I remember reading an article in adbusters encouraging everyone to “kill your tv”. It pictured two children, around the age of 10, on a sofa. You couldn’t see the TV in front of them and the photo was taken as if the camera were right in front of the TV. The children’s eyes are dazed, mouths open, faces expressionless. Before reading the article, the picture begged the question what’s wrong with these children? They were zonked. TV coma.

I’ve never liked TV. My mom always said I had so much energy as a child that it would never hold my attention long enough anyway. I’ve never caught on to sitcoms. Admittedly I fall into the American Idol and Xfactor trap, but I contribute that to my love of music.

We started using shows like Yo Gabba Gabba to assist during mealtime. The show went on, his mouth opened, he chewed his food, and everything at the table was relatively peaceful. Then he’d be done with his meal, the TV would go off and next thing we knew Hoop would be at our feet with both remotes in hand nagging for us to put the show back on. And by nagging I mean full on tantruming. There’s only so many ways to reason with a two year old. And by only so many ways what I really mean is that there is NO way to reason with a two year old.

So we started hiding the remotes.

At first, he’d ask to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and I’d tell him to go find the remotes, knowing of course, that they were hidden. He’d get distracted during his hunt and move on to playing with his toys.

That worked for a little while.

Then he started rooting around in our bedroom and would come back out to the family room with the remote from our bedroom in his hands. And that tantrum would happen all over again. So for the past few days, I’ve been hiding both remotes. And it’s been wonderful. In fact, I think he’s forgotten all about the TV.

We also deleted all the Yo Gabba Gabbas from our DVR. I know, risky move. But we really didn’t want a back up plan available. Watching that shit was killing my brain cells and I can’t stand the vacant stare that comes over his face when the TV is on.

So lately we’ve been reading books during mealtime. And it’s been heavenly.

Image borrowed from here.