Friday 14 January 2011

The Electronic Babysitter

Today's blog dare promp is "I am the Worst Mother Because..." This is hard for me in a way, because of the whole NICU blame game thing, a lot of people don't realise this, but mummies of premature babies feel a lot of guilt, that "this" is all their fault. Which is, when you look at it rationally, a little bit daft. But, a lot of us naturally feel like failed mothers. So at first I didn't want to write a post on why I am the worst mother, but I think I can make this a light hearted one.

I am the worst mother because I utilise the Electronic Babysitter. In fact, I am doing it right now. In this day and age we have decent children's telly available from 6am - 7pm, my channel of choice is the remarkable Cbeebies. Joseph adores his "telly time". His face lights up when the telly goes on, and he enjoys it.

In my defence, I am on my own all day with Joseph. He gets sick of me. Some days going for a walk is just an impossiblity, we do have some friends locally but not lots, and our groups are only for an hour or two and only on certain days. Joseph is still too young for a lot of them, and gets a bit bored.

Also, in my defence, Cbeebies in particular is created in partnership with education and early years experts, its carefully constructed, and a lot of it is educational. Joseph's speech has been improved by television, in particular Something Special with the delightful Justin/Mr Tumble, which focuses on the use of Makaton. One of my biggest joys this winter has been Joseph climbing up to the window and signing and saying very clearly "look, snow". So thanks Mr Tumble!

Also, Joseph loves music. The Zingzillas are a personal favourite. As well as 4 fake monkeys singing along, they have a guest artist every day. Yesterday was this guy who, rather shamefully, I have to admit I had never heard of, so as well as extending Joseph's musical repetoire, Zingzilla's is extending mine.

Do I leave Joseph alone taped up in front of the television for hours, no I don't. Usually an hour or two a day its on and I do turn it off for meal times, and at most play times. But a little television, I don't think, does any harm at all.

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