Media Think, a media literacy organization SW Portland'd Rick Seifert helped start in 2000, is conducting an online survey. They'd like parents to respond to a brief questionnaire about how their families use media. Can you help? Click to give your input to the Media Think Survey. I just took it, and was done in 3 minutes.
In college, I was a big fan of the TV soap opera "All My Children." If I didn't have a class at noon (or sometimes even if I did), I'd head to the student union for lunch and a dose of Luke and Laura. In case you don't know, they were the star characters and central focus of the show back then.
And maybe they still are.
Sometimes I'll catch a glimpse of a cover of Soap Opera Digest at the grocery store and see the names or faces of characters I recognize from back then. Do soap opera stars never age? Do they leave the show and come back? Like Laura from "All My Children," do they die and come back to life?
I stopped watching the daily soap when I left college. The only person I know now who watches daytime soap operas (or who would admit to it anyway) is my mother. She faithfully watches a show called "The Young and the Restless." She's watched it since I was a kid. She knows all of the characters and -- this is a little scary -- sometimes speaks of them as if they are real people. She'll tell me about a character's kitchen or garden or relationship with her father's third wife's stepson-in-law. It may as well be a neighbor next door for all the details she passes on.
I wouldn't have the time, let alone the desire, to maintain that level of devotion to a soap opera storyline. But there must be many who do because soap operas still take up a large chunk of time amongst talk shows during the day.
Do you or anyone you know watch daytime soap operas?
As a family, we watch very little TV together. The rare times my kids watch TV it's something fairly mind-numbing (to me) like Elmo goes to the Potty. So I skip it. When my husband and I watch, it's usually a DVD after the kids are asleep. Except for Blazers season, which my husband watches religiously. He tries to draw us all into basketball games with limited success.
All the press about the Olympics in China and the opening ceremonies piqued the interest of this family. In so many ways the phase "made in China" has become derogatory, and it was very enjoyable to all sit down together in our cool basement, and watch the spectacle of the opening ceremonies on TV together Friday night. It was stunning. Like Cirque du Soleil. We were awed by the precision of the multitudes of drummers, the dancers, and the painting of the giant landscape by the hands and feet of many, and of course the costumes and the parade of nations. It was so long we actually ended up recording it, and are watching it in 1-hour segments. So far we haven't watched any of the sporting events, but may. My husband is very naturally active, and I wish I were a better role model. While I don't want the kids to be couch potato observers, it's a rare opportunity (OK, comes every couple of years) to see many women athletes in diverse sports during prime time.
We've also grasped the Olympic spirit to put on some play games of our own. There is the cookie roll, which actually doesn't involve any cookies but much rolling around on the grass. And the lion races where they pretend to be Simba from The Lion King (still haven't seen this movie but heard about it after viewing the Michael Curry exhibit).
Are you watching the Olympics with your kids? Are your kids performing in any of their own Olympic games?
When I'm not too busy being the village idiot, you may find me hanging the clothing out to dry on the backyard clothesline. Our family was featured with the old solar clothing dryer on yesterday's KOIN Savers segment.
Or you may view just that little tidbit via youtube:
Thanks to some of the crazy green stuff we are up to over on EnviroMom.com, me and the kids are going to be on TV this week. Tune into KOIN (channel 6) at 5pm on Wednesday, June 25 for the KOIN Savers program (I think it's usually toward the end of the broadcast, around 5:25). Hopefully the paparazzi will respect our need for privacy and not be hounding our every move once we become famous...
I indulged in some late-afternoon TV watching the other day and caught an episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." In honor of Mother's Day, the audience was filled only with pregnant women and the celebrity guest was a very-pregnant Jessica Alba.
Boy did I have pregnancy envy.
It wasn't the sight of all those smiling women with big bellies that got me feeling that way. It was the sight of all the great stuff they got to take home!
My youngest is 4, so it's been a few years since I've thought about cribs and baby carriers and diaper bags. In that relatively short period of time, baby stuff has become so cool. At regular intervals throughout the "Ellen" show, she announced another spectacular baby item that was to be given to everyone in the audience. An eco-friendly crib and bedding set. The latest light-as-a-feather stroller that folds up at the touch of your pinky. Beautiful diaper bags that look like anything but and cute organic onesies.
I swooned some more at how great the women in the audience looked. I absolutely did not wear such chic clothing when I was pregnant. A woman in a sleeveless Pucci-inspired dress really caught my eye. I would have totally worn that to death. My favorite item of clothing when I was last pregnant? A Gap Outlet long-sleeved white maternity T-shirt, ultimately food-stained from all the eating I was doing.
