Today is going swimmingly

Today is going swimmingly 1This is going to be short: My girls are begging me to go swim (in our plastic baby pool outside).

So we're going to go outside. Wearing our swimsuits and sunscreen not-quite-rubbed-in. Carrying trail mix and bottles of water (the reusable kind).

We'll pass the morning under the shade of a big colorful umbrella...until we get too hot and come inside for lunch.

After we eat, I'll rock-sing-sway until my 1-year-old falls asleep and my 3-year-old will wait excitedly at her door: "Is she asleep? Can I watch a movie from the library...but not the one with the bad lady?" (A few days ago, we watched The Rescuers...and it was a bit too much for her. She asked me to fast-forward past all of the scenes with the bad lady and then told me she wanted to take it back to the library).

I'll say, "Yes" and lift her up so she can choose from the library movies that are sitting on the top shelf of our bookcase. We'll settle in our brown leather couch and eat white cheddar popcorn...and she'll want to sit super close to me.

And there won't be much time for blogging.

How much TV does your child watch (if any) and how do you decide what movies/shows to let him/her watch? Also - do you have a swimming pool?

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34 comments on “Today is going swimmingly”

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  2. Your kids are so dang cute and you are such a fun mom! I love to read about other parents like myself that care about "doing things" during the day - kids are up for anything and I learn so much about my kids when I just get out and absorb myself in their day.

  3. We do not have cable (just the few channels available from the digital box - we love our PBS and for news we watch KGUN 9/NBC) but we do subscribe to Netflix and also checkout movies from the library. I try to limit our oldest daughter's tv time to one hour, maybe two per day - it just depends.

  4. Sounds like a lovely day!

    Our policy about TV and movies has changed over the years. About a year ago we got rid of our TV. We have found it to the one of the best decisions for our family. Our kids play much better with each other and are more creative with the spare time that they have. We still do watch movies on an occasional family night together.

    1. Do you watch movies on your computer then? I'm curious.

      Also - Kudos to you for getting rid of your TV! I can definitely see the advantages of that lifestyle.

  5. We don't do alot of movies, they seem to all have a bad guy or someone dies or the kids are taken from the parents...uugh, I wouldn't let them watch that with real actors why is it different?
    We try to save TV until after nap and we try to stick with Charlie & Lola (Library) and Backyardagains and Wonder Pets (Netflix online (we just do the $9 package so that we have unlimited online watching and one movie at a time)).
    They will watch one episode of The Backyardigains and then spend a few hours acting it out, for exsample today they have been Robin Hood the clean, Mayor Sticky Pants and Maid Marrion the Sparkley for over an hour, dancing, singing. It's fun!

  6. The kiddie pool thing made me laugh at memories of my family...all seven of us would get in an 8 foot 18 inch deep kiddie pool at once! When we lived in TX there was no fence between our yard, and our neighbors' driveway. One day they came home while we were all crammed in the kiddie pool, and after that they often invited us over to swim in their real pool! :)

  7. My son is 19 months old and has not watched tv or movies yet. Once in a while I will turn on a kid's show just to see what happens, but he's never been interested. I feel guilty saying this, but I almost wish he would just sit and watch a 30 minute show so I could have a chance to work out or do something! It's very tiring running after an energetic 19 month old all day!

    We just bought a small blow up pool at Target. It has a built in sun shade and a small sprinkler. He loves it! He also loves "helping" water the flowers and always manages to come in soaked! Our neighbor has a large above-ground pool and she gave us a standing invitation to come over whenever we want. It's in the 90s so I think I'll take her up on that.

  8. NO tv for us. At my moms right now--she's got a pool. Thank goodness it was 106 degrees here. We swam for about 4 hours today--broken up by a trip to a museum. Life is good.

  9. Our babe is only 3 months old, so we haven't had to think about the tv/electronics stuff yet. My guess is that he won't watch too much, since my husband and I don't watch TV...perhaps this will make it a non-issue? I'm hoping so. When we do sit down to watch something, it is almost always an episode of Little House on the Prairie, of which we own the first 6 seasons on DVD. Ahh...Pa Ingalls has many words of wisdom for us parents.
    We don't own a swimming pool...but we have family that does! I am fine not owning one, as I don't really want the responsibility of cleaning it, but I do wish our neighborhood had one so we could go more regularly...our little guy loves the water (and so do I!).
    I hope your Tuesday was as wonderful as your Monday sounded!

  10. We don't pay for cable. It's never been worth it to us but I do throw a 30 minute video in once in while so I can get my workout in.

