TV Turnoff Week Starts Today: Got Plans?

Wow, that snuck up on me.  Today is Day 1 of what could be a l-o-n-g week for kids and families alike.  This year, TV turnoff week runs from April 21st through the 27th, Sunday to Sunday.  We've discussed the TV or no TV issue before, but this is just a week, so (thankfully) doesn't require so much philosophizing! 

Do you plan to turn off your TV this week?  Gonna be hard?  Or are you looking forward to it as a chance to get outside more in the balmy (?!) Spring weather?   Have you warned the kids,  planned fabulously captivating replacement activities, or are you just gonna wing it?  We're a video family, and since the DVD player broke a few weeks back, we've got no choice!  If you need back-up support, there are a bazillion places to turn.  To name a few: the Center for Screentime Awareness (they cooked this 'holiday' up - so love 'em or hate 'em), LimiTV, and, for the hardcore, AdBusters.  And there's always the uM calendar, packed with exciting things to do in Pdx.

This one doesn't happen to be a hard one for our family, but what really worries me is when somebody asks me to avoid the computer at home for a week.  I know my kids would sign our family right up.  We're plugged in but they're not?  Oh, mama, how unfair.

The new Mama Mag

5 1/2 years ago when I was expecting baby number 1, I was ravenous to learn about birth, nursing and motherhood. I was turned on to Mothering magazine by my midwives ( I am still forever grateful for their sage wisdom).  I kept my subscription for 2 years.   At that time some of the articles were feeling a bit stale to me and not necessarily relevant to my situation. I was ready for a change.  About the same time I became pregnant with second daughter and reading anything was thrown out of the window.  My mind was mush. 

Fast forward a few years. I am getting pretty comfortable with my place as mama and I feel I can take on a little side read now and again.  I've picked up Cookie which is a nice change to the typical parent mag layout, but really I can't relate to buying couture clothes for my children or redecorating their room in the latest post modern fashion, much less dress myself like a runway model to hit the coffee shop.  A recent article on MothersMovement.org called out such reads as "parentbling".

I can think of many other magazines to fit under this category. And I must admit, I have enjoyed flipping  through the ad filled pages of Parenting and the likes of other gifted subscritions as a substitute for television while I nursed and tried to make it through the day.  I must also admit that at times I actually enjoyed it. I found it interesting to see what parenting in America was "suppose" to be like. I think it helped me relate, or not, to other mamas at times.

Today, my friend turned me on to a new magazine called Wondertime.  I haven't had a chance to take it in too much yet, but it looks like a more down to earth sort of read. The website links to a stay-at-home-dad blog and a mama turned eco-blogger along with ideas on how to celebrate spring and debates on when to buy organic.  I am intigued.  Could this be the right combination of intellect and eye candy?

I have to thank Mothering for the years of compassionate parenting information that I gained. It is still one of my favorite magazines and I would recommend it to all new and seasoned parents. But for those who are looking for a bit of light reading along with entertainment to comlipent their parenting intellect which new Mama mag should a mama grab?  What do you enjoy about the magazines you read?

Think Out Loud: Clinton and the Generational Gender Divide

Join in on the conversation NOW on-line or via phone.  Lisa (Activistas) and Honorable Betty Roberts are special guests on Think Out Loud on OPB radio. The discussion is focused on "talking more about how your own experiences (at the workplace, at home, on the ballfield, in the supermarket aisle) have shaped your political and social views. We might circle back to talk about the election, obviously, but you shouldn't feel that the show is limited to a Clinton-centric discussion." Lisa, you're sounding great!

YouTube as a Learning Tool?

It all started two weeks ago with a library book about the Titanic.  Since then, my son has been on a fact-finding mission to learn everything he can about the Titanic, not to be mistaken with the Carpathia or the Californian which were other ships involved in the story of this disaster.  The questions are endless, what are smoke stacks for? Where's the engine?  What are the rudders on a ship? What about the propellers?  How did the ship sink?  Most often, I do my best to explain things using my limited knowledge, but it still does not satiate the mind of my curious 5 year old.  I have come to accept and realize that the best thing to do is to feed his curiosity by encouraging further discovery and exploration into whatever subject matter that seems to pique his interest.  For the Titanic, I used a most unlikely resource (for me) YouTube to help further his understanding to better explain the things I could not.  Who knew that Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On is helping to tell a 5 year old the story of the Titanic? 

I'm curious, do you allow your kids to watch YouTube (of course with parental supervision)?  Aside from the Titanic, we've watch the space shuttle launch, the eruptions of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Pinatubo to name a few.  Do you use other electronic media?  What about encyclopedias?  With the Wikipedia and the vast "resources" on the Web, do you feel there is still a place for doing research using books?

Comcast Responds

Thank you so much, everyone for all your letter writing and complaints regarding Comcast's exposing kids to violent previews.  The corporation responds, and Leah sends her update:

I got a call today from Comcast Executive Escalations - they called to let me know they have now "fixed the situation and will now only be showing family oriented programming previews during daytime hours."  Thank you to all the parents who wrote and called to push this issue along.  Nicely done!

Parents working together to impact change.  Love it.