Those of you who have had babies more recently are probably shaking your heads at my ignorance and envy of cool baby stuff. And really, the chances of me being pregnant again are about as good as the chances of me being the celebrity guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." (If only I looked like Jessica Alba...) And, c'mon, I wouldn't get pregnant just for the cool stuff.
But you should have seen the little booties that looked like cowboy boots...
It is that time of year when we all band together, turn off the TVs and cut out video/screen time for a week. Yes, it's TV Turnoff week.
We've written about our families' challenges and successes with limiting their television media exposure quite a bit last year. We also brainstormed on things to do during the week when screen time is off limits. I'm going into it this year reading SW Portland resident Ellen Currey-Wilson's The Big Turnoff. I've seen Ellen speak three times. I'm practically a groupie.
Anyway, the thing that I learned via this exercise is that I was using TV as a babysitter for my kids much more than I wanted to admit. I liken it to an addict hitting rock bottom, admitting the problem, and taking steps to move on. So we did. It was a hard week. But in the end, we achieved so much and we never went back. Now TV is such a minor part of my kids' lives. I'm really excited about that. I also don't watch much TV myself. But rest assured. We are regular Americans. We still have 4 TVs in our house... But we don't watch TV while we are eating. And we don't have TVs in the kids' room. We watch very little, but just have many screens to choose from when we do...
So, if there's any advice I can give...
If your kids are in the preschool set, there's some TV Turnoff Week resources available from the good folks at Tessy & Tab.
Feel free to comment and share TV turnoff ideas, ask for help and simply rant if you feel the need...
We often talk about limiting screen time and turning the TV off. But some shows are just classics. Take Sesame Street. I grew up with it. Sing "men-nom-en-nah" to any person from my generation and they will reply with "doo-doot-de-doo-dooh!" Then have that song stuck in their head all day long...
Now my kids of are the Elmo generation. He's helped them learn to go potty. He's made them less fearful of the doctor. He's like an alien franchise -- infiltrating our home with furry, red, singing monster toys and videos...
So if Elmo is your kid's thing, here's an OPB benefit event that you won't want to miss:
Pricey, huh? But hey, it's a benefit, right?
I know it's kind of weird that I'm going to tell you about a new kids TV show after I recently posted more reasons to be worried about kids and TV. But I am.
The new show is "Ni Hao Kai Lan," an animated NickJr. creation, about a Chinese girl and her friends and family. It's a lot like "Dora the Explorer" - including cute animal pals and a loving grandparent - but in Mandarin/English instead of Spanish/English. Mandarin is the most widely spoken native language in the world and is growing in popularity in many U.S. cities, including Portland. The show introduces kids (and parents) to Mandarin words and characters and Chinese culture in a kid-friendly way.
In a typical episode, Kai Lan gets together with her friends and embarks on an activity, like celebrating Chinese New Year or going camping. A conflict will arise and they find a way to resolve it, often with the help of YeYe, Kai Lan's grandfather. Kai Lan counts in Mandarin, she sings in Mandarin, she responds to YeYe in Mandarin. By the end of an episode, my 4-year-old is counting in Mandarin, singing in Mandarin and responding to YeYe in Mandarin. By the way, we don't speak Mandarin.
My son is learning the language through an after-school program, and my daughter will probably want to start in the fall. Although I'm not looking for ways to get my kids to watch more TV, I'm happy to let them watch "Ni Hao Kai Lan" for the exposure to the language and culture. I've been waiting a long time for a show like this.
I don't have Comcast On Demand and I'm not sure how many people subscribe to this feature, but maybe lots of you do and are having the same frustration as Leah:
Our family has Comcast - which comes with a nifty OnDemand feature. We're not big TV watchers, but our daughter does like Little Bear and Max and Ruby. To use the service, you go to channel 01. On this channel, you can use your remote to scroll thru and find the TV program you want and hit play and off you go. BUT the whole time you are doing this there is a preview screen running in the corner. So they play movie preview after movie preview. And most of these previews are NOTHING I'd ever want my daughter to see. So i have her leave the room, but every once in a while, she sees it anyway. They have explosions, fighting, monsters, scary movie previews that give me the creeps, sexy scenes...the whole thing.
Leah is working with a Portland Comcast rep to collect complaints from parents about this preview feature in hopes that Comcast corporate will stop running them. Parents who are concerned about this feature should send an email to lisa_walter@cable.comcast.com with the subject line "Customer Complaint - On Demand."
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