Week Six Part Two - 2,000 Words

Or close enough.

Target: Parents of young children, ages 25-35.
Subjects: Two parents, with two young children.

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He had just finished yelling at another employee. Just because you were told to do something stupid by someone else doesn’t mean you should. If he took his eyes off of his employees, he was sure they’d all get themselves killed somehow. This last incident involved being stupid on a forklift. His voice was already going hoarse from that yelling, and the day wasn’t yet half over. At least he could comfort himself with the knowledge that the kid deserved it, and maybe learned something from it.

He went back to his office to start figuring out the schedules for next week. It wasn’t his job, but the person who was supposed to be doing it had suddenly decided to quit without warning. If he’d known this would happen, he would have gotten started sooner. It was halfway through the week, and the schedule was finally nearly done. His employees were more volatile than usual because of the late schedule. Most were trying to make plans, but not knowing your schedule makes that a bit difficult.

After finishing the schedule, he had to go back out and make sure no one decided to break anything. Sometimes he considered firing everyone and starting over, but knew that wasn’t a viable option. Hiring new people would just mean even more work.

He wished he could get a break. Even home was a stressful place. A baby and a three year old. And a wife who was just as exhausted as he was. They were both about to crack. There was so much to do and so little energy to do it. Keeping the house clean and his son from screaming over something was hard enough. He was glad that they didn’t have any pets.

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Tired. She was so tired. Everything seemed to be moving in fast forward; she just couldn’t keep up. There was so much to do, but her mind was mush. Her fingers had frozen over her keyboard. She had no idea what she was supposed to write in this field she’d filled in thousands of times before. It took her several minutes to finally remember, only to stall on the next field.

It was this stop and go routine she’d been going through all day. Lunch was her only reprieve, and even that was disappointing. Her sandwich was peanut butter and tuna, a combination she’d decided she hated. She needed to start drinking coffee; it’s not a good sign when you mix two things like that together in the morning.

She had to be at work at eight every weekday morning, but her eldest had to be at school by 7:20, which meant she had to get up forty minutes earlier. More precious sleep lost. If only her husband didn’t have to work at seven. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if her eight month old would start sleeping through the night. She was lucky if she got two hours of sleep.

She was at her wits end. Life was exhausting no matter where she went. Her children demanded attention that she didn’t have the energy to give, work demanded deadlines she wasn’t lucid enough to meet, and her husband wanted dinner at six sharp.

She wished she could just lie down and sleep forever.

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Finally, his day was over. After driving home for an hour, he finally opened his car door. Removing his things, he scuffled to the house, too exhausted to walk properly. It took him three tries to get the key in the slot, and then a moment to realize he was turning it the wrong way. After entering, he relieved the babysitter, paying her for her time. Both he and his wife were grateful to have found someone they could trust their daughter with. They’d had a few bad experiences with babysitters and their son when he was an infant.

His son didn’t even notice he was home. The TV was on and playing cartoons. He didn’t really care to watch cartoons, so he took the remote and changed it to NCIS, ignoring the protests of his son. He was too tired to care, and he really liked this show. Tom and Jerry wasn’t really all that engaging, and it had probably been playing all day.

His wife would probably be home in fifteen minutes anyway. His son wouldn’t have to wait long to regain control of the television.

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She was finally able to clock out. She hadn’t gotten much work done, but her boss was very understanding. She was fortunate that her boss was a mother herself, otherwise she’d probably be out of a job, and they wouldn’t be able to afford the mortgage. She couldn’t imagine living in an apartment with two kids. No escape from the noise that comes with parenthood. Sometimes she wondered why she’d wanted children before. That question only lasted for a moment though, as she truly was glad to be a mother, and loved her children. Even if she occasionally wanted to lock them in their bedrooms forever.

They were just so tiring.

She left work and drove home. Unlike her husband, it was a very short drive, lasting only ten minutes. She considered that a very good thing, as she was concerned she would lose focus and hit something. She didn’t, but it was always a constant fear now that she had another infant at home.

