by DAVID YOO
Years back I wrote about how we’d made a concerted effort to keep our firstborn away from the TV, along with our iPhones and laptops, too. After seeing toddlers, even infants, riding around in strollers at the mall with their noses pressed deep into an iPad, we were determined to raise a kid who wasn’t a slave to the screen. We dutifully stuck to the plan for two years, but then the moment he sat in front of the TV for the first time he was instantly hooked, despite our best efforts.
With our second child, we had no choice but to expose her to the TV, and of course she ended up not being remotely interested in it. And now when Griffin watches his cartoons, Lucy opts instead to draw on the chalkboard by herself for upwards of an hour, contentedly using her imagination the way we’d envisioned our son doing during “The Great TV Purge.”
Having admitted that restricting TV, if anything, had the reverse effect on him, we remained adamant about refusing to install a DVD player in the car. It’s not that we felt overexposure to TV would melt their brains—fact is, I probably watched as much TV as any kid growing up, and I’m not some slack-jawed ball of mush because of it—but I suppose we still refused the car DVD player as a matter of principle.
So rather than occupy them with repeated viewings of Frozen whenever we drive somewhere, instead, we endure the begrudgingly appreciated agony that is answering approximately 27 questions a minute from our son in the car, which might suggest he’s got an impressively inquisitive mind. However, he repeats the same questions over and over, and the thread often confuses the heck out of me. “Is rain made of water?” Yes. “Is it OK to drink rain?” Usually. “Why does our kitchen sink rain?” Huh? “What is rain?” I said water. “Why is water?” What does that even mean? “Who is rain?”
By the time we reach our destination, my brain is fried to the core, and yet I gladly accept this torture, and each time feel re-inspired to stay the course. It’s not even a question—we refuse to get a car DVD player!
So why did I end up buying one last weekend?
The simple answer is this: Since we live in a small house with thin walls, at night my wife and I have to watch the TV practically on mute lest we wake up our bat-eared kids. As such, I haven’t understood the gist of a movie or TV show in approximately four years. Point being, the DVD player was for us.
My wife met me in the car parked in our driveway, after the kids had gone to sleep. We turned on the A/C and pushed the seats back, and started Django Unchained at a comfortable volume for a well-earned night at the movies.
And, we both fell asleep midway through the showing.
This article was published in the August/September 2014 issue of KoreAm. Subscribe today! To purchase a single issue copy of the August/Sept. issue, click the “Buy Now” button below. (U.S. customers only. Expect delivery in 5-7 business days).
