Monthly Archives: February 2012

I have in my house a giant television.

Now, before you start judging this statement, hear me out. As it turns out, when a human being, adult or child, sits and watches television, their brain goes into a trance like state. Television has an effect on a person’s alpha brain waves where they simply zone out.

Video games, on the other hand, are not entirely passive. If you, or your child, is engaged in a video game, preferably an educationally based one, he/she is critically thinking. He/she is considering her next move, processing the game, and most importantly interacting with the game. This is a better alternative than sitting on the couch, mindlessly staring at the television and consuming copious amounts of chips, popcorn, or cookies.

Ari likes to play games on Wil’s Ipad.

He plays both educationally based games and fun ones. I’ve started to wean the TV time, and when he asks to watch something, I ask him if he’d like to do a puzzle on the Ipad. He gets just as excited about this as he does about watching Dino Dan, so I’ll take it.

He’s also particularly taken to the Wii, and is really good at Wii Tennis.

As for myself, I hardly watch TV anymore. I’m mostly addicted to the Internet and my Iphone. I wonder what those things are doing to my alpha brain waves.

Let me clarify something, I’m not advocating that you let your child sit there on the couch playing video games all day long. Ideally, I’d like my son to be playing with real toys, reading books, and interacting with other children all day long. But, this is not reality. Sometimes, we need a distractor as parents. Occasionally, I need a break to sit and not think, or to do the dishes, or to go to the bathroom for G-d’s sake!

Video games serve as a helpful alternative to the mindless contraption that is the television.

So what’s you take on video games? Would you use them with your kid as opposed to letting him or her watch the boob tube?

I have a lot of ideas!

Creative concepts run through my head throughout the day constantly. But I have nowhere to put them. I think I need to start walking around with a notebook. That way if I’m walking down the street and come up with something I think is neat, I can stop and write it in down in my notebook.

However, a notebook might not work. I have a hard time organizing my ideas. If I had a notebook, it would be scattered with so many different concepts and no familiar thread. I would need something like a binder.

I need some place to put my ideas other than letting them sit in my brain.

Any suggestions?

I can’t believe it, but it’s nearly been four years. On May 6th 2008, after three days of labor, I gave birth to a 6 lb 80z baby boy, who Wil and I named him Ari Wilhelm Fader-Van Luyn. In four months, he will be four years old. Next year he will be starting Pre-K at an undetermined universal Pre-K location here in Brooklyn, or possibly Manhattan, because the spots are so few and far between. I’m going to have a Pre-K kid.

I’ve started to explain to Ari that I won’t be with him during the day at school, but that I’ll see him at the end of the day, and he can tell me all about it. He doesn’t quite seem to grasp the concept, or doesn’t want to believe it.

“But, you’re going to be there, right?” He says eyebrows raised. “You’ll be with me at school?” He asks with wide eyes.

“No, baby. But I’ll come pick you up at the end of the day. And you’l be with a teacher, who’s an adult, like mommy, and there will be lots of kids there just like you to play with.”

“Oh okay.” I think he gets it. And I breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly he asks:

“So, you’ll be there right?”

Yeah…this is going to be tough. I know he does great with other kids when I’m not there. He goes to Hebrew school and art class at The Barking Cat, and he’s fine without me. I’m just a little nervous about the adjustment period for Pre-K, because I’ve been home with him since he was born.

So, any advice for me? How do I break him in? What do I tell him to make him feel comfortable about going to school? What can I tell myself?