Television time

Until very recently, Isaac hadn't watched any television or DVDs. He watched video clips on YouTube, but nothing else. (Well, and "The Pirates of Penzance.")

Two days ago we went to the library and I checked out a DVD for Isaac. Yesterday when I told him we were going to play together rather than watch the DVD, he said, "I like watching videos better, because I don't have to make things up myself. Only my eyes have to work."

How on earth did this happen?

Nearly two months ago I instituted "exercise time," as Isaac calls it. This means that during Laurel's first nap of the day, I hop on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I manage to do this about three times a week. At first Isaac played with his toys next to me, but then he realized I was watching "Perry Mason" on DVD as I huffed and puffed, and he began watching too. Unfortunately he found the show boring, so I had to switch to a DVD of the early seasons of "Sesame Street" that my sister gave us a few years ago.

This was fine for a while, but it turns out that watching an episode of "Sesame Street" straight through is difficult for Isaac. This surprised me, because usually he has a long attention span. But an episode of "Sesame Street" includes many separate segments on a variety of topics, and Isaac only wants to watch some of them. Watching a whole show goes against what he has learned by watching YouTube, which is that you never have to watch a video that isn't about your own specific enthusiasm. He is used to completely interactive and customized broadcasting. (In my day, sonny, you had no choice -- you watched the whole show and liked it. And we only had three channels!)

For a few weeks I tried to skip around to find the segments he preferred, since I need his cooperation for exercise time to work, but I finally got tired of trying to wield the remote control while I jogged. So that's why we went to the library and checked out a children's DVD devoted entirely to a topic Isaac enjoys: rescue vehicles.

This DVD has been an incredible success, at least as far as my exercise program goes. He loves watching it so much that now he always wants it to be exercise time, which means it's much harder for me to avoid exercising. Yes, I have to watch the incredibly corny show with him, but at least it has no product tie-ins, it's commercial-free, and it isn't trying to sell him anything.

Except that it has: it has sold him on watching television.