  11. When it comes to movies we like to watch Cars, Nemo, Wall-E, Up (my personal favorite), Aristocats, and Ratatouille. We rarely if ever watch a movie in one sitting. On TV we watch part of Sesame Street maybe once or twice a week at the most and Word World also maybe once or twice a week on PBS. I personally love both of these shows and I love that PBS has no commercials, so no marketing to my little guy. Also, I love the soundtracks to Up and Ratatouille and we listen to them regularly. We also watch Animusic, which I highly recommend (my brother-in-law is one of the creators of it). My little boy watches and identifies instruments and plays his drums along with it. We also love both the CDs and DVDs of They Might Be Giant's "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Come the 1, 2, 3s." We often go without any TV/movies/videos. But on other days we may watch an hour to an hour and a half, usually not all at once. We do listen to a LOT of music and we are always singing, playing, dancing, drumming along.
    We have a tiny baby pool and a hose/sprinkler that we play in regularly. My little boy "helps" me water our garden and we both end up soaked. He loves getting wet, and it's so fun on these hot, steamy days. We are also fortunate to have two beautiful pools near our house. They're huge and have great toddler areas with zero depth, slides, splash areas, etc. Lots of fun!

  12. At the very very most (and this is when they are SO tired) we watch 2 shows. We do a movie...hmmm....once a week as a special treat? Boy do they love movies though and they get so excited! I love the old time Disneys. And we have a crazy fancy blow up pool! ;) Hey it works perfectly!

  13. When I am home I try to keep the TV off as long as I can. Sometimes when the energy is too high or the fighting it out of control, I will put on the TV so I can get dinner on the table.

    I don't let them watch a lot of TV, however their father will let them watch movies when they are with him.

    Oh.. and no pool. We had one and it was too much issue, so now, we go to the pool up the street! The kids love it!

  14. Our cable company decided to begin to charge an extra $12 per tv last month for a new cable box that was never needed or required before. We are down to just one tv. It does not go on during the day and my girls watch a bit before bed. I am just so sick of mindless tv with bad examples of adult like (iCarly, Hannah Montana) that I will only watch with my girls if they are watching something interesting and something we can learn from (Food Network, Discovery, Animal Planet). Our tv habits are changing and while it is still a part of our lives, our reliance on it to "entertain" us is becoming less and less. I would much rather they pick up a book, play with their dogs, swim in our pool (new this year and we LOVE it!!!) or play a board game.

  15. Amy, I like your comment: "The best summer days are the ones when you get wet." Well said. So many memories are made in sprinklers, slip n slides, water ballons, etc.

    Stephanie, don't you live in Arizona? It must be scorching hot right now!! Probably not humid, though, so I'm sure it's tolerable. :)

    We enjoy movies as a family but don't do TV. I haven't watched TV in years, not because I think it's evil, but because there's no time. I'd like to find time, though. I remember it being relaxing to watch the occasional show. Every now and then, my children will flip on the TV, but it's probably been months since they've thought to do that, just because it's something we don't typically do. I can relate to phases with the TV, though. Years ago, one of my toddlers went through a Thomas the Train phase and we turned the TV on at whatever time that show came on. That was kind of fun and fit into our routine.

    1. Yes. We live in Arizona.
      Yes. It's scorching (It's 94 degrees right now...at 9:00 PM!).
      The only way being outside is tolerable is if we are in the water...hence the baby pool! :)

  16. With my oldest girl's schedule there is so little time to watch tv. Unfortunately I know that when my youngest is home with the nanny, they watch more than I would like them to. We will often watch movies together as a family and all cuddle on the couch as our bedtime wind down. Some of our favorite shows to watch (when we only have 20 minutes to wind down) are "64 Zoo Lane" and "Pinky Dinky Doo". Both are absolutely adorable and are short stories.

    My aunt and uncle have a pool, we have a blow up pool and my girls are thrilled to just play in the sprinklers. The best summer days are the ones when you get wet.

  17. It sounds to me like you had the perfect day. We also have a pool to put out in the balcony for our little one.

    About tv time. she lOVES tom and jerry although she calls it TOm and G! sometimes she goes days without watching tv then there are days when she seems interested.

    we have a channel BabyTV also available on youtube and it's very educational (that's how she has learned the few english words she knows) her favorite show is when they sing songs she likes the music.

    Like Jenny since it's summer we tend to spend our days outdoors.

  18. We DO have a swimming pool and we use at least weekly during the summer. But I admit it's kind of a pain to fill and drain.

    My 3yo almost never watches TV in the summer. The winter is another story. I quickly run out of ideas of things to do and need to get stuff done myself and that's tough to do without Nanny Nature. (I think you coined that term. ) Since our winter equals your summer I can completely understand your daughter's desire to pick out another library DVD.

  19. I would love a swimming pool today, it's hot humid over here.

    We don't have tv, but we do own dvd's that we buy having a set of rules, no swearing, no taking the Lord's name in vain, no sexuality (yes some kids movie are way to sexy!!!)etc... Kiddos watch them on rainy days after the usual craft and books reading time have been done for a long time.

  20. In our home we don't have cable thus no reception so no tv. We borrow dvds from the library, love the Hayao Miyazaki movies: Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service. We limit our daughter's watching to maybe once a day. Unfortunately at my MIL who watches her, she has her tv on constantly. It has been a real issue for us because she thinks we are ridiculous no matter what data we show or tell her.

