Nothing is more satisfying to me, as a dad, than coming home after work and my son running up to greet me. It’s one of the things I look forward to every day. But when it comes to getting ready for bed time, I start to dread it. And I don’t mean the “settling him down part”. That’s easy. It’s the “watching a movie” part” I hate. Why, you ask? Well, it’s because it’s a vicious cycle that there is no end to. Don’t believe me? See the following sequence:
- You get excited over a new movie
- You begin quoting the movie
- You begin quoting the movie with the kids
- You use the movie as an analogy in real life situations…with other adults
- You begin humming the theme song
- You get a nervous twitch when the movie title is brought up
- You begin hiding the movie to “trick” the kid to watch something else…but he finds it anyway.
- You begin haggling with him to do any else but watch the movie again…so you buy a new movie.
- See number 1…
So parents I ask you. What would you do to break the cycle? Is there an end to it outside of the kids growing up? I’ll admit this post is just sarcasm, but it has some truth to it. When your kid starts watching the same movie over and over again and you buy another movie and begin again…how do you end it/cope with it? Inquiring minds want to know!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
great blog Joshua, I like your posts, thank you
Thanks for stopping by
At least you don’t have to watch them all day long as well.
We could just get rid of our tv…LOL
I go through this as well. My secret is I had another boy about 2 years later. So somewhere between 6 and 7, the younger one takes the disc out and sands the floor/paints the fence like Daniel-San with the disc and it no longer plays. Then I threaten them both with CSPAN and they go upstairs with no hassle.
LOL! My sister has the same problem with my nephew.
Hey! Yep, sounds familiar!
When my youngest discovered Barney (you remember that annoying purple dinosaur, I imagine), prying her away from the TV became a major evolution. Then, in a moment of weakness, I bought here a Barney VCR tape, thinking the “Pause” button would help. She literally wore that tape out!
I finally instituted a new rule… for ever hour in front of the TV, she had to spend two hours without it. It took a couple of days for the regimen to take hold, but after a week, she’d found so many other fun things to do, she was no longer interested in TV.
Which left the TV available for me.
Until my wife set the same rule in play.
I have similar issue..but I will just ask them.. do you want me to stay at home with you or go and meet uncle Rickie!. They knew I will drink if I go with him and we will start discussing things later.
It takes a few years to grow up from this phase. I think I watched Jungle Book and Aladdin with my family at least a thousand times.
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You can do the following
1) wait it out till he gets sick of watching it which will eventually come
2) just put in a new movie and say you picked the last movie this is daddys/mommys choice
3) we can watch it another time and make a deal/plan for when he can watch it…..( this is also a good way to start implementing chores and stuff like that)
when you begin singing RIooooo, riooooooooooo, riooooooooooooo, you know it’ s time to buy a new movie. or you pretend the player’s not functioning well (like pulling out the cord or do something else nastier).