Mums the Word: Babies Watching TV

I have found that there are many topics related to babies that people just don't talk about because they are too controversial and are too hotly debated. I have vacillated over whether to bring it up here as I'm not in the business of producing ire or ill will. In the same breath, this place has always been about me being honest about what is really going on in my heart and in my life. Over the years, as people have begun following along on this journey with me, I have had to make a concerted effort to write true to myself. Do I worry what people will think? Yes. Am I afraid that someone will harbor bad feelings to me over something I said? Yes. But I cannot let that trump my desire to lead an open and honest life. In my mind we are all just learning and growing as we go, so a little grace goes a long way. With that, I've decided to talk about these nontalkable things in a new series called Mums the Word. 

I hope you join in the conversation - telling me what you think and why. And maybe by combining the power of knowledge (in love!) all of us can grow and learn together.

xoxo, J

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Josh and I do not watch television anymore. It began when we cut ties with cable during our last year in Nor Cal. It was silly expensive and the cost didn't justify the use. Instead we subscribed to Netflix and Hulu and that carried us for a while but now we don't really use those either (except for the occasional Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unknown, our new obsession!)

But this no television has served us well. When we got pregnant and began reading up on all things baby one of the AAP recommendations was to not expose a baby to television for the first two years of life. At first that seemed ridiculous to us since we turned out fine but the more we read the more convinced we were by the quite convincing literature.

So we try not to have the television on when the baby is in the room. Easier said than done though. What do we do in social situations? We certainly do not want to impost our philosophy on others. And then there are our parents, who generally think we are crazy but try to adhere to our wishes. Just the other week the baby was having a fit over taking the bottle and my mom "solved" the problem by turning on the television and distracting her enough to take it. -_-

So there's a constant underlying friction about the issue and she's only 4 1/2 months old. I can imagine it will not get easier as she gets older.Who knows, with our next one I may throw all ideology to the wind for the sake of a quiet, hot shower! But for now this is what we do. What do you do?