You know when you have one of those “omg that’s so simple, why didn’t I think of that before” moments?
Mr Banya had one of those the other day.
Let me explain…
JJ is allowed to watch television twice a day – when she wakes up, and again at 5pm. And we only let her watch Playschool and Guess How Much I Love You. No exceptions. Some of you will say we’re too strict. Some of you will say she watches too much. Whatever, that’s not the discussion point for today. Today, I’d like to whinge about how often she was asking to watch television.
She would periodically ask “Watch Playschool?” We don’t like to say “no” in our house (we’re a bit strange like that), so we would say “Yes, you can watch Playschool, when the sun goes down” or “It will be time to watch Playschool when Daddy comes home.” The problem with the first answer is that as Winter passed, the sun started to go down later and later, and the second answer was confusing if Mr Banya was working from home that day.
Solution?
Genius, pure genius.
Now when JJ asks “Watch Playschool?”, we answer, “well, why don’t we have a look at the clock?”, and then discussions ensue about where the little hand is pointing, and how when it is pointing to the sticker it will be five o’clock.
But besides the time lessons that are going on (which are fantastic in themselves), there is an even bigger benefit.
You see, we’ve noticed that lately, JJ’s been looking at the clock herself, and asking herself (out loud) “Watch Playschool? No, not the right time” and then directing herself to start playing with something else.
And that is what I consider to be a lesson in self discipline. And self discipline is what we are all about in the Banya household. (I’ll chat more about why we’re into self discipline and our disciplinary techniques at another time, as there are some big topics there…)
Woot! Or is it “Huzzah” these days? #notkeepingupwiththelingo
xx Danya
