Here to There

ack! i was almost done w/ my post and the the dumb computer died on me...grrr.

anyway, lately i've been really frustrated at all the spiderman related advertisements. i've been especially annoyed at the spiderman toy and kids' clothing ads. why? the movie is rated PG-13, and yet the majority of the ads are marketed towards kids under the age of 13. all the spiderman movies (and the hulk, and superman) were all marketed that way. kind of messed up in my opinion. not that we won't allow tyler to see it, but he's a bit older. but what about parents of younger kids? would you let your 5 year old see it? or your 4 year old? i know there are many parents here in the u.s. that allow their young children to watch TV. kids 6 and under spend an avg. of 2 hrs./day using screen media, and the avg. american watches about 4 hours of TV/day (go here for more alarming facts). especially w/ cable, there are more channel options for kids to choose from, which keeps them hooked on the TV. ugh, i think i'm just really frustrated at how the media chooses to take advantage of kids who they know are VERY impressionable! makes it tough on us parents. *sigh*.

i found the TV Turnoff Network. what do you know, TV Turnoff week is this week! tyler is already not watching TV during the week so i don't think it would be fair to "deprive" him of TV over the weekend. today, our TV substitute activity was playing twister and LIFE after dinner and homework. it felt great to interact w/each other and we didn't miss the TV at all. i'm so glad we don't have cable (makes things easier)!