Confessions of a Toddler Mom

I've read the parenting books, and I know the AAP guidelines. Television for toddlers is strongly discouraged, and when it is used, they say absolutely no more than two hours of screen time a day.

With my first child, we did a great job. We rarely watched television, and she showed almost no interest in watching. Things changed slowly when I became pregnant with my second child. Tired and in desperate need of a few minutes peace, we watched television a bit more frequently. Add in an overseas move and the loss of our support network and suddenly television was a staple in our household.

I tried to cut it out. We went whole weeks without turning the tube on. I felt guilty for letting my baby and toddler, then toddler and preschooler, watch television every day. Sometimes we'd watch the same 90-minute long Disney movie two or three times in a day, interspersed with a few episodes of Dora and Diego.

But then I stepped back, and took a long hard look at my children. They're both incredibly verbal (they get that from me), their fine and gross motor skills are either on or above target, they have learned to play alongside and with their peers, and they socialize well with both adults and other children. They're not overweight, and they are very active youngsters. They don't need the television to function; we just like watching it.

In fact, if the worst thing I ever do for my children in their lifetime is to let them watch too much television, well, I guess I'm okay with that.

So this toddler mom has to confess--we watch a lot of television, and I don't regret it or harbor any guilt over it. Turn off the tube? Not in our house.