The other day our television broke. Gasp! No! That’s right, we only own one television. When I turned it on and couldn’t get it to work, I was traumatized. What was I going to do? My whole morning routine depended on getting that thing to work. What about my morning ritual? How was I going to get in my morning meditation, make and eat breakfast, and get the kids ready without the help of Dora, Diego, and Caillou? Was I going to have to get it all done without plopping the kids in front of the television? Yep.

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that children under the age of 2 not watch any television and children over 2 shouldn’t watch more than 1-2 hours of quality programming per day. Oops, busted. I have a three year old and a 16 month old and sometimes they watch 2 hours per day at least. I had no idea we were watching way too much according to the experts. That is until my television broke. I guess I was ignoring the fact that amongst my littlest’s first words were “backpack” and “Dora” and my oldest had taken to saying “Ayudame!” whenever she needed help with something. Thanks Dora.

Actually, what turned out to be a trauma worked out to educate me on just how much unnecessary noise and television our family really endures on a daily basis. As our TV sat in the shop and we prepared to pay way too much money to get it fixed, we played more games, listened to more music, and sang more songs in those three days than we have in a long time.

I’d love to say that now that the TV is back we’ve rarely turned it on, but that would be a lie. However, it’s been a real eye opening experience to learn about what’s recommended and also see just how not having it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would have been. We are watching less though and although I use it as a crutch from time to time to get me through the hours with two little kids, and to vege out when the day is done and watch my favorite reality shows, it’s pretty cool knowing I could survive even if our TV didn’t.