TV and Minivans, Kids and Trucks.

I don’t get it! With the constant barrage of media in our lives, why do parents put DVD’s in their minivans/SUV’s? It’s as if we’re media junkies; addicted to being manipulated or stupefied.

“My kids watch constructive programs with a Christian message…”Blah blah blah.

Fine. But don’t they get enough of that at home? If your kid is average, he/she watches about 4.5 hours of TV per day. “Yeah, but we let them watch ‘GOOD’ programs…”

According to Mediawise, “Children spend more time sitting in front of electronic screens than any other activity besides sleeping. The average time spent with various media (televisions, computers, video games) is nearly four and one half-hours per day among two to 17 year olds. Look here for more updated/relevant info.

A dear friend of ours was at our house the other day raving about how great the TV is to have in the car. She went on about “peace and quiet” and “good behavior” etc. etc., especially on car-rides more than 30 minutes. 30 minutes? My guess is that if the kids are THAT antsy about car rides, they might be watching TOO MUCH TV, and they’re like a drug addict looking for a fix of video. Granted, parents are looking to reduce stress in the car, but isn’t the TV gig just a patch-job?

We recently took a trip from Phoenix to Orange County via 1-10. If you have never taken this drive, it’s worth the drive alone (even at $3.00 + gasoline prices) with your kids. You can spend much of the trip just talking to your kids (especially young ones) about the different kinds of trucks and what they have in them and where they come from.

This section of I-10 has every truck/cargo combination imaginable, from trucks full of oranges from “Farmer Bob’s” farm, (If you're lucky, you might see crop-dusters!) to trucks with Bob the Tomato’s friends to all the supplies that Bob the Builder needs, (we saw trucks full of construction supplies!). Then there’s the FedEx trucks… My 3 year old can tell you ALL ABOUT the FedEx trucks, and that Daddy gets his stuff to make rings from the people that put the supplies on the Truck that goes to the jet, that goes to the truck that comes to our shop!

After last week’s trip, my 3 year old made a quantam leap his understanding of economics. He understands it takes money to buy gas (so the car can go), to buy food, to build buildings, (After all, Bob the Builder needs to eat) etc. etc., and that money comes from working, and we all work so we all can buy food from Farmer Bob, and stuff from stuffmart…

Wasn’t it TV that told us that WalMart and Oil companies etc. are bad??? Albert Mohler did a great show about kids being drowned in media here.