Mommy Wars

It is snowing... again.

I need to get adoption paperwork together this morning, because I work at 3pm today. As a result, my daughter is watching TV, again.

Does anyone else feel as guilty as I do when you turn on the "babysitter"? We have closets full of art supplies, crafts, games and toys, and yet the only thing that will keep her interest long enough for me to accomplish anything this morning is the boob tube.

We have quite a few friends and family members who have barred TV totally from their home. I envy their parenting skills, really. Just like I envy the parents who have never taken their children to McDonalds, or have never given their children processed foods/high fructose corn syrup/anything with food dye in it.

Yeaaah........ I'm not that good. I would love to say that I am, but that first Happy Meal was a slippery slope. My daughter is a bona fide Kit-Kat-aholic who loves her McN*ggets almost as much as she loves Sp*nge Bob Sq*are Pants.

We tried to keep these vices quiet at first- "Oh, uhh... we had left the TV on one night, Public Television of course, watching..uhh.. Masterpiece Theater. Yeah, that's it! And, um.. M happened to catch one teensy, weensy cartoon, I believe it was Alphabet Kid, or maybe it was Science Kid... or Get Into Harvard Kid, but that's the only thing she's ever watched... because, you know, we're cultured..."

We were busted the minute my daughter started singing Hannah Montana songs and telling Baby Looney Tune stories. So I have decided to give up the facade, and let people laugh at my lack of parenting skills.

I know what we do for her, why do I feel the need to explain to others? "M can't play today/she has gymnastics/rock climbing/swimming practice, and then we're going to go to supplemental science class, a story time at the library and then we're building a diorama depicting the life of early Egyptians."

The proof will be in the pudding, as they say, and hopefully when my daughter is all grown up, she will be able to speak intelligently on many levels, whether the topic is pyramids and sphinx or Tom and Jerry.