One rabbit trail my kids have gone on, especially, my 11 year old, as a result of their enjoyment of animated cartoons and videogames is an interest in voice actors. They pay attention to the people who do the voices for the different characters. They admire Mel Blanc and Frank Oz. This has also extended to creating sound effects. They learned about Fred Newman from watching Between the Lions. My 11 yo frequents Fred Newman's site and had taught himself a lot of sound effects noises as a result. Sometimes it can be a little annoying to live with, I'll admit. But right now it is his passion. He and his older brother also think Dee Bradley Baker rocks.
A while ago we all got into Bobby Mcferrin. My 11 year old took it one step further and is now very much into beatboxing a la Taylor McFerrin. He works at it frequently, though we do keep requesting him not to beatbox at the dinner table! He knows all these technical terms and he sounds like a speech therapist when he talks about vocalized or aspirated sounds and using your voice box, etc. It actually takes a lot of thought, effort and practice to get those sounds and beat right!
All this creativity with mouth noises reminds me of my favorites: Mel Torme and Ella Fitzgerald. I loved scat when I was growing up. I saw Mel Torme's son, Steve in concert at a nightclub a long time ago. I also saw Ella once. I had lawn tickets at an outdoor theater. It was pouring rain the whole time and I totally ruined my clothes standing there but no one left because of the weather. If you were a fan of Ella, a little rain wasn't going to stop you!
My kids enjoy scat as well. Currently my 15 yo is into Scat Man John.
So from watching such shows as Bugs Bunny, Phineas and Ferb, Between the Lions and getting into video games, my kids have explored all kinds of things: animation, production, music, etc.
This listing here is just a small slice of all the interests, passions and learning that have unfolded from watching some TV shows; a little example of how TV has broadened and enriched our family life.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thoughts on TV (Part 3)
In the last two posts I tried to establish that:
1) a lot of TV consumption is problematic and
2) life holds natural limitations on how much TV children consume. These limitations come from the parents lifestyle choices, the daily obligations that call one away from the TV, how the parents model their own attitudes and practices when it comes to TV viewing and lastly, discussions among the family members and day to day diligence on the part of the family to remember to use prudence in their TV viewing choices.
Prudence is a crucial word! Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues (the others being fortitude, justice, and temperance). Cultivating these four virtues allows one to live a moral life. I think of prudence as practical wisdom. One way children learn the virtue of prudence is to be allowed to practice making choices within the safety of their home. Learning how to watch TV prudently is a life skill in this day and age, I think.
But let's go back to to the unschooling assumption that a child can't self regulate unless given freedom. I want to examine this. I don't know if this is always true. I think it might be frequently true, but from my own life experiences, I don't think I buy that it is always true.
For example, my husband's family put no limits on TV watching. In fact, his father was a mailman and when he'd get home in the early afternoon, the TV would go on and stay on. My husband was allowed a TV in his room. His parents' home was the kind of house where there was always a TV flickering in the background. And they also didn't seem to censor much at all (though back in the days of just network TV, that wasn't the issue it is today.) I, on the other hand, grew up in a household where we were not allowed to watch TV during the school week. The one exception was that we got to watch Bewitched on Thursday evenings after dinner. On the weekends we were allowed some TV. Saturday morning cartoons were nirvana for me and my sisters. Something we really looked forward to! Sunday mornings we usually got up and ate a big breakfast and didn't go to Mass until noon, so we'd often watch movies (if there was a good one) on Sunday morning. They always seemed to be playing Tarzan or at least that is my most vivid memory. Sunday evenings were a TV tradition. My dad made milkshakes for us and we sat and watched Wild Kingdom and Disney. This actually spurred me to get my homework done before then. I hated the feeling of it hanging over my head when I was trying to enjoy my milkshake and TV. In the summer we did watch more TV during the day when it was hot (only a couple of rooms had A/C in the house I grew up in.) But the point is that there were strictly enforced limits on when, what and how much TV we were allowed to watch.
So we both grew up in different households with different approaches to TV and yet neither of us are the types to watch a lot of TV. My husband and I both tend to just watch a few particular shows we like. And there really aren't all that many of them. My husband watches a little bit more than I do. We both like the convenience of being able to record shows and watch them when we have time. So somehow we got to pretty much the same place even though our upbringings were different.
