Mommy Guilt

I am pretty much a believer in the idea of moderation. I'm not an extremist. My kids eat fruit, cheese and healthy snacks as the norm. But they eat treats too, we take them for ice cream, we are not organic, vegetarian or fussy diet people. I'm old-school when it comes to playing outside, playing board games, creative and imaginative play. But I also let my kids watch TV. I don't think they watch a ton- during the school year hardly at all. And the type of show is closely monitored. The shows they watch would be considered "babyish" by some of their counterparts (school friends and relatives who told my their kids were WAY beyond what my kids were watching - is that a good thing??) They watch shows like Sesame Street, Handy Manny, Arthur, Catholic kids videos, and sports. They used to really like "How It's Made" and "Man vs. Wild" too. We don't have a video game system and they enthusiastically spend hours reading, playing outside, making up games, doing crafts, etc.

Yet even with the moderation approach, why do I still feel so GUILTY about them watching TV?? I will admit, it probably is bad that Leo has been watching shows with Sam lately since now "they" recommend NO TV for kids under 2. I am finding it hard to get through the day with Sammy without the help of the TV, though! I think I need to ditch the guilt. Or ditch the TV. But I think ditching the guilt makes more sense to me right now. In the past I've set up little sytems to monitor TV use to keep track and they got 2 shows a day. But with Sam I feel like I need even more like 3 or 4 per day. Is that too much?? Ugh. Kudos to those moms (Meg?) whose kids don't watch TV. I wish I knew how you do it!!??

Here's a photo of them vegging out to Sesame Street while I fold laundry in the laundry room. :)

**Edited to Add: You have to be careful even with Sesame Street evidently - After watching the episode on "a case of Mine-itis" they are running around playing a game where they go "Mine! Mine!" ha ha