In order to get my shopping list done today I had to sit my kids in front of a video. Don't judge, this is after I tried to occupy them with sitting quietly on the couch, counting grains of rice, sorting the recycling, memorizing the Declaration of Independence, choreographing interpretive dances to the Dances With Wolves soundtrack, etc. Nothing was working, and our 1 year supply of whole wheat organic pasta was getting dangerously low (more like a 10 1/2 month supply). And desperate times call for the Electronic Babysitter.
Hey Kids, do you want to watch a video or something?
Yeah! We want to watch Baby Einstein!
Baby Einstein? Really? You know it's for babies, right? And it's just a bunch of video taped toys and stuffed animals set to classical music?
Baby Einstein! Baby Einstein!
Ummm, OK.
Now that we know the truth about Baby Einsten, it left me thinking: in essence, my kids were getting stupider just so I could fill their bellies. (Wait, is it stupider or more stupid? I should know, I was raised on Sesame Street*, they didn't even have Baby Einstein when I was a kid.)
So for some reason I just thought the blogging world would want to know that in the battle between intellectual and physical nourishment today, my kids' IQ's took a big hit. And since their chances of getting into Harvard are now pretty much shot, I went ahead and bought them the junky high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden, flourescent-tinted yogurt they wanted so bad today. Oh crap-- there goes the whole physical nourishment part.
Well, what can I say, it's a slippery slope. I think tomorrow we'll watch Soap Operas and eat pop tarts all day.
Made any tough choices lately?
*Happy 40th Sesame Street! Check out this great post on my friend Aimee's blog.
4 comments:
Did you try memorizing the Declaration of Independence while listening to classical music? I'm sure that would have done the trick :)
Sounds like the slope I have been on for years. I find it sadly ironic that my kids IQ is lowering due to my lack of parenting whilst I attempt to raise my own by going to school. Perhaps I should rethink this?
Yeah, Noah has digressed back to watching his signing videos. Makes me feel like I've done a heck of a job teaching him to talk.
I love your writing!
I'm totally judging you for letting your kids watch educational-ish videos and eat pseudo-healthy snacks! Maybe if you've reformed, we'll invite you over for cup of noodles and a Man Vs. Wild marathon (with the accompanying commercials) in our cozy abode.
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