Life's little lessons...The Man and His Remote
Becoming a parent is filled with introspection and choose-your-0wn-adventure moments. Do you let him cry a little longer or do you pick him up? Do you name him after the little guy down the street that always peed his pants or do you find a name that no one has ever heard of? Do you change the diaper or wait for mom to come home? Whatever decisions you make, there is a belief that the direction you choose will have a lasting influence on your child. The ultimate goal, obviously being that you make decisions that result in a well rounded, extremely intelligent, good looking, talented, well adjusted and whatever other characteristics make your child just "perfect." Such conversations often lead to discussions on the topic of nature vs. nurture.
Over the weekend, I decided to conduct my first nature vs. nurture experiment with Owen. I chose an experiment with particular importance in our household. Owen's grandparents are coming to visit this weekend, and one of the challenges they have had in visiting us in the past has been the successful use of the television. I believe our satellite service offers almost 200 channels, but when Owen's grandpa L asked why we had only 3 channels, I knew something was wrong. As it turns out, he was not appropriately using the remote control, or should I say remote controls.
Having worked with Brecken in the past in this same area (e.g. frantic phone call to me while at work because she couldn't get the DVD player to work and when she finally saw the picture, she couldn't hear the volume), I have reason to believe that remote control use, something that I always assumed to be based in "nature" might actually be a "nurture" issue. After all, I don't have any problems balancing the 6 remotes in our living room. Why should anyone else?
When I sat Owen down, he took to the situation like a seasoned veteran. It might be one of the proudest moments I have had thus far as a father, seeing him effectively balance inputs and volume and channel selection without hesitation. He even asked for the Xbox controller as extra credit.
Over the weekend, I decided to conduct my first nature vs. nurture experiment with Owen. I chose an experiment with particular importance in our household. Owen's grandparents are coming to visit this weekend, and one of the challenges they have had in visiting us in the past has been the successful use of the television. I believe our satellite service offers almost 200 channels, but when Owen's grandpa L asked why we had only 3 channels, I knew something was wrong. As it turns out, he was not appropriately using the remote control, or should I say remote controls.
Having worked with Brecken in the past in this same area (e.g. frantic phone call to me while at work because she couldn't get the DVD player to work and when she finally saw the picture, she couldn't hear the volume), I have reason to believe that remote control use, something that I always assumed to be based in "nature" might actually be a "nurture" issue. After all, I don't have any problems balancing the 6 remotes in our living room. Why should anyone else?
When I sat Owen down, he took to the situation like a seasoned veteran. It might be one of the proudest moments I have had thus far as a father, seeing him effectively balance inputs and volume and channel selection without hesitation. He even asked for the Xbox controller as extra credit.
Of course, this created an entirely different "nature vs. nurture" problem that I had not anticipated. Namely, the first moment in life in which I recognized the value in parental controls on the television.
For grandpa's sake, I'll hold off on setting up the parental locks until next week. At least we can rest assured that Owen is his daddy's son and that grandpa and grandma have someone to change the channel for them this weekend.
posted by Sean at 11:32 PM
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