I did not rebel against my parents TV rules. I understood why they didn't want me watching so much TV. They wanted me to run around outside, or play in the big playroom they built for us, or read, or do other wholesome things children ought to do! I think that while my husband found his own center in terms of his approach to TV, probably very much in line with unschooling philosophy, I found my center because I developed sensible TV viewing habits as a child in my home. And I am okay with that!
And this is where I have a real problem with the unschooler's assertion that a child will self-regulate if given enough freedom. This may or may not be true. Some children will self-regulate. I've got two of those kind! Some children will really struggle with this. I've got three of those! I think each child is an individual with strengths and weaknesses. I think sometimes freedom in TV consumption can play into a child's weakness and instead of self regulating which leads to free choices, it can lead to bad habits that a child can't break free from.
In my own little experiments in giving my children much freedom, I've seen how too much TV consumption brought out the worst in their characters. It made them materialistic, selfish, rude and cranky! However, we don't encounter these problems when the freedom to watch TV is seasoned with parental prudence.
This is already too long. I still haven't gotten to how TV has blessed me/us! Maybe next time!
1) a lot of TV consumption is problematic and
2) life holds natural limitations on how much TV children consume. These limitations come from the parents lifestyle choices, the daily obligations that call one away from the TV, how the parents model their own attitudes and practices when it comes to TV viewing and lastly, discussions among the family members and day to day diligence on the part of the family to remember to use prudence in their TV viewing choices.
Prudence is a crucial word! Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues (the others being fortitude, justice, and temperance). Cultivating these four virtues allows one to live a moral life. I think of prudence as practical wisdom. One way children learn the virtue of prudence is to be allowed to practice making choices within the safety of their home. Learning how to watch TV prudently is a life skill in this day and age, I think.
But let's go back to to the unschooling assumption that a child can't self regulate unless given freedom. I want to examine this. I don't know if this is always true. I think it might be frequently true, but from my own life experiences, I don't think I buy that it is always true.
For example, my husband's family put no limits on TV watching. In fact, his father was a mailman and when he'd get home in the early afternoon, the TV would go on and stay on. My husband was allowed a TV in his room. His parents' home was the kind of house where there was always a TV flickering in the background. And they also didn't seem to censor much at all (though back in the days of just network TV, that wasn't the issue it is today.) I, on the other hand, grew up in a household where we were not allowed to watch TV during the school week. The one exception was that we got to watch Bewitched on Thursday evenings after dinner. On the weekends we were allowed some TV. Saturday morning cartoons were nirvana for me and my sisters. Something we really looked forward to! Sunday mornings we usually got up and ate a big breakfast and didn't go to Mass until noon, so we'd often watch movies (if there was a good one) on Sunday morning. They always seemed to be playing Tarzan or at least that is my most vivid memory. Sunday evenings were a TV tradition. My dad made milkshakes for us and we sat and watched Wild Kingdom and Disney. This actually spurred me to get my homework done before then. I hated the feeling of it hanging over my head when I was trying to enjoy my milkshake and TV. In the summer we did watch more TV during the day when it was hot (only a couple of rooms had A/C in the house I grew up in.) But the point is that there were strictly enforced limits on when, what and how much TV we were allowed to watch.
So we both grew up in different households with different approaches to TV and yet neither of us are the types to watch a lot of TV. My husband and I both tend to just watch a few particular shows we like. And there really aren't all that many of them. My husband watches a little bit more than I do. We both like the convenience of being able to record shows and watch them when we have time. So somehow we got to pretty much the same place even though our upbringings were different.
I did not rebel against my parents TV rules. I understood why they didn't want me watching so much TV. They wanted me to run around outside, or play in the big playroom they built for us, or read, or do other wholesome things children ought to do! I think that while my husband found his own center in terms of his approach to TV, probably very much in line with unschooling philosophy, I found my center because I developed sensible TV viewing habits as a child in my home. And I am okay with that!
And this is where I have a real problem with the unschooler's assertion that a child will self-regulate if given enough freedom. This may or may not be true. Some children will self-regulate. I've got two of those kind! Some children will really struggle with this. I've got three of those! I think each child is an individual with strengths and weaknesses. I think sometimes freedom in TV consumption can play into a child's weakness and instead of self regulating which leads to free choices, it can lead to bad habits that a child can't break free from.
In my own little experiments in giving my children much freedom, I've seen how too much TV consumption brought out the worst in their characters. It made them materialistic, selfish, rude and cranky! However, we don't encounter these problems when the freedom to watch TV is seasoned with parental prudence.
This is already too long. I still haven't gotten to how TV has blessed me/us! Maybe next time!
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