I scold my child for being glued to the TV, while I can't put down my smartphone
“Can I watch TV? Just two videos! Please!”
My child, who is in their final year of preschool, is a huge TV lover.
From the moment they wake up, after coming home from preschool, and even after meals... they always keep the TV remote in their hand and won't let it go.
What they love to watch are YouTube gaming videos and Italian brain rot videos, which they absolutely adore.
Once they start watching, even after finishing the two promised videos, they play the next one.
When I say, “We promised two, right?”, they give me such a blank stare that it’s like a five-year-old who suddenly started living on their own.
“In the first place, wasn't the original request for one video, not two?” I think to myself every time, but...
When I told a colleague at work about this,“We don't have a TV in our house.”
Me: “What!?”
Colleague: “Well, we don't really have any trouble without one, and we have smartphones and computers, and the kids are used to that, so they don't really ask for TV or videos much.”
Is that really possible?
Looking back, I was a "super" TV addict.
I loved drama reruns, such as:
・"Power of Love" starring Eri Fukatsu
・"Yamato Nadeshiko" starring Nanako Matsushima
・"Shomuni" starring Makiko Esumi
I would rush home after school to make it in time for the 4:00 PM broadcasts and watch them glued to the TV. (lol)
When I think about it that way, I can understand how my child feels.
A life without TV is impossible for me, too. (lol)
If so, the important thing is whether they can learn to "switch gears" on their own.
…However, I am also someone who is occasionally scolded by my wife for using my smartphone too much.
In fact, since I started using note, whenever my phone notification goes off, I run to it thinking, "Maybe I got a like!" (lol)
I think, "I should warn my child about this! I should tell them to be careful about that!"
And most of the time, the content of those warnings is exactly what I am failing to do myself.
In the end, my thoughts were going in circles between "things I want to warn them about" and "things I, as a parent, am not doing myself." (lol)
Perhaps at this stage, rather than scolding them with a "Don't do that!"
I wondered if it would be better to laugh with my child saying, "That was fun!" and then say, "Let's finish together!"
While I was thinking about that, sitting in my chair and writing a note article on my smartphone, my child, whose bedtime was approaching, started tidying up their toys right in front of me.
"Right! Time for me to switch into bedtime mode for my child!"
Thinking that, I put my smartphone to sleep, slipped it into my pocket, slapped both my knees, and stood up,
...and then I took my smartphone out of my pocket once more to check if there were any notifications on note. (lol)