These past few months I’ve been letting Light watch the TV. You know, a few minutes a day, every other day. I’d like to think that I’m allowing her because I’ve ran out of other activities for her to do, and that watching Hi5 is better than just her looking at me. But honestly, sometimes it’s just because I needed that few minutes of me time. And when I think about it, all those reasons why I don’t let Light watch the TV or play with the gadgets, not all of them are reasons that I truly believe in. Sometimes, the parenting that I do is just based on the pressure that I get from other mothers, which is not really cool.
There’s a lot of pressure to us parents to do the “right” way of disciplining, teaching and developing our child. To be honest, there are times when I do a certain thing because I see a fellow mom do it, or I heard a fellow mom not do it. I follow it because I’m pressured to, thinking that I don’t know any better and feeling that my child will be left behind if I don’t follow.
Because being a parent these days are different I think when you compare it to our parents’ time. Today, there’s just a lot of dos and don’ts on how to raise a child that it’s hard to follow them all (coz of course you want the best for your child). Like DON’T LET HER WATCH TV. Don’t give her junk food. You should only feed her organic stuff. You should have activities that will hone her gross and fine motor skills. Et cetera. You hear and read a lot of ways on how to and how not to when it comes to your child’s life.
I know being a parent is a LOT OF WORK. I know. But sometimes, with all these stuff that you should do to have the super baby/toddler, you just can’t find any more time to just… breathe. It feels like you have to be there improving your child 24/7. Who can do that?!?!
What I’ve learned to accept is that not all these “rules” are right. What I’ve learned to do is to incorporate in our household, in our family (1) what works for us and (2) what I truly believe in.
So now that Light is 19 months old, she can be very handful at times, well, most of the time now. :p For a household like ours where in we don’t have help and it’s really just me and Light most of the time, it’s hard to get anything done. It’s just impossible! When you don’t have a household help, giving your daughter something to do while you do your chores and work can be difficult. Actually, it’s impossible. Most of the time, Light wants me to participate in the fun too. And I know that I should be savoring these moments with her because she will only be my little baby for a few more years. But shamefully, to me it just means no work done and no crossing off the to do list. 🙁 I’m such a bad mom!!!
And sometimes, well, sometimes you just want your ME time. Yes. You just want to savor your lunch instead of shoving them all down into your mouth because your baby is starting to make a fuss, or you want to have a private, quiet dump without your child screaming at you. Sometimes, you just want to laze around and be a “bad” mom haha.
So here are my five excuses, justifications and (valid) reasons why I let my little girl Light watch TV.
1 – She Enjoys It And Is Happy
I only let Light watch Hi5. The first part of the show. The sing and dance part. And, maybe, some of the TV shows that I’m watching when I’m being a bad mom? GOT? 😐
I actually think that Hi5 is pretty good. My friend’s daughter learned a thing or two by watching it. She even has an accent now which is so cute. So I’m hoping that Light will pick up on that Australian accent too.
Light enjoys singing and dancing along to Hi5. She has a favorite song already. I can’t describe it but once she hears that “Tippy Tippy Toes”, her face would crack to a big, beautiful, contagious smile. How can you forbid that?!?

2 – She Learns A Thing Or Two
Sometimes I’m just amazed at how fast she learns the words. She would suddenly tell me something and I would realize that she was “singing” a line from the song.
Sometimes I let her watch other segments of the Hi5 show (not just the dancing). They’re really informative, and I know that Light picks something out of it.
Of course having a good foundation like exposing her to books early on is very important too. Light talks a lot now and knows all these words. I think it has a lot to do with reading to her. She loves to read and we read almost everyday. She’d be the one asking me to read her a book. I would recommend starting your baby with books first before exposing them to the television. It’s also a great bonding activity for us. Reading, I mean.
3 – A Great Exercise
We get some exercise, too. Sometimes I would dance with her and it would become one of our bonding moments. And I think dancing helps in her gross motor skills? Yes? No? 🙂
4 – Gives Me A Few Minutes Of Me Time
It’s true that when kids watch TV they get entranced and hooked. It’s not that okay but when I really need to have a few minutes to just rest, I let Light get hooked. I think that for me, it’s important that I don’t get too stressed out and too exhausted because I might take it out on her. It has happened before. She would be wanting to play with me and I would be too tired and end up getting angry at her for “annoying” me. Plus, I’d be so guilty for ignoring her that after I’d be totally giving all my attention to her. So in the end, it’s a good thing. 🙂

5 – Let’s Me Do Some Work/Chores
I think it was after her first birthday that I realized I’m having a harder time getting work done. I waited a few more months, letting work get a back seat. But I needed to find a way to be able to get in some work done, to do some chores at home. I mean I don’t let her watch a full 2 hour show straight or something. What I do is extend the time as much as I can until I really needed that few minutes to just finish the work or the chore. That’s the time I strap her in her rocker (yup, my ever trusty rocker) and let her watch. Just a few minutes to finish it. Sometimes I would sit with her. Me doing my thing and Light, dancing.
And I don’t let watching TV be her main activity at home. We do other stuff like reading, painting or playing with her toys. Most of the time, we do those things.

Obviously, there are still disadvantages to letting your kid watch TV, especially at a young age. They are over stimulating. I see it whenever Light is watching.She’d be so hyper. Sometimes I would call her and it’s as if she didn’t hear a single word.
I think what I’m trying to say is that don’t just say no because other parents are saying no. If you think that it helps your child and yourself, then let her watch TV. Just don’t make it her main activity at home. I really believe that being interactive with your child is important in her development. I find that it’s a really great bonding experience reading and playing with Light.
Leave a Reply