TV as a bad influence on children

I keep hearing about the TV show about the nanny who comes in and fixes discipline problems. It sounded interesting, ad I was even near the TV tonight, so I turned it on. Wendall was still awake, due to a glitch in scheduling, so we watched it together.

Now let me say up front, for the benefit of those who have not spent time with him, that I have a remarkably well behaved child. He is truly a little joy who is capable of understanding right and wrong, and he is able to control himself in almost any situation. That said, he is also a typical three year old, complete with temper tantrums and meltdowns. He is pretty good at keeping it together until we are away from other people, but at home he can be a huge handful.

So we sit together and watch this show, starring a toddler boy who cries and throws toys and does not believe his parents when they attempt to discipline him. Wendall took one look and said "That is a bad boy." I agreed, and we discussed what the boy was doing that made him "bad". No one should throw toys. Hitting is bad, yelling is not nice, discuss problems, don't just cry.

The show had so many issues, and in general was well done. By the end of the hour, however, Wendall was asking me what sort of punishment he would receive if he acted the way the children on TV were acting. I swear that by the end of the show, he was deciding which behaviors he would copy. Argh! I told him he was a good boy and did not act in this way, but he told me that he was bad, and needed to be on time out.

I have a feeling that tomorrow won't be fun.

I also don't foresee me seeing a second episode of the show.