My DS

[stellaj]

My son Connor is 5 and he loves to be inside watching TV, going on the computer or similar activities. I have a vegie patch and donated half to him and took him to the nursery to buy what ever plants he wanted to grow, but no, dirt is yucky, no way would he touch a snail or come outside and play in gum boots in the rain. I would love for him to be doing more constructive things but he LOVES the TV, computer etc whatever he can get his hands on. I try to think of wonderful, creative things for him to do and set them all up and then after about 10 minutes he says to me 'mum if i do this painting/cubby building/ wind chime making can I watch TV?' Do you think we are just different personalities? Or I am not thinking of good enough things to do? He always seems so grumpy as well, he corrects ppl's manners in public and is incredibly bossy. it is driving me to absolute frustration, I can't say what in particular but just his lack of spirit I guess and I don't know why he is this way. Thanks if you got to the end of that ramble:)

Mel

[Shanaynay]

Hi :)

I think it depends on how much TV he is watching and what it is he is watching!

When I was younger I loved computers (still do now as you can tell :laughing: ) I believe you can get alot from them and they are interactive, as opsposed to most TV programs which are passive.

For a 5 year old, shos like Totally Wild etc.. can be good but other than that I don't believe many other TV shows would be doing him any good. Personally I think more that 2 hours a day is way too much and when my children are that age I hope all they want to watch is half an hour of cartoons in the morning.

It's ok he isn't interested in the vegie patch etc... but is there someting a bit more constuctive you can get him to do with his time rather than watch TV? Lego or something? Even start getting him into a hobby such as model making (might be too old for him but you get the picutre). Once he starts getting into other stuff then maybe he will have less interest in the TV?

I am hoping my DD's wont be too interested in it, but I know if they want to watch too much of it I'll definately be setting some 'rules' on which programs and/or how many minutes per day.

Hope that helps :)

[stellaj]

We dont actually let him watch much at all, hmmm, maybe I should try letting him watch as much as he wants so that the novelty wears off :confused: . He likes the cartoons, so its not the content I'm concerned about. I got him a huge box of playdough with cool gadgets etc last christmas and he won't play with it because it will make his hands dirty.

[sopolicha]

My DS nearly 4 was heading down the same path. If he walked on wet grass he would get the MIL to wipe his feet off with her hanky, otherwise he wouldn't venture out onto the lawn. He is very close to his big sister and pines away for her when she is at pre-school. He would sit all day in front of the tellie if I let him.....................

To cut a long story short, I unplugged the tellie and the DVD player. I really, really encourage him to do 'things' with me. So far, so good. Get rid of the source of the problem.