Olivia and Evan watch way more TV than they should, not only because they inherited the genes from me who can be a couch potato if I choose to, but also because my husband has long commute to work and sometimes that is the only way to keep them quiet (from fighting for the same of everything or being upset because one does not want to play with the other) so I can get the dinner ready.  

I do not need to emphasize how bad of an influence the TV can be to children these days if the parents do not monitor what they watch.

Olivia and Evan normally watch Disney channels which are not too bad yet. But at certain times of the day they have some teenager shows with girls and boys dressed in trendy clothes and whine for nothing (at least that is how I feel).  However, Olivia loves to watch them probably because of the pretty dresses those girls wear in the show. Emphasizing on someone’s look instead of mind is not something I want to instill in her, not to mention those bad pet phrases they can pick up just like that.

So, whenever I see Olivia watching a teenager show like that, I always ask her to switch the channel as “They do not teach you anything good.” She would listen to me, at least from what I know.  

There was one weekend afternoon, she turned off the TV per my request and went upstairs. For a while the house was really quiet which was kind of strange. So I went up to husband’s office where she usually plays but did not see her there. Then something flashed in my mind, I went straight to the guest room and opened the door. There, on the bed was Olivia watching a teenager show.  

Being caught off guard, she turned to me: “Mommy, this is a good teenager show, you can actually learn something from it.” And she still uses this very reason to argue with me whenever she wants to watch a teenager show on TV.