Bad Influences
I'm a horrible parent. I love my children deeply but find myself meeting them in the middle rather than finding true kid appropriate media for them to consume. Some days they watch far too much television and at other times they hardly watch any at all.
Imaginative play rules the roost at the Atchley home and pretending to be anything but a normal family seems par for the course. Sophia and Phoebe both love to "pretend talk". This means they would like you to anthropomorphize one of their toys and carry on a conversation about the general difficulties of dragon-hood, car-ness, pony-ability, or the role of tigers in the nuclear family. The most difficult part is that as a parent it's your responsibility to guide the conversation to interesting places and there are only so many things I can say before my limited imagination hits a wall. It's not so much a dialogue as an interactive puppet show that much be unique each time. They would do this for hours if they could... or more appropriately I would do this for hours if I could but my voice and brain gives out rather quickly. Their interaction and interest in their dolls and stuffed animals is consistent and a vital part of their lives for now. They love all of their dolls. Each day every doll that normally adorns their individual beds is laid out or moved to another play place where they are made to either act out or act as company to their tiny human overlords.
Back to my original comments about media and entertainment; I like to be lazy from time to time and turn on a television show that will capture their interest. Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Invader Zim, Adventure Time, Tom and Jerry, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Young Justice, Various DC Universe Cartoons, Pink Panther, and a host of other cartoons seem to be the favorites. The problem is that barely any of these are age appropriate with some being downright gross or aggressive. The big secret is that these are MY favorite cartoons. Some of the cartoons have to be watched in Spanish (Japanese actually, the girls call it Spanish since that's the only foreign language with which they are familiar) because the English versions have a bit of light cursing. I translate the "Spanish" cartoons by reading subtitles. In case you didn't catch the outlier... yes, I like My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic. Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony.
Imaginative play rules the roost at the Atchley home and pretending to be anything but a normal family seems par for the course. Sophia and Phoebe both love to "pretend talk". This means they would like you to anthropomorphize one of their toys and carry on a conversation about the general difficulties of dragon-hood, car-ness, pony-ability, or the role of tigers in the nuclear family. The most difficult part is that as a parent it's your responsibility to guide the conversation to interesting places and there are only so many things I can say before my limited imagination hits a wall. It's not so much a dialogue as an interactive puppet show that much be unique each time. They would do this for hours if they could... or more appropriately I would do this for hours if I could but my voice and brain gives out rather quickly. Their interaction and interest in their dolls and stuffed animals is consistent and a vital part of their lives for now. They love all of their dolls. Each day every doll that normally adorns their individual beds is laid out or moved to another play place where they are made to either act out or act as company to their tiny human overlords.
Back to my original comments about media and entertainment; I like to be lazy from time to time and turn on a television show that will capture their interest. Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Invader Zim, Adventure Time, Tom and Jerry, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Young Justice, Various DC Universe Cartoons, Pink Panther, and a host of other cartoons seem to be the favorites. The problem is that barely any of these are age appropriate with some being downright gross or aggressive. The big secret is that these are MY favorite cartoons. Some of the cartoons have to be watched in Spanish (Japanese actually, the girls call it Spanish since that's the only foreign language with which they are familiar) because the English versions have a bit of light cursing. I translate the "Spanish" cartoons by reading subtitles. In case you didn't catch the outlier... yes, I like My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic. Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony.
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