Screen time

Officially Isaac is allotted 30 minutes of "screen time" each day, which applies to the television, computer, and iPod. He is careful to ration his time so he can be sure he can watch a DVD while I am putting Laurel down for her nap. I have to admit, however, that I actually encourage him to watch TV in the morning whenever he wakes up too early; this offer of extra time is pure bribery so he won't wake me up, and therefore it doesn't, as he says, "cut into" his regular screen time.

I don't know if rationing is the best way to handle the TV situation. I do believe that limits and scarcity create demand and desire, but I'm not quite ready to let Isaac gorge on as much TV as he wants. As it is, he likes to watch TV a lot, and whenever I offer up the opportunity for "extra" time, he always jumps at the chance to watch more.

And what does he watch? We have no broadcast television, so he can only watch DVDs. For many months he was devoted to the TV series "Bob the Builder," but I think he's growing a bit tired of watching the four DVDs he owns. We have also borrowed a few DVDs from the library, and Isaac has enjoyed watching the Wiggles, a kids' musical group; a TV program called "Popular Mechanics for Kids"; and variety of factual DVDs about rescue vehicles, construction, lumberjacks, and so forth.

Over the past three weeks, however, Isaac has become devoted to a DVD set of the first season of "Sesame Street." It was filmed in 1969, the year I was born! Last August, when Isaac first started watching TV, I blogged that "Sesame Street" didn't hold his interest, perhaps because the topics were too varied, the pace was too fast, and the format was inaccessible to a media novice. I still think he doesn't quite understand the show. He has watched the same episode every single day for at least a week, so I can only conclude that he is trying to work through some aspect of it.

After Laurel falls asleep I join Isaac in the spare room (that's where our television is), and I usually watch a little bit of TV with him before we go on to do something else together. So a few days ago in an attempt to get him to move past the oft-repeated episode of "Sesame Street" I offered to help him navigate to the extras menu of the DVD. That's where I found the segment about Batman.

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I'll need to devote another post to what Isaac's preschool calls "power play," or imaginary games about heroes and villains, usually involving pretend violence. But for now I'll just say that playing Spider-Man has become popular with certain boys at Isaac's preschool, and even though it is not Isaac's favorite thing to do, he sometimes joins in. He had never seen a cartoon of a superhero before, however, and I could see the one about Batman impressed him.

The segment was entitled "Batman Crosses the Street," and it was basically a poorly-animated Public Service Announcement about the importance of using the crosswalk. (The Joker robs a bank and runs out into traffic. Batman declares that he and Robin will go down to the corner and cross where it is safe. Robin argues that the Joker will get away. The Joker is struck by a car and falls into an open manhole.)

A few hours after we watched the segment, Isaac had a number of questions about Batman. (His first question was whether Batman was a bad guy.) He was really excited to find out that the younger guy in the cartoon was an assistant who was learning how to be a superhero. Then I explained about the Batmobile, the Bat Cave, and the Bat Signal. He thought I was kidding when he heard the word "Batmobile," and it does sound a little silly when you think about it.

Then Isaac wanted to play Batman, so we divided up the parts. Isaac would be Batman, of course, and Laurel would be Robin. I was cleaning up after dinner while we were discussing our roles, so I suggested I should be Batman's butler, Alfred, because I was doing a lot of housework. Isaac didn't think that was an active enough role for me, so then I suggested I could be the police commissioner who sends up the Bat Signal. He liked that.

"Dad can be the one who works around the house," said Isaac.