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Life for Children Without Television

Could only mean imagination working at it's best. Attention span escalating and learning much easier.

I think it would be wonderful for parents to raise their children without television. But of course, there could be worse things in life, than children not seeing Iraq bombed at night as it was shown.

When 9/11 happened, I first heard this from my car radio. I thought it was some crazy show, like the War of the Worlds, it could not be true. Until I kept turning the stations and realized its was happening. I cried on the highway, during a back up getting to pick up my husband at work to contract on our home. It broke my heart. But seeing it on TV, was the worst nightmare I could imagine. When it was shown over and over, my young son only having this, the same scenes to watch,it was time to find an I LOVE LUCY video or to turn it off and go to the park. What I heard on the radio was a if I was there seeing it, NPR is a great connector for us to the news. Seeing it on TV, was indescribably. We gave up our TV after that, for two years. Now, we have one but it does not get turned on much, except for weather.

As a child of the nineteen sixties', we did not turn the TV on, until six p.m., when my Dad was expected for supper. Then after supper we were allowed to see it, as he chose the channels. Usually this meant we split out and played somewhere else, there were many children. Bedtime was early, so TV was never anything special in the 60's.

Once, I made a mistake and played around the evening news. Then, I saw an American soldier kill a Vietnamese, while he was tied up. Another scene of soldiers getting killed as they stepped off he helicopter. Then, I quit being around the news. It was too hard to understand as a child, as an adult.

Now days, so many parents tend to use it a a babysitter. That is just wrong.

There is not anything worth watching anyway. Want to use the TV? Buy some DVDs and forgo the cable or the satellite. Better yet, want to see something? Take the family to the movies, something cheerful and entertaining. The TV should not be so important.

A lot to be said, for spending long evenings on a front porch, in a chair, rocking or a porch swing, drinking ice tea and discussing your day and your dreams with your family. You can not get that kind of feeling from a television set, nor the imagination of a child. You never will.

Learn more about this author, Lucy Rucker.
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