Mommy Diaries: TV or not to TV?

Oh, television, how I love thee? Let me count the ways...seriously, how can I live without it? I think Lillie started her TV addiction at about 13 months. Signing Time is her preferred program, and it is in high demand all day long. A good educational program, yes, but a bigger pain in my butt.

I have an internal battle about the television. Does Lillie need to watch TV everyday? If she's this enthusiastic about TV now, what happens at age 2 or 3 or 4? Am I raising a couch potato? Well, its not like we watch all day. In fact, I try to limit TV to only twice a day for 30 minutes. But, after reading all the reports about toddlers and television, I have the guilties about even that small amount of time.

How can I win? Although the guilty feelings are strong, the TV gives me time to sit and answer email, do laundry, have a conversation on the phone. Well, and even as we speak, write this blog. I think, Lillie loves learning sign language, and in fact she's quite good at it. And, the only person teaching her is Racheal from Signing Times, not Mommy. So, it can't be all bad, right?

Most of my mommy friends and my own mom say I need to let it go. I play, go on adventures and all around interact with my child for every other minute of the day. And, the one hour of TV a day isn't going to negate all that hard work. But, still the guilties are there. Maybe that's just part of being a mom; always having a guilty feeling about something!