When i tell people that we don't have cable at home, they usually give different reactions. Some will get surprise, some will say ok but will look at you with "Prison" in their eyes and some will say that seems to be a good idea. Although it seems to be too harsh and my kids would need to have some sort of connection to the outside world so they don't look to ignorant when they go to other people's house, it has more impact on us than the kids. My hubby would have problematic sundays during race weekend and we also miss out on times that we would have love to veg out and just stare at the TV. But our reasons for not having the tube are as simple as 123:
1) We would like to encourage reading. we believe that the more kids read, the more they learn, plain and simple.
2) we had experiences when the kids imitate language and action seen on cartoons. our childhood favorite "Tom and Jerry" would look funny but at the end of the day promotes violence. Yes we can audit the things they watch, but we are trying to make them individuals who have their own sense of what is good for them.
3)Kids sometimes go on a zombie like attitude when watching TV, which make them less attentive and more present to things.
At the end of the day, our kids have videos and cable TV during vacations. Bringing up your kids has a personal and subjective approach, one might work in one family and some might not. No one can say you're a bad parent for not letting your kids watch cable TV or letting them watch all they want. What's important is that you care enough for their well being to care about what parenting program you want to instill or which TV show they can watch.
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hey Jeanette! Nice post! I'm glad to know that you and JP decided on doing this. I know only a few people who do this, including me and my wife. We let go of our TV and cable service maybe 5 years ago. Same reasons you listed down, and more. The TV sucks up all our time, esp when we catch a nice show but we need to go somewhere. So everything we need to do gets moved back. I only got a TV last month, and that's bec I won it in a raffle. Still don't have cable though. We just watch downloaded movies and tv shows on it. My kids are not totally left out coz they get to watch cable when they visit their Lola. Pero at home, they pretty much don't look for it. Best regards!
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