Confession: We own a television and sometimes my daughter watches it. I feel as if I should be wearing dark glasses and using a device to disguise my voice as I type this.
I credit Sesame Street for my little girl's expanding vocabulary and knowledge of the world. I have no qualms about PBS programming. What I have to be careful of are the things I might have on for a few minutes in the evening before she goes to bed.
I watched that "reality" show called The Biggest Loser -- if you haven't seen it, families or couples or groups of friends compete against another team to see who can lose the most weight. The name of the show is regrettable and the episodes themselves are padded with a lot of dramatic music and commercials, but the concept of changing your lifestyle through diet and exercise to achieve better health is a good one. Anyway, my daughter saw part of this show. A big deal is made out of the weigh-ins. The people are weighed on a gigantic scale and much emotion is shown about the weight lost.
My little girl now stands on the scale in our bathroom and announces, "One hundred six pounds!" What she picked up from the show is that what you weigh is a big deal. Ouch. I think I'll do my best to keep the TV off in the evening until she's older so I can explain things to her. Not that one's weight isn't important for good health, but the last thing I want to imprint on my tiny daughter is any kind of obsession in that arena.
