“When We Were Little” Wednesday

When I was little, my sisters and I watched very little television. Very little. The little bit of TV we did watch was – for the most part – on PBS. We watched Sesame Street and Mister Rogers and Pinwheel…..classics. We didn’t get up and watch Saturday morning cartoons, and I don’t remember there ever being an issue of prying us away from the TV to go do our homework. We weren’t allowed to watch MTV or even Nickelodeon, because my parents didn’t like the content of the shows on that type of channel. (I hesitate to write this for fear of getting someone in trouble…..but sometimes we snuck and watched those when my parents weren’t home. Let’s be honest, though…..I think my parents knew. They weren’t nearly as clueless as we imagined.) I still claim to have been a PBS Kid. So much so, in fact, that when people find out about my love for Kermit the Frog, I have to correct them; they automatically assume I love Kermit from The Muppets…..but my love of the silly green guy comes from Sesame Street. (Seriously. A frog in a trench coat? What’s not to love?)

Looking back, I’m not sure how my parents kept us away from nonstop TV. My sisters and I were content with reading or playing outside or listening to music or playing with each other. I just don’t think we felt an overwhelming need for the “idiot box” (as my dad called it) to stimulate our minds. (Good thing……because how stimulating is it, really?)

I hope I can carry on this tradition with Leah. Scott and I talk all the time about how we don’t want her to have tons of video games and movies and things like that, because we want her – like us – to learn to entertain herself in other ways. We want her to grow up with dirty, calloused feet from running around the back yard. We want her to read, read, read. We want her to learn about her interests and develop them into hobbies and refined skills. I want her childhood memories to be of sunshine, storybooks, and silly games. I want her childhood memories to be as happy as mine are…..and not confined to one room of the house, in front of a box.

Note on Mister Linky (below): This is a feature that allows you - the reader - to participate in "When We Were Little" Wednesday. All you have to do is enter your name and information in the boxes, and a link will be displayed, showing you as a fellow reminiscer! (Is 'reminiscer' a word?) A link to your post on your blog will be displayed here! How fun is that?! You can also save and use my WWWL Wednesday logo, above. Thanks for playing along!