    Swimming: we just bought our daughter a little play pool and she loves it. We take her swimming whenever we can at my BIL's home.

  21. We don't do TV at all, and as far as movies we limit them. There's not a set amount, though. We just avoid movie watching on more than a once or twice a week basis...we don't worry over it if it doesn't work out that way. Levi recently watched the Rescuers Down Under and loved it. If I remember correctly, the original Rescuers was a lot scarier, so we're skipping it for now.
    Hope y'all had a wonderful dip in the pool!

  22. We hardly watch any TV or movies. I hate when we go to the library and the kids ask if we can take some movies home. We end up returning them unwatched b/c we forget to watch them. I do let them watch a movie about once, maybe twice a week. We just like to do other things. That said my kids still get excited about a good movie, Like Toy story 3, they are so excited and want to see it some day. We have a policy that we never let our children watch a movie that we have not seen, period.
    On the whole we are just not movie/ TV people.
    Usually my kids will ask to watch a cartoon in the last afternoon, which i am fine with. :0)

    1. We're not "TV/movie people" either. Tim & I rarely watch television and we can go months without turning it on. As a general rule, we much prefer to be doing something "active" - hiking, biking, walking, swimming, crafting, talking, helping others, etc.

      That said, I don't think TV is "bad" and we go through "seasons" of watching. For example, my firstborn didn't see any TV until she was almost 2. Then, I got pregnant and experienced extreme morning sickness...and she quickly became introduced to PBS. ;)

      Also - Now that she is a little older, she gets excited about watching a movie or cartoon when her little sister naps...and I don't see the harm in it. It's something fun for her to look forward to and it gives me a little time to reply to e-mails, do laundry, etc. It works!

      Ultimately, each family has to decide what is best for them.

      P.S. I love that you are so careful about which movies your kids see!

  23. My 3yo just recently started watching movies. She really doesn't like anything even remotely "scary" or "bad" though, which leaves out quite a few. We've rented some, but mostly she'll watch a show or two in the evening or right after school. Her favorites are Dora or Diego, or anything on Nick Jr... they don't usually have a bad guy and they include a lot of counting, rhyming, sharing/caring, etc.
    My 18 mo old will look up for a few minutes at what she is watching, but isn't interested for long enough for me to be concerned.
    I was very against TV for the first two years of her life. But, we got into the habit of watching a 20 min show while I'm preparing dinner, right after getting home from school and work, and honestly I think the down time is really good for her. It makes dinner prep easier for me but, more importantly, she seems much happier after having a few minutes of rest time before getting on with the evening playtime/dinner/family stuff.
    It works for us!

    1. Our 3-year-old is the same way! Whenever we are going to watch a movie or show, she'll ask, "Is there a bad guy/lady in it?" If so, she always opts to not watch it (which is fine w/ me).

  24. My son usually watches about 2 hours of tv and computer (combined) a day. This sounds like a lot...doesn't it? It is what works for us, we have a time limit set for our electronics. One hour each, this my 9 year old thinks is too little ( :

    On weekends, he usually does a little more. Usually a movie or couple tv shows and about an hour of computer time.

    It's hard for me to really limit the computer/tv time any more than I do, if I am not showing an example and limiting myself also. Usually I will put a timer for myself as well, so he can learn from example.

    I think tv/computer is just part of our modern life. We can't possibly keep the kids away from it in this generation. There are a lot of leaning opportunities.

    Even my toddler is read stories at night on dad's iPad.

    I know many parents feel differently but I feel that it's completely healthy as long as there are limits and other activities to keep them busy as well.

    My toddler is in LOVE with Sesame Street and watches that every morning with breakfast. She also has started enjoying the disney movies with brother over the weekends.

    1. Hi Marcela! I think it's wonderful that you have designated limits for television and computer time (for your son and for yourself). That shows a lot about how intentional you are as a parent. Kudos to you!

      I agree with you that electronics are "part of our modern life" and that there are "lots of learning opportunities" to be found through the use of TV/computers.

      I ALSO believe - as I think you do - that most people in our society watch way too much television AND that many parents are painfully unaware of the impact & influence that the media has on children (either that, or...they choose to ignore it). For example, a friend recently went to the new Twilight movie and commented that there were quite a few babies/toddlers at the film w/ their parents. It broke my heart to hear it! The Twilight series is very "adult" - full of violence, death, and sexuality. Just because a baby/child can't talk or vocalize their thoughts articulately yet does NOT mean that those images and messages aren't being imprinted on their hearts and minds!

      1. I got my kid's a kid's meal to share at Burger King this week. (I know, bad, bad...) And guess what the "toy" was. A Twilight movie poster. What?!! For kids? My daughter was sooooooo mad about it. Couldn't believe that was her "toy". Ha!

  25. My son watches a lot of movies... although 70% of the time it's back ground noise. We don't have cable so anything we watch is streaming kids tv on the internet or rented, borrowed, or owned movies.

    We do not have a swimming pool but we go to a local one 1-2 times a week. We're both like fish!

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