I have been coming down hard on E-chan's TV watching - both as a punishment for bad behaviour if necessary, and in an effort personnally to be less lazy when I'm tired and it's just too easy to let him watch another show or two instead of getting pestered as dinner is getting made.
The result has been - not suprisingly, but happily - play rich in imagination. Soft toy dogs (spot, clifford and snoopy) have been REAL dogs, complete with play dough* dog food. Lego has become spaceships. Play dough has been made into caterpillars and a very convincing snail.
And do you know, as I've found in the past, this tough love stuff - you know, being firm but fair - really has its rewards. A couple of whining interludes to endure, and then your kid understands that you mean what you say when you say it's time to turn the TV off, and instead of complaining, his little eyes start wandering around the room, looking for something else to play with....
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In a parallel adult world, C-chan and I had to do some imagining of our own. C was asked if he (we) would like to go to Hong Kong for 3 months for work, if it could be arranged. We spent a good week thinking through the implications, the pros and cons, and whether we'd like to go. The answer was "yes", because you don't get opportunities like this very often. Only, a few days later we were told it wasn't going to happen after all. Interesting exercise to go through, however!
* I've made a few batches of play dough recently too - very fun! recipe can be found on the side of the Cream of Tartar tin.
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