Kid Nation

So even with the two TV-free days a week (which we are actually sticking to and sometimes even exceeding our time spent unglued) we may still watch too much. Avery has decided that she can pause real life, I don't mind it so much if I'm reading her a story and she says "can you pause it for a minute" then she has to take a bathroom break or put on a princess accessory but when I am just talking to her about something or instructing her about something she needs to do and she holds out an imaginary remote control and says "pause" which is usually followed by me disregarding this action which leads her to huff "I PAUSED YOU MOM". Well then we have a problem. I do find myself wanting to rewind the radio to hear something that Dr. Laura said that I missed because she was drowned out by questions from the backseat like "Is body language good or bad?" or "Girl's can only be possible right mom?" Huh? But often it is moments with my children that I want to be able to rewind for myself or replay for Ben later.

That said, we just got done watching tonight's Kid Nation episode, which I found very interesting. I have found the whole series to be interesting so far because I believe that we can stifle childrens potential by doing too much for them and this show reinforces that belief. If you haven't seen it or heard of it, the basic premise is that 40 kids ages 9-14 are dropped off in an abandonded ghost town and have to cook, clean, set up shops, run a government and make decisions all on their own. They rally around each other, offer what is generally constructive criticism, drown their sorrows in a bottle of root beer at the saloon and they are making it work.

Of course they cast intellegent kids from "varying" backgrounds (they probably all come from middle-class families) but there are bullies, pagent girls and the undoubtedly homeschooled, so it makes for good television. So what impressed me tonight was when the kids won their challenge they were given the choice of getting a miniature golf course (currently there only entertainment is games they make up themselves and spending money they earn on candy and soda) or a collection of religous books. The majority ruled and they got...the religious books! Not only did they choose to get them but they were genuinely excited to read them and share and compare their religion with their friends. They were finding similarities between the Torah, the Koran and the Bible instead of focusing on the differences which is what we adults tend to do.

Since it aired I have wondered if my kids (when they are older of course...although A. would probably be just fine w/out me for a month) would make me proud or embarrassed if they were in that situation w/ little guidance. But TV show or not, don't we hope that we have trained our children to make good choices and be contributing citizens?

One more related Avery story, I was watching the show "I Wanna Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again" on CMT, at the recommendation of my mother (yes, the same mother who only let us watch 1/2 hour of TV a week growing up) and the women were saying stuff like "If I have to get on that scale I'm going to die" "If I haven't lost at least 5 pounds this week I will just die" etc etc. Then came the elimination scene, marked by somber, foreboding music where the host informed them that one of them would be eliminated. They huddled around each other for one last pep talk and Avery looked at me with wide eyes and said "Which one of them has to die?"