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You KNOW when I'm procrastinating when I've posted 3 blogs within 12 hours...
I had forgotten to post something that really struck me last night. I was about to leave the club yesterday, when I saw Alex and Avery (Gary's twins), and so I went and talked to their grandparents (Auntie Betty and Uncle Albert). It was such a lovely feeling seeing the grandparents and great-grandma baby-sitting their grandchildren for the evening. There were 4 kids, and they're really well behaved kids... I was really impressed. Anyways, what struck me was the fact that these kids have such extraordinarily responsible parents. The youngest (JJ) is Jonathan's son, and he's "almost" 4. I was asking Avery and Alex what they were doing at home now that school's out, and they were telling me about their homework. I asked them if they watched TV, and they said no. JJ piped up and said "I watch TV", and I asked him if he watched cartoons and he said yes (though he looked at me as though I were nuts - what else can 4 year olds watch anyways?). I then asked him if he watched the Cartoon Network, and he said no, because there was a lot of fighting.
This is what struck me. I have NEVER heard a 4 year old say this. They way JJ said it, it seemed like his parents had taken the time to actually watch the cartoons and evaluated them before talking to their son about their decision to not let him watch the channel. Most parents I know USE the Cartoon Network to pacify their children. They figure "cartoon" is synonymous with "kids" and they don't bother about checking it out before telling their children to sit and watch it - 24/7. That channel is more violent than late night programming... So I guess what I'm saying is that being a parent is really tough. Anyone can be a parent, but not many can be RESPONSIBLE parents. So much thought has to go into it! Oh well... I've got years before I have to think about it anyways... time to get back to work now.~