It’s about me, too!

More and more often, I’m seeing studies come out about the negative effects of screen time for our kids. This is about my personal war with the screen- and my husband!

I bring up the topic yet again, as I come home to a familiar scene: baby in front of the TV (which I know has been on for hours), and husband on his phone. I just heard another podcast today about how babies under 18 months should have NO SCREENTIME! I’m overwhelmed as I think about how to incorporate this rule into our life, the life that we have built around screens.

I speak with my husband, let him know the detriments- yet again. He sits silent, I can tell that he doesn’t agree and is feeling frustrated. I asked him to share his thoughts… “There are pros to watching programs to help her learn.” “She doesn’t always pay attention to it!” “I still play with her while it’s on.”

All of these statements are true. Pros? Sure, there are so many high-quality children’s learning programs out there… just not for her age, she isn’t old enough to learn from it yet. And no, she doesn’t always pay attention to it, but she is learning bad habits that I’d rather not have to break later. She sees us in front of screens all day, how will I ever convince her that it’s normal to go outside and be active and play? But then, my husband makes the argument that hit me the hardest. “Well my video games are how I relax, so it just feels like I’m having to give everything up.”

Give. Everything. Up.

EVERYTHING???

Bitch, I gave up EVERYTHING. I gave up my body for 9 months. I gave up caffeine. I gave up sleep, and alcohol, and almost every meal regurgitated itself out of my body. I lost 35 pounds from morning sickness. I forfeited hours at work to stay home and be still enough just to keep down enough water to hydrate our fetus. I missed out on an extra week of maternity leave going towards time with baby because I had contractions for a full week before her birth.

Bitch, I still give up a lot. I limit my caffeine and alcohol so that baby girl isn’t affected. I feed her from my actual body in the middle of the night. I don’t use my phone, or watch TV, or eat, or even look around the room while I breastfeed- because it distracts her and she won’t eat very well. I eat my dinners cold so that she can eat hers first. I take pills and vitamins and supplements to make sure that I’m healthy enough and my milk is nutritious enough for her.

Also, bitch. I AM EVERYTHING. I’m supposed to be the light and love of your life, but video games are everything? Not even ALL video games, just the ones in our daughter’s waking hours! Just the ones before 7:00 pm! You don’t get off of work until 5:30! An hour and a half of video games is everything??? I don’t think so. You’re very dreamy, but I. AM. THE. SUN.

My biggest qualm: SHE IS EVERYTHING. Our daughter is our entire world, she made us so much more than we ever were before.

I worked so hard to grow her, keep her safe, and bring her into this world healthy. Of course I’m going to do everything that I can to keep her mind, body, and soul as healthy and happy as possible.