My kids: 5, 4 and 22 months old, watch a descent amount of TV.

Every morning, they are promised a 20 minute morning show, after they are all dressed and have had breakfast. We typically pick from Wallykazam, Tumble Leaf, Sid the Science Kid, or Superbook. I found these shows to be somewhat educational and wholesome, so they are the choices I present, whenever possible.

I often let them watch a movie on longer car rides too…which sounds easy enough, until you’re trying to sync a movie onto screens that everyone can watch, with rear and front facing car seats, wires, and the need to retain some control in the front seat. I’m an IT guy and it’s proven quite difficult at times. (At present, I run movies from a USB drive in an old Syvania DVD player with analog video out from the front seat, to screens in the back headrest, and audio through the car stereo system Aux input.)

And some evenings or afternoons, my kids enjoy a movie. Their current favorites are:

• Home
• Milo and Otis
• The Grinch (2018 version)
• The Grinch (1970’s version)
• Ice Age
• Treasure Buddies
• The Bear Whisperer
• Planet Earth

But my kids don’t ever get time with my phone or tablet. And aside from having Alexa play songs at their request, their content selections are always filtered by me and Stacy.

I definitely wonder how each year, and Eli’s ability to read, will continue to create new complexity and challenge the balance we currently have as a family toward these things. I just feel that I spent too much time when I was a kid on the Nintendo and watching movies on TV. I hope that by giving my kids other choices, they will grow up with a greater love of time with people and with books.

So if you are reading this and want to share your thoughts and current parenting practices, I would love to hear!