TV and The Letter Factory

Before I was a parent, I was NEVER going to let my kids watch TV.  Then I slowly allowed more and more as a mom..... mostly to catch moments to nurse a newborn, clean up, or go to the restroom unattended.  Everything the kids watched was on PBS, Nick JR, or Disney Junior and had some sort of educational value to it (although debatable).  :)  I will say, they have learned to count in spanish, and do other things I know I haven't taught them, so it hasn't been ALL bad! :) 

BUT, just as the pre-mom me suspected, TV has not always been positive for us.  The introduction of Disney movies at late 2s and early 3s is when Maddi's nightmares started up full blown.... still striking at least once a week to this day!  Darn that walt for his complex characters, evil villains, and motherless broken families! :)  THEN, in an attempt to be like her older cousin, Maddi started in on Disney shows with REAL people like Jessie, and Something Charlie, and I'm not even sure what else.  They have the laugh reel so the kids think the last word spoken is funny, even though it's not, even in context.  It also typically has a kid acting bad, then they see the error of their ways, and the last one min is devoted to some lesson.  I think the lesson is too complex for my toddlers and instead they just learned how to be annoying.  Those shows were banned very quickly! :) 

 Lia and Maddi would ask for shows all day long.  Billy is just now getting interested in sitting for a show, and Sophia and Michaela are glad to watch but mostly would rather play while it's on.  In any account, I do not want to have the TV on at all during the day when the daycare is running.  In my attempts to minimize TV watching, and to make sure the TV that is watched is educational, I have created a "schedule" that the kids know and love!  Sophia and I catch the news in the morning before everyone is here and awake for breakfast.  Then there is play all morning until lunch.  Then following lunch we watch THE LETTER FACTORY! 



If you have heard your kids singing the song, The A says Ahh, the A says Ahhh, every letter makes a sound the A says Ahhhhh!  You can thank Leap Frog!  This whole video is devoted to letters and their sound.  For whatever reason, it is like a drug to these kids!  Maddi has started reading, Michaela knows all her letters and sounds (her preschool teacher just told me how impressed she was), and I know Sophia and Lia know all their letters and sounds, it's just harder to get them to express what they know just yet! :)  Even Billy LOVES this movie,  and as a little sponge, I'll take it! :) 

You would think that from August until Jan, it'd lose it's luster to them, but they RACE to get ready for naps, and then sit open mouthed, eyes on the screen and LOVE it!!  

The rest of the day is usually naps and pick up.  If someone wakes really early and needs a quiet activity or a little longer to lay, I SOME times allow a show or something later in the day.  But the kids don't ask for it any more and they know and look forward to their wind-down letter learning time! :)