Comcast: exposing kids to violent previews

The other day, Leah emailed us about an issue that accurs in her household:

Our family has Comcast - which comes with a nifty OnDemand feature.  We're not big TV watchers, but our daughter does like Little Bear and Max and Ruby [and it is great to be able to watch those chose whenever she'd like]. To use the service, you go to channel 01. On this channel, you can use your remote to scroll thru and find the TV program you want and hit play and off you go. BUT the whole time you are doing this there is a preview screen running in the corner.  So they play movie preview after movie preview.  And most of these previews are NOTHING I'd ever want my daughter to see. So I have her leave the room, but every once in a while, she sees it anyway. They have explosions, fighting, monsters, scary movie previews that give me the creeps, sexy scenes...the whole thing.

She wrote to Comcast about this problem and she wasn't able to get them to turn it off.  So, she prodded a bit more and found a Customer Service Representative (CSR) from Comcast here in PDX office who will collect individual e-mails on this issue and forward them in bulk to the corporate group.  The more people and organizations that respond/send concerns in, the more likely it is that something will be done. Send emails to: lisa_walter@cable.comcast.com and the subject should be: Customer Complaint - On Demand.

Leah says:

Corporate has had a trickle of these complaints and asks "what promotion exactly did they see that was offensive?" They haven't received critical mass of complaints yet.  The CSR has watched the "Barker" ( the ad window that rotates promos ) and knows exactly what we're talking about. The promo loop rotates through completely in about 5 minutes. It is "refreshed" every Thursday for a 1-week run.  And it almost always includes violent promos.  She would like all individuals to send their comments to her, with as much detail as possible about what promo was on that causes concern.

Disney, gender stereotypes: Avoidable?

Over on Twitter, several of the parents I follow have been talking about gender stereotypes. We were amazed to find that two of our children (Everett, who's five, and a little girl who's four) had recently made the oddly-worded identical statements: "Pretty stuff is for girls, and cool stuff is for boys, right mama?" It's not the worst gender stereotype in the world, of course, but Everett's always enjoyed "pretty stuff" (I have the box of much-loved gaudy buttons and beads to prove it) and, speaking as a girl here, I hate to have us all banned from "cool stuff." (Is an iPhone cool or pretty? But I digress...)

We darkly attributed the identical statements to Dragon Tales, which we find that both of our children watch, and several other parents chimed in about the gender stereotypes promoted by most (if not all) of the children's programming, especially Disney with its princess gestalt. Whether they come across it at home, at school, or on a trip down the grocery store aisle, it's highly difficult to protect children from Disney, and out-and-out impossible to eliminate gender stereotypes from a child's world.

Protectionism definitely isn't the answer, and thus far I've just countered Everett's many cultural influences by working on projecting a couple of good role models and pointing out where stereotypes aren't borne out. And, as I said on Twitter, I spend a lot of time digging in the dirt (lately, I get the feeling that a connection to earth heals all wounds). Where have gender stereotypes surprised you -- and what have you done to counteract them? Want to come dig in my backyard, too?

urbanMamas poster gals for Portland blogging culture

Horn-tootin' time! A few weeks ago, Steve Woodward from the Oregonian emailed asking about just why Portland is such a great town for blogging? Turns out we've been ranked the second best blogging city in the nation (behind Austin, Texas: ironically, the originator of the 'keep Portland weird' campaign. Austin has to be first in everything, waaah!). Today the article was published on the front page of the 'Living' section and I was pleased to see both me and betsywhim (who contributes to, like, 30 blogs) representing the Portland blognoscenti. You can find the article here online but it's lots easier to read in print.

We know why we think Portland is such a good blogging town (and I'll quote myself): because Portland is so rainy and, more often than not, you're stuck inside and can't interact at the playground or the beach -- blogging is a way of connecting. It's also because you all are so non-judgmental and supportive, contrary to what we hear in the news and see on Other Cities' Communities. I think another aspect is that writers are drawn to Portland for its literary scene and bunches of us are spilling out our literary guts in blogs. What do you think?

To TV or Not To TV?

My daughter came home one day and taught me a playground patty-cake rhyme:  "coca cola....  pepsi....  lemonade...  iced tea...."  I stopped her.  I asked, "What's 'pepsi'?"  She shrugged.  Slowly, she said, "You know.  Pepsi is when you shake some liquid and it explodes."   I was amused.  She had no idea what Pepsi was!  She knew what 'coca cola' was; her daddy drinks it maybe a few times a year.  We have since changed the rhyme to "coca cola.... izze...."  She knows and loves the fizzy izze drink.

Anyway, what spurred this anecdote is an email from Sarah who asks about how other urbanMamas and urbanPapas are dealing with TV and videos in their homes:

We have two boys (an almost 3 year old and a 5 month old) who have never watched TV or videos. I really wanted to get them excited about reading and in the habit of amusing themselves with active and imaginative play. My husband and I gave up TV in early 2005 and frankly don’t miss it (we’re not totally pure – we do get our movie fix from Netflix).

I love that my son doesn’t recognize a Coke logo and doesn’t ask for silly toys and sugar cereals that are so heavily marketed to young children. I realize, however, that TV is ubiquitous and I am wondering when (if?) to introduce our older son to TV or DVDs.  Do other parents have this dilemma?  When and how do I delve into this and what TV or DVDs do other urbanmamas recommend?