Withdrawals

Brian and I discussed last night Ben's addiction to watching Tom and Jerry cartoons on the internet last night. It seemed a shame to make him stop at first, he was just so happy. We finally decided that the newness wasn't wearing off and he had watched for three or four hours each day for four days in a row. He was addicted. We needed to set some limits since he didn't seem to be loosing interest like kids usually do in new toys. Ben watched for over an hour this morning then I called him to lunch. I explained that after lunch we would turn off the computer and play with our toys and use our imaginations. He almost went into instant meltdown. "But I just paused the show to eat my lunch. What if I can't find it again tomorrow?!?!" I agreed that he could finish his episode before he turned it off. He was pretty obedient and I believe he turned it off when he should without sneaking another one, though he did sort of jump and look guilty when I walked into the room. We did fine for an hour or so, then the whining started. He wanted to watch more Tom and Jerry and nothing else was fun enough. Eventually he got to watch a DVD because Maddie screamed for over an hour and I needed him occupied while I dealt with her. When Maddie finally settled down after an hour and a half I took Ben down to play some card games. Then we worked on memorizing "sight words" to help him with his reading. He earned chocolate chips by doing flash cards. When he got bored with all that, he begged to use the computer again. I agreed on the condition that he play an educational game. Of course I didn't say "educational" to him, he doesn't know they are teaching him something. He just thinks they are fun. He wasn't in the mood for any of our games, so he started tantruming and stamping his feet about not being able to do what he wanted. I told him he could yell and be mean, but I'd send him to his room. It took him almost thirty minutes to pick a game to play. In the mean time, I took the chance to try to teach Maddie how to use the mouse on the computer. It cracked me up to see her try. Everytime I would tell her to move the mouse up to get the arrow to go up on the monitor, she would lift the mouse up in the air. I felt dumb. Of course that makes sense to her. Since when does "up" mean move your mouse across the table away from you? How do you explain this? I guess we'll just keep practicing. She got a lot better just in our 30 minute lesson today. Eventually Ben settled into a math game and practiced his addition with me and Brian when he came home. He's doing well for a four year old. Hope he can deal with the Tom and Jerry limits tomorrow.