Turns out TV has a downside! Who knew?

Confession...my kids watch television.  There it is, folks.  Feel free to judge me.  When I had my first child, I was determined to keep him from TV.  I think I read an article once about the possible link between early television watching and ADHD.  If I remember correctly, the article said that it has something to do with flashing images on the screen.  Anyway, it was "proof" enough for me.  Tobias didn't really start watching television until he was two.  With our second child, however, there was no hope.

By the time Adelaide was born, Tobias was a 3 1/2-year-old TV junkie.  Plus, I started working full-time again when she was six-weeks-old.  Like most newborns, Adelaide didn't pay any attention to what her brother was watching.  Sometime after her first birthday, though, that started to change.  Dora has always been her favorite, but she's branched out a little.  Ni Hao, Kai Lan, Wonder Pets, Backyardigans...she will watch them all.  If Adelaide walks into the living room and the TV isn't on, she immediately turns it on.  I turn it off, she turns it on.  I turn it off, she turns it on.  It's a game we play ALL day long.

My only consolation has been that, at least, most of the shows are educational.  Adelaide was speaking in 4-5 word sentences by 19 months.  At her 2-year-old check up, I told her doctor that she could count to 10.  Apparently, that was pretty unusual and not something they would normally ask.  She knows her shapes, she can identify numbers 1-10, and she has learned many letters too.  All-in-all, I think she's a genius, and since I didn't teach her any of this, I guess I owe TV a big thanks!

There is a "but."  Back to my original point...TV has a downside.  Many of these wonderfully educational shows are bilingual.  I didn't mention before that Adelaide knew how to count to ten in English and in Spanish, did I?  After five years of French, I am still unable to carry on a conversation with someone.  I would love for my kids to learn a second language.  Unfortunately, being able to speak Chinese and Spanish might not always be helpful.

In January, my family went out to dinner at Red Robin.  After finishing her dinner, Adelaide was starting to climb around the booth.  She was turned around, facing the group in the booth behind us, when I heard her say, "Ni hao."  I turned to Adelaide to see what she was doing.  She smiled at me, waved to the family in the booth, and said, "Ni hao."  I turned completely around, then, and noticed that the nice family behind us was Asian.  Oh, embarrassing.  Impressive, but embarrassing.

Just the other day, I was busy on the computer when I heard Adelaide yelling from the other room.  "Mommy, ayudame."  I decided that she was speaking gibberish, so I continued with my homework.  The call came again.  "Mommy, ayudame.  Ayudame!"  Unable to ignore her anymore, I got up to see what she was doing.  Turns out, Adelaide was stuck in a chair and had slipped through the arm rest.  "Ayudame," she said to me one more time.  Much to her relief, I helped her out.  Later that day, as Adelaide watched Dora, I heard one of Dora's friends cry out, "Ayudame."  Of course, ayudame means help.  Doesn't she know that I took French, not Spanish?  How about calling out, "Aidez-moi?"

So, thanks to Dora, my daughter and I can't communicate with one another.  Thanks to Kai Lan, my daughter thinks that every Asian-American speaks Chinese.  Oh well, I guess there are worse things in the world.  I still think she is a genius.  Gracias, Dora.  Xie Xie, Kai Lan.