Things They Pick Up From TV

2 years, 2 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old.....

When Ethan was down with chicken pox, I took leave to stay at home with him. When I had to cook and do some house chores, I relied on the tv to entertain him. If not, he will stick to me like a koala bear. I can't even go to the toilet without him crying outside the bathroom, as if I'll disappear behind the door and never return.

Apart from tv, I tried to do different activities with him like drawing, teaching him shapes, reading and doing puzzles but at times, I sensed that he's bored and he threw a lot of tantrums. I always say I wanted to be a SAHM but I already felt so lost after staying at home with him for four days. Probably all I need is time to adjust.

During that few days at home, I also introduced him to Hi-5 coz I got so sick with all the Barney, Teletubbies, etc. etc. We got the Hi-5 CDs from Judy (thanks again) many months ago but he didn't like it then. This round, he's totally addicted to it. Since he already know how to load the cd and press the play button, I cannot stop him from playing it over and over again. The only way I can switch the tv programme or switch off the tv is to distract him with shower or playing with him (but this does not work all the time).

All this while, I only thought he will pick up words from watching all these shows but recently he's also fast in picking up some actions. The obvious one is playing guitar. He saw a guy in Hi-5 playing a guitar while singing, he also asked for his daddy's good old guitar (since our courting days) and did the same. He does it everytime when the scene is showing on the tv. When the scene is over, he will dump the guitar. As the guitar is too big for him, Daddy was worried that it might hurt him so he bought a small guitar just for the little one. It was actually meant for display but it's the smallest we could find in the guitar shop. The damage: RM60.

I don't know what else he will pick up from the tv but from now on, I guess we have to be more carefull and selective with tv shows. Sometimes, when a thing appears to be harmless to us might cause undesirable actions from our kids. Hubby once told me that his nephew who was around 3 years old (when the incident happened) spat on a kid at a playground. The parents were of course unhappy with that and also wondered where he learn that as nobody taught him so and nobody at home ever did that. They finally figured out that he picked it up from 'Titanic'. Remember the scene where the hero taught the heroin how to spit on board the ship? Amazing ler......

Here's a clip on Ethan singing 'Tingkle Tingkle Eeetle Tar' (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) while stroking the guitar.