My Daughter, My TV

I think my daughter is forcing me to be a better person, but I am resisting it.

She's almost 7, so she has started to question some of the things that I do. For instance, some nights she will come out of her bedroom to get a drink of water right before bed, and she will catch me watching Big Love. And she'll say, "Mommy, we can't watch TV so you shouldn't watch it either."

Uh... yeah.

And if she ever found out about how I eat at Mom's Night Out events or at my mom's house over Christmas while she's fast asleep, I'm sure she'd be disappointed in me as well.

The thing is... I guess I want better for my children than I want for myself. It matters more to me that they are doing the best for themselves than what I am doing for myself. That's enviable of me, right?

Also, I think there is a different between adults watching television than children. Their little brains are still developing, and I have yet to see a study that says television is in any way beneficial to them. (For example, just look at Baby Einstein offering all those refunds.)

And another thing, kids just don't know how to value good television yet. I mean, being the entertainment aficionado that I am, I truly value what goes into making a good production along the likes Big Love, or Friday Night Lights, or Modern Family, or 30 Rock, or The Office, or Glee. A lot of people put in a lot of effort to put forth such good productions: good scripts, good actors, good directors, etc. I appreciate that. My kids don't. Not yet anyway. And until they can understand the subtle nuances in Bill Paxton's brilliant performance as polygamist Bill Henrickson in Big Love, I see no reason for them to watch the crap that most children ingest on a daily basis (you know who you are Dora, Barney, and whoever else).

And I guess the same could be said of junk food consumption. Since their little bodies are developing at a much faster rate than mine, non-nutritious food will affect them more than it affects me. Not that that makes it right for me to consume it. It doesn't. It makes me a hypocrite. But I do eat that way 5% of the time anyway (at Mom's Night Outs, restaurants, and over the holidays) because that's a balance for me, and I embrace that balance.

So, maybe, since I don't want to change myself yet, I should just be honest about this with my daughter instead of pretending to be something that I'm not. Maybe that's the answer.