" -- every morning we start fresh. If the kids can behave all morning with minimal warnings {1 or 2 warnings on separate events is fine, as long as there are not multiple warnings for the same offense} then they can have a 30-minute cartoon before naps.

Same thing goes for the afternoon. If they behave, they get one show before bedtime.

Our first morning went pretty smooth. S was awake at 6am, but hung around her room for awhile. When she came out to the living room at 715 and wanted breakfast, she was reminded that she didn't get to watch any cartoons. She didn't like it ... and kept asking every two minutes if it was time for a show yet. I didn't cave. There was no tv.

By lunchtime, it seemed that the nagging was lessening. She was okay with not watching it while I made lunch. And sat down happily to eat the specific lunch she had requested. She was looking forward to a cartoon. A little too much -- because she took one bite and said "Okay. Im done. Wash me up please, its cartoon time!" To which I shut her down! I asked her to sit down and eat her lunch, that cartoons would be there when she was finished. She refused, and turned it into a battle. So she lost the cartoon. Completely.

Come afternoon, it was much of the same. We had a few warnings of behavior, but she quickly straightened up. She did ask many times over when it was time for a show, and if she had earned it yet. But we'll get there in time -- the the point where she no long asks because she is used to the new routine.

And I'm happy to say -- even though she lost her morning cartoon, she did earn her evening cartoon. It was a close one, as she didn't want to eat dinner and wanted to clean her room up even less than that! But we got through it.

One day at a time!