I think about television a lot these days. As much as I love Beverly Hills and the whole La La Land thing, I wonder what it will be like for my little Critter to grow up with these places as his reality – I really can’t imagine what will be exposed to him as we take this journey. I remember watching an interview with Bette Midler around the time she had her daughter, and she said that she never let her watch TV and that she greatly filtered the types of things that went into her little head. At the time I heard this I was in college, so I had no reason to retain this information, but I did. I guess I just think that most things that come out of the Divine Miss M’s name to be pearls, whether or not I ever thought I would apply it to my childrearing skills. We’re not seeing her daughter in the tabloids, are we? She’s a Yale alum and speaks Mandarin Chinese. Clearly she’s no train wreck – but I digress.

When The Critter was born, I resolved, as Miss M did never to let him watch TV. But I just didn’t know the things I know now. Somehow we started with Sesame Street’s Celebrity Guest videos on my computer, because if we’re not doing activities outside the home, we’re in my office. Feist’s edited version of 1,2,3,4 was the first song that The Critter ever sang along to, and that day was a developmental milestone. I sang to him and danced with him constantly, playing music all the time from the Beatles to Aretha to REM to the Brandenburg Concerto, and never a reaction like this. The visual and the audio together did it for him.

And it gave me from one and a half minutes to four minutes to perform some leisurely activity, like, to use the toilet, pay bills, or negotiate real estate.

And then I started letting him watch the real television. First it was more Sesame Street. Then the Backyardigans, which not only made him dance, but also karate chop and say Hi-yaH Pie-Yah, and it was freaking cute. After going to a luncheon at our PBS affiliate which introduced me to SuperWhy and Sid the Science Kid, two seriously, thoughtfully created programs. I really started to see this medium not as HFCS for the brain, but as a way to expose him to style, music, science, and to use his imagination.

With the floating ash in the air, we Angelenos have been cooped up a lot lately, so we have developed more TV rituals than I would have had in my most shameful TV junkie nightmares. So we went from watching only on demand TV and PBS with no commercials to Disney and Nickelodeon, which have decidedly more crack like qualities. But you know something? He likes Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, too. He seems to have a taste for his PBS pals. Spongebob, and Barney, still not allowed. They’re annoying, and there’s no reason for that. And I want whatever it is that he’s watching to inspire him to do something other than watch TV.

And then I can’t wait until he goes to bed so I can watch True Blood or Real Housewives…