Too much television

'I looked in the mirror and they're still round', Holly said earlier. It took me a while to figure out what she was talking about. She wanted to know if she could watch more television. I felt a bit guilty about the 'square eyed' comment I made a few weeks ago, which obviously stuck, and concerns her slightly. But, given the option, my 4 1/2 year old would be a couch potato in the making, so anything that puts her off has got to be good.

Today is an exception. She is home from pre-school with a temperature and is not really up for anything else. We've done stories and she's half asleep, so I can convince myself it's ok.

Television is a continuing battle in our house. She wants it. I restrict it. I even get to the point of avoiding going straight home from pre-school so she can't ask for it.

We have rules. Honestly. On a pre-school day, they must be dressed and have breakfast before television. There is no television after dinner, and the amount is restricted.

But there are times when I need the built in babysitter in order to cook the dinner, do the dishes, put the washing out, pay the bills, mop up wee, have a largely uninterrupted phone call or just get a cup of tea. How do I fix the rules and still get the flexibility I want??

I've chosen a level of flexibility, and I pay the price. My sister's kids watch 3 things in the morning (and on cbeebies in the UK these are quite short) and that's the rule. No questions. My rules are slightly more flexible, and therefore I get the questions. And the tantrums.

I have an ongoing feeling of guilt about the TV. There are definitely days when she watches too much and it is often because mum has things to do and has taken the easy option. To switch it off means I am requested as the alternative source of entertainment, and some days, I'm just not up to it.

I'm happy to say that the younger one is more discriminating in what he watches and is easily distracted. He is also more easily scared by seemingly harmless images on the TV, so I tend to encourage him into other activities.

As for the content, I think I can safely say that almost everything that Holly watches has an educational content at this stage. She is quite specific about what she will and won't watch so we are limited to a handful of shows and a fair amount of repetition. I have tried to introduce the odd movie such as 'Finding Nemo', 'Cars' and 'Aristocats', and although we have watched them, Holly doesn't find them as appealing as the shows she watches, and also finds parts of them need mummy's company. Not scary exactly, just a bit worrying. I think this is a good thing at this stage. My adult mind would far prefer to watch 'Cars' than 'Handy Manny' or 'Finley the Fire Engine', but if I think about it, it's because the films are aimed at a wider audience, are more complex, fast moving, complicated and subtle in their sense of humour. The kids programs Holly watches are geared to her age and stage.

We had a power cut a few weeks ago, for most of the afternoon and evening, and Holly took some convincing that the television didn't work. In fact she went round the whole house switching things on and off to ensure mummy was right and nothing was working. I could just picture the power coming back on at midnight, along with half our lights, the radio, the dishwasher and of course the television.

After the initial distress, we managed to create an interesting diversion by hunting for candles and torches in case they were required later and the kids soon got distracted into a game of mums and dads (with torches of course). The immediate pain of no TV was severe, but it was not long lasting. Perhaps we should have a few more power cuts of an afternoon....