I was never really concerned about the amount of television my children watched because I figured they were pretty well rounded individuals, with plenty of balance between outside play, art work, reading time and so forth...

Then the other day our Directv box broke down in the living room, and I almost broke down with it. Could I possibly function as a Mom without a television?? My worst nightmare was coming true--I might actually have to entertain my kids myself! And what would I do if I needed to take a shower? Or make dinner? Or pluck my eyebrows? Utter devastation set in...

Hubby called the Directv hotline (thank goodness for those lovely people; I'll have to send them a package of cookies at Christmas)... and they put a new box in the mail which would arrive in three days. "Three days!?!?" I exclaimed to Hubby. He tried to sympathize with me but truth be told he leaves for work in the middle of the day, so frankly I didn't think he cared much.

I woke up in a panic the first morning when realization hit me that there would be no cartoons with breakfast. I suggested a movie to my boys and they quickly agreed. Then for the rest of the day I found several instances in which I thought to myself, "I could put on another movie now..." but then I'd look at my dirty, sweaty, angels knee deep in outdoor play, and sending pb&j-stained smiles in my direction every few minutes... and I'd decide to let them be.

Then I became creative. Who knew K'nex were highly entertaining in the bathtub (not when shoved up a bottom, though)? Or that transformers can become "sand creatures" outside. Hide-and-Go-Seek became a favorite (alright, boring) indoors and outdoors game... but it made me smile every time my two-year-old would call out "Marco" and my four-year-old would reply "Polo" from his hidden spot. Who knew "Marco, Polo" wasn't just for swimming pools!?

Surprisingly over the next few days I realized that my kids don't actually watch that much television. Sure, they start the day off with Dora and Boots and a couple of other characters, but really for the rest of the day they're too busy to stop and sit... for longer than lunch. And I will purposely put on a show during the late afternoon when I'm trying to make dinner, or in the middle of the morning when I'm desperate for a shower, but I'm willing to negotiate with my "inner-mother" for those few thirty minutes of quiet. Sometimes my inner-mother talks back to me about my parenting, but I just shut her up with a brownie, or an extra serving of ice cream, and peace resides again.