Not going to lie, this is one confession that I almost posted anonymously.
But, in the spirit of vulnerability and being real, here goes nothing.
My kids watch TV. Quite a bit of it, some days.
Since I was pregnant with my second child, my oldest kiddo has really gotten to love ‘shows.’ And I have too, because through the morning sickness, then having a brand new baby, to now being pregnant with baby number three, it’s given me a breather when I’m pretty sure I’m going to either throw up, cry, or both.
Now I want to clarify something: I am not talking unsupervised screen time. Anything that is watched is pre-approved by my husband or I, and if I hear anything questionable then it’s immediately looked at and talked about. We keep it very simple around here.
But it’s one thing that we have allowed, and thoroughly enjoyed together.
Sometimes I feel insecure when I see the moms with the structured screen time limits and all these planned activities to do in the meantime. And while I do activities with my kids, sometimes I feel like I must be doing something wrong because I don’t have specific limits on their TV time.
And then I remember that we all are different. We do different things in different ways, and we all have kids who need different things. I am not advocating for kids watching television for hours unsupervised or having free reign to watch whatever they want, but instead am admitting that I am in a season where television has been a part of our life, and I’m okay with that.
I don’t really like the stereotype that because my kids do watch TV that it automatically makes me an uninvested mother. This couldn’t be more untrue. I am very invested in my kiddos: I care deeply for their well-being and want the very best for them. And I absolutely love being their mom.
And yes, we do watch TV. In fact, we all love it. My husband and I consider it a fun activity to watch new shows together, and we often do movie nights with our kiddos. We also do other things together, going on adventures and getting outside.
I’m working on not caring so much about what I think other people think (whether they actually do or not). It’s a hard thing to do.
All this to say: mommas, you are doing great. Kids watch TV, great. Kids don’t? Great! We’re all in our own seasons, so let’s go easy on each other. Grace and love go a long way.
