Patience and the Evil TV

For the holidays this year, Lucas got a number of classic childhood board games-Candyland, Shutes and Ladders, Hi Ho Cherrio, Memory. I knew it was time to introduce him to the skills learned through board games, mainly following directions and patience. Well, he is clearly as patient as him mother his which is not saying much.

We broke out Shutes and Ladders about two weeks ago after dinner. I have fond memories of playing this game with my sister and grandma when I was younger. It is the game that brought on our family's infamous cheating incident. I had dreams of having great family games nights where we would gather around our dining room table and laugh at all the fun we were having. But I wanted that dream to happen now-clearly it wasn't going to work that way. Lucas didn't want to wait his turn, he didn't want to follow directions. I was growing more and more frustrated by the minute.

And then I just gave into it. I forgot all about teaching Lucas the skills and following the rules to the game-after all it was the first time he had even played it. He decided he was going to move his game piece all over the board, have him knock into the other game pieces, go down the ladders and up the slides. Who cares? We have time to try again . . .

The reason I wanted to have the game night was because I hate how much TV Lucas is watching. I won't tell you when or how much because I am embarassed but it is more than I want him to. Yes, it is educational programming but we have three rooms full of toys he doesn't touch because of the TV. So the night we introduced the games was a no TV night. And we have had a few other times when the TV has been off. And it is wonderful! I admit, having the TV on is an easy distration when I am trying to get dinner ready or some other household task that I struggle with as a working mom. But I hate it. This past weekend we didn't get to our normal music class because I had another commitment. When we got home, Lucas asked to put his music on. So I grabbed the CD player and he was so excited to help me put the CD in and then push the play button. We listened to two CDs worth of music and had a great time. He sang, danced and played with toys he hasn't touched in a while.