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Parenting reflections

We watch television

My kids enjoy watching television. So do my husband and I. And we have finally reached a comfortable level of television time for our family.

But it would be fair to say that until this year, managing and minimising screen time was a challenge for me. Somehow my husband and I had reached a point {before children} that the tv was often on… whether or not we were watching it.

When Dino Boy arrived, I started consciously turning the tv off more and more. But totally restricting it was not something I had even contemplated.

Then we discovered Waldorf. Waldorf education discourages the use of screens for younger children as they inhibit imagination and impact children’s development.

My husband and I have now consciously decided that being totally screen free isn’t right for us {although who knows what the future might hold} We have decided however to allow our children to watch limited, carefully chosen tv shows and to enjoy a family movie night once a week. We usually make homemade pizza on movie night too!

We want to teach our kids to make good choices about screens, but also be able to understand and identify with other kids… given tv is part of our society.

So it is about balance… and trying to get it right

But it has still taken quite some time for us to reach our comfortable level. We tried screen free periods but it didn’t feel sustainable or right for us. And we tried different levels of television watching before finally reaching the level that works for us.

So I guess you might like to know what our ‘comfortable level’ is right? Well it is around 45 minutes a day. And although this works for us, we understand other families will find different levels they are comfortable with.

I let the children choose two shows they would like to watch for the day. They choose from a selection I have recorded. At the moment my daughter loves Stella and Sam (it is very sweet), while my son loves Dinosaur Train or Peter Rabbit. The kids also choose when they watch their shows (within reason). This helps us manage television watching, and they accept that once they have watched their shows that is it.

Since finding our happy level:

  • the less they watch, the less they want to watch
  • their play has deepened
  • their behaviour has improved

And I am a happier mum!

How do you manage screens in your home?
Here is an article from the Golden Gleam that helped me
Warmly, Kelly
November 17, 2014 by

I am a stay at home mum

The week I finished work to prepare for my baby’s arrival the government budget was handed down. I found out my workplace was being abolished and I was going to lose my job.

I was part of the leadership team at work (think middle management) and so was part of many meetings about how we would deal with this. I can’t tell you how many of these meetings there were, but I can tell you that I cried through every single one of them (really professional *cough*).

I just kept thinking – what’s going to happen to my maternity leave. We just bought a new house. We have another baby arriving soon. I love my job. What am I going to do!

It took quite awhile to see, let alone accept the silver lining.

That I would be able to stay home with my children for longer by accepting a redundancy. This is a blessing. It just means giving up job security which makes me nervous. We had reached a point where I had found a good balance between work and home life (sure it could tip in either direction from time to time, but overall it was working for us). I was lucky that I was passionate and engaged in my work. I manged two teams and worked part time. And I loved it (I think I was kinda ok at it too).

In accepting this reality though, I am finding myself feeling more and more excited that I will be home with my kids for longer. Although, this is interspersed with anxiety about not having a job. It’s funny the ups and downs you can go through. And it made me think back to my very mixed feelings on returning to work after my daughter turned one. It has also made me realise how far I’ve come professionally, but also on my parenting journey.

So here is to my next adventure – as a stay at home mum!

Warmly, Kelly

October 20, 2014 by