Dear Future Kids- You are in trouble.

    I was driving home from work the other night when I saw that the car in front of me had a DVD in for their kids to watch on the way home. My kids won't be allowed to do that. Really, a kid can't go 20 minutes in the car without watching Dora?

    I mean, I don't know if their drive is only 20 minutes, heck, they could have been driving for the last 10 hours, but it seems to be the average commute and they had NC plates. So I highly doubt it was a 10 hour drive.

    Personally, I would rather hear my kids chattering about their day than hear a stupid Dora cartoon or any other equally stupid cartoons there are out there. We wonder why kids have ADHD and why they don't talk to their parents- you want to know why? Because we sit them in front of the TV all day- at home, in the car, where else can we can we have the TV babysit our kids... the bathroom?

    So Mr. Wright and I had have already decided no TV's in our kids bedrooms (he says forever, I say until they're say, 12... and can only watch it when they earn it) and I would assume that we both agree no constant DVD watching in the car.(If we have a car that offers it... although by the time we have kids probably every car will have it- even my grandmother has a DVD player in her car now, althought she doesn't know what a DVD is.)

    I know that everyone raises their children differently and it's your prerogative to raise your kids the way you want, I just prefer kids to have to use their imagination all the time, like i had to. 

    And kids, just so you know, it's okay for me to watch TV all the time if I want- I am going to be one of those, "Do what I say, not what I do" moms... uh-oh. What kid likes hearing that?

    But... who knows what will happen with my kids? I may be putting my foot in my mouth later on!

   And as for the car- I didn't say no DVD watching... just not constantly. For instance, during a 16 hour road trip I would prefer my kids to read, draw, play road games, listen to music, etc. just like I used to- oh and talk my parents ears off- but there are times when kids get cranky and it may be easier just to let them watch a movie.

    And my kids might be super annoying and loud and obnoxious and I may just change my mind completely and be like here kid rot your brain out and leave me alone. Kidding... I think.... I haven't met my kids yet. The 16 hour road trip leads me to another reason why my kids are in trouble.

    I have no idea what you do with a baby in the car? When you are driving and the baby cries can you take it out of the car seat and hold it? Is that illegal? If the baby needs to eat do you need to stop for 30 minutes (or however long it takes a baby to eat) before you can continue driving? I mean with the dogs we stop to let them eat for 10 minutes and if I want them in my lap I can just tell them to jump up and see me. But I don't want to get arrested for holding my baby in the front seat. I guess I'll be staying home until they can talk and learn what, "No I am not stopping" means. (That will be Mr. Wright saying that to both of us as we whimper for the bathroom! :) )

    All I can imagine is how a 16 hour drive straight from NC to ME (if that's where we are living) will take like 3 days with a baby. Babies cry a lot don't they? Would we have to stop every time the baby needs something?

    Really, my kids are in trouble. I don't know what to do with them in the car and their TV time is limited before they have even graced us with their presence (or have even been thought about yet. Let's get through the wedding first!)

    So this is a message to my future children- don't be loud, obnoxious and annoying because if you are I'll have to eat my words and turn on the TV as your babysitter. Oh, and one other thing future Wright... you're in trouble.

    

Comments

[Maggie]

You make me laugh Whitney, in the most wonderful way! Shaun and I had agreed like you and your fiance to not allow our children to watch TV constantly, even before Lucas was born. I must say when he was a baby WE watched way more of it. But now we ONLY have Netflix and DVDs we own. Lucas watches ( or we play, he may not actually be watching) maybe 1 1/2 hrs of tv a day, Elmo, Seseame Street, or VegeTales.

And we recently bought a Mini Van ( something I said I "would never do" but with #2 on the way became much more necessary) and it came with a DVD player. We must have owned the van 2 mo. before every trying it out. But on our 4 hr. trip to VT to see my Father in Law we were SO happy to have it. Now Lucas only gets to watch DVDs in the van when we travel there, OR when I am driving to Brunswick with him alone and NEED that distraction. But I TOTALLY agree, if you are in the car 20 min driving in town- totally not needed!

As for in his room- NEVER! We want to know what they are watching, same goes for a computer, it will be centrally located and used where we can monitor!

P.S. Babies sometimes cry a lot in the car, hard when you are alone driving, but when you are with your spouse, one drives the other distracts the baby with toys buy bending like a pretzle!!! And you shouldn't take baby out of carseat while driving ( while spouse is driving I mean) but you can twist like a pretzle again and give them a bottle, but if you nurse...yep you have to pull over and take the time to do it......it all works out though!!!
Love reading you thoughts!
And P.S.S. You must get to Maine ASAP I need maternity pics!!! Only 5 weeks left, if that! :-)

[Charmed, I'm Sure]

Well Maggie, I guess that means I had better start yoga so I can become a pretzel! I am sure you were happy to have the TV on the way to VT- it probably made life quieter! It's hard to say, "yes I will do this when I have kids" because when the stress kicks in I am sure everything will change! It's easy to say it now :)