Pulling into the driveway, she thanked God that she didn’t run anyone over, and that the house was still standing. She exited the car and, much like her husband, scuffled to the door, which was unlocked.

The TV was on in the family room, and their son was playing alone with wooden blocks while occasionally glancing at the TV. She asked her husband to help cook, and he got up, giving their son the remote. He eagerly switched the TV to Justice League and lost awareness to the world around him.

After a few mix ups, they finally had the ingredients right. The meat was cut properly, the oven was up to temperature. Twenty minutes after they started making it, dinner was in the oven. Mom and dad sat with son and daughter. Their daughter was sleeping in her mother’s arms, and their son was sandwiched between both parents. They were watching a family sitcom.

After dinner, they watched another hour of TV. This time, they threw in Aladdin for their son’s sake. He stayed fairly quiet for most of it, having realized that his parents don’t like it when he asks “why” about everything in the movie.

After the movie was over, everyone went to bed with thoughts of flying carpets and genies in their heads.

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Several years past. The parents finally were able to get sleep again with the occasional interruption. They never quite broke out of the routine they established in their exhaustion. Both son and daughter watched several hours of TV a day. They watched sitcoms with their parents, and cartoons with the babysitter.

The TV kept them quiet and happy, which made the parents happy. They’d rather the children watch TV over bicker over stupid things, which they still occasionally did.

To the parents, the TV was a babysitter. Only every couple of weeks was the TV left off for an entire day.

The few times the parents tried to interrupt their television, the children protested loudly. They generally gave up, too tired to fight. They didn’t see the harm in letting them watch TV as long as the kids still got exercise.

They added another tradition as the years had progressed: dinner was now held in the family room in front of the TV. It was easier to please the children that way, and they were more likely to eat their peas when their attention was fully on the TV.

The potential harm these habits could be causing never crossed their minds.

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Two weeks out of the year, they went camping. They owned a large tent with two rooms in it. The kids were given one, the parents had the other. This was the only time of year that the children received their parents’ attention without distractions. Both children and parents anticipated this trip every year, all year.

They played, hiked, and learned about the wild. Their parents even let them help cook and set up the tent. They felt like a true family.

Only two weeks out of the year did the parents have time for their children. They would discipline and teach them at home, but never do anything fun with them. It was just too hard to balance everything. It was only during these trips that they realized how fun it could be to play with their children.

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Another year passed. The routine remained the same. The children were allowed to watch more shows as they got older, and were used to watching cop shows with their parents.

It wasn’t until the parents received an email from a friend that things changed.

She was reading her email when she noticed one from one of her former coworkers. The woman had become a mother herself in the past few years, but was single. The email was sent by her friend because it was something that had apparently changed her friend’s parenting methods. She didn’t really care to change anything, but read through it anyway.

At the end was a link to a video. She clicked it. The video was about how television affects children in the long run. It stated things like how it would make them more violent and disrespectful, how young children didn’t understand that commercials were trying to sell something, and how it disrupted social development.

She hadn’t really thought about it before. It was a concern she’d moved to the back of her mind. Something she didn’t have time to consider. Seeing it presented to her now, however, changed her mind. She was putting things together. Her son was one of the more disruptive members of his class, and would often think that the parents had little authority over him. He didn’t have many friends, so it wasn’t them encouraging this behavior. It was the television.

She asked her husband to watch the video.

He started it with the same thoughts as his wife. They were going fine as they were. The kids were a little rowdy, but controllable. However, halfway through the video, thoughts changed. The kids were more than a little rowdy, and the television was at the heart of it. The family worshipped the television.

Things had to change.

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It took a while for the children to understand, but they finally united as a family. Immediately after watching the video, television was banned for an entire month. After that, the children were only allowed 45 minutes a day of supervised television. They were allowed to save up their minutes and watch a movie instead.

Instead of worshipping the TV, the parents started spending more time with their children. They’d play with them and encourage them. Even though they were tired, they wanted to give their kids the best. The children got used to not watching the television and enjoyed the attention their parents gave them.

They were finally a family.