Mickey Mouse Club Wins Over Paradise

You see that right, over the balcony is the beauty of Bohol's beaches, but Derek would rather watch Mickey Mouse Club on his Ipod.

Speaking of which, when people ask how we made it through almost a dozen flights and countless transfers between planes, trains and airplanes, without too many meltdowns. I must say the little Apple device came in very handy as a bribery device. Now, before you jump to terrible conclusions and judgement about me as a person who willingly rots their child brain to avoid the ire of strangers on public transport, I'd like to say, You are Totally Right.  Usually at home, Derek's TV and screen time are very limited. As my crunchy mama status would convey, as someone who exclusively breastfed and cloth diapered, I was not eager to subject Derek to the brain numbing power of the Ipod/Ipad/TV screen until we absolutely had to.  In this case, we found it to be a very useful tool when traveling for hours and there wasn't much to do for Derek, or we'd be confined in spaces that Derek felt to be "boring."  Since he's still at age where reasoning can come and go, we felt it best to give-in while we're on vacation and allow him liberal use of the Ipod, especially if it would give us a few more minutes to finish a meal or to get somewhere without a huge amount of yelping.

When we got home though and had to explain that vacation was over and Ipod viewing would be a much rarer occasion, there was a bit of a struggle. But like anything else, we tried to remain consistent and providing good reasoning ("No more Ipod, its only for vacation!"), we were met with some resistance ("Ipooooooooooood!" IPAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"). Our new norm is to allow some use of it on the weekends (for 5-10 minute intervals at most) and when its time to give it up, instead of snatching it away immediately, we tell Derek that there is "one more minute left" and that he can enjoy it for that long. After that, he hands it over willingly and is happy to progress to another activity. For somethings, I think we get off way to easy with this kid.  I understand for sanity reasons how these devices can be a lifesaver for parents, but their uses in limited applications in short timeframes is key because they get addicted and can expect it as their norm.