Mar. 29, 2007 - News Flash!!!
Satallite TV is now available in the most popular minivans! Professional mom was interviewed about how much she LOVES this feature, telling the interviewer that they now have everything they have in their living room available to them right in the car! And as an added bonus, she still has to contend with the "Are we there yet question from her daughter that her mother had to contend with BUT ... drum roll please ... she DOESN'T HAVE TO HEAR FROM HER AGAIN for another hour or two.
WHAT?????????
This begs several questions!
1. How in the world did this mother get the Smoky Mountains, Mississippi River, St. Louis Arch, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, Golden Gate Bridge, etc into her living room.? What is being taught to children when we communicate that the only entertainment comes in the confines of an electronic screen or box??? I don't know about you but most of my dreams were borne out of those times when there was 'nothing else to do' ... I imagined what I would be one day ... afterall, don't the scriptures say "A people without vision will perish." Will we even have kids who are able to formulate a vision of their own?
2. Do these kids ever read a book? Do the know the joy of surviving from My Side of the Mountain or the value of work and family from Little House on the Prairie or imagine what life would be like as a small creature riding a motorcycle??
3. Do you think during that hour of bllissful quiet mom ever looks back to see if junior has choked on the french fry purchased along the way, gone into a seizure from some fast moving Japanese cartoon or the satellite has forgotten it's responsibility to moral excellence(yeah right) and there is some version of Rugrat Girls Gone Wild playing across the screen??
I admit it, I have a portable DVD player that was purchased when my son was about 6 and I was taking a trip on my own. And, I even wanted to curb some of the questions, some of the chaos, some of the 'are we there yet?"! But day in and day out?? Hours of silence ... and I do mean silence, these things have individual earphones ... even the kids don't have to talk to one another.
Will we have a generation of kids who laugh like SpongeBob, put their hope in Fairy God Parents and dream of having the gift of prophecy like Raven?
I'm not a TV hater. I know about the shows above because we've watched them all (well, not Rugrat Girls Gone Wild) ... but what about the joy that comes with the anticipation of just one more hour til we get to Disney ... Grandma's ... the movie ... home?
What are we thinking??