> That's when I said
 > that most cartoons would be out, and I would control
 > it. And I haven't
With my own kids, I'm just fussy about which ones they watch. For the most 
part, my kids don't watch anything on network (CBS, NBC, ABC, or FOX) 
television. They can watch most anything on Disney Channel (which comes as 
part of our cable package, now, no "extra" charge), they can watch selected 
cartoons on Cartoon Network and Nickolodeon - but my husband and I retain 
"veto rights". Right now Jennifer is watching Scooby Doo, as she is home sick 
with a horrible cough. (If I were homeschooling right now, which I'm not yet, 
we'd probably continue on. She's home because everyone complained that her 
cough was too loud. It's mostly allergies, I think.)
I'm also fussy about how much tv is watched. An hour a day for the kids is 
*plenty*. Jennifer and Kristin have taken some flack this year at school 
because they don't watch the "mainstream" TV shows, nor do they listen to 
"mainstream" music. Kristin was laughed at (!) for not knowing who Madonna 
is. Jennifer turned in a RAD reading form with over 3,000 minutes several 
months in a row. Other kids didn't believe it. When she replied, "well, I 
don't watch TV, I read a lot," one child said, "OOH! How could you *live* 
without TV???" (She didn't have an answer, but I supplied one for her to use 
if needed down the road: "kids 100 years ago lived just fine without TV".)
We go out weekends in our camper quite a lot. We are among the few campers in 
the RV park that don't have a TV in ours. Even the RV park check=in clerks 
are really surprised when they say, "cable tv hookup?" and we say, "no 
thanks, we don't have a TV in the camper." (I go out in the camper to get 
*away* from the TV and the telephone.) Our girls read a lot in the evenings 
and in the early mornings in the camper. They also play little travel games 
together. I can't say it's completely harmonic (they still fight), but they 
sure clock in a lot of hours doing things that aren't related to the TV set.
                                 -donna
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