This week's shelves

What with floods and crazy holiday times, Lolly's shelves had become a bit of a catch all of chaos for whatever she had out playing with at the time.  I've recently done a sort and put away, and put out some new things that she is enjoying!  Again, excuse the grainy phone shots, my lovely camera is still mouldy :(  Here is the bench I'm using as her shelves since we did up the lounge room.  It works well and is a good height for her, and gives three roomy sections underneath.

On top we have her money tray, some animals in a bucket, a lock box, her horses, a container of padlocks and keys, and one of click-together eggs.  Underneath are her stacker blocks, her tool box (Christmas pressie from Nanna and Pop!) and some toy library puzzles.

I got this lock box from the toy library - she LOVES this!  It's interesting for the different locks, and she treats it as a "stables" for her various plastic animals. 

Hiring this sort of thing is great, it only engages a child for a short while (relatively), I hire it for 2 weeks and by then she will be pretty much over a toy like this one.  I love the toy library!  We also hire a lot of puzzles from there, same thing, they remain a challenge for such a short while, then she isn't interested any more, making me glad I didn't pay for them, other than a small hire fee!  It was $9 to hire the lock box for 2 weeks, compared to around $90 to buy one!

Here are her two horses (lol) and egg shapes she likes to put together, and put stuff in (though she has not chosen this at all since I put them out "officially"!).  I also got the idea to do padlocks and keys with Lolly from a lovely blog - One Hook Wonders.  Lolly loves keys, and is working out locks, but I hadn't thought to add something to her shelves before until reading Nicole's blog post.  Thanks!  As per her recommendation, I'll put a matching sticker on the lock and key it goes with.  She's been keen on these so far, but I the two small ones are too fiddly for her little hands, and the locks on them are quite hard to do.  I'm planning to get some more large locks soon for this activity.

Money matters!

Here's a close-up of the tray I've done in response to her love of coins and money!  It has her little cat purse (thanks Nanna!) and a small piggy bank that can be opened underneath that I got on sale for a dollar!  She likes this, and stacks the coins and makes patterns with them as well. 

I recently bought her more ocean animals, which live here, but which get played with at the sink every day!  And a new set of dinosaurs due to her recent addiction to Harry and his Bucketfull of Dinosaurs.  And also a bucket :p

Along the bottom of the bench I've got some new puzzles from the toy library.  I've noticed Lolly is less interested in puzzles now, and more into imagination games with her range of plastic animals and dinosaurs.  She's okay if I do them with her :D

Her stacker blocks are in use a lot, more as "stables" for a variety of animals.  She lays them out in patterns and puts things in them (she's loved putting things in things since she was a tiny baby!) - too cute!

Barn and bucket for small plastic animals.

This is across from her shelves, and normally has two chairs set up at it, too (they are on semi-permanent duty as "stable" doors ATM nearby - lol).  The white container is for more plastic animals, but she LOVES these so much that they are always in buckets and other containers around the house as she plays with them.  Oh, and that's my vacuum cleaner.  lol.

Down next to the bench, I've got her Poingo Dora book, which was a Christmas present for the girls (Dora for Lolly and Elmo for Snail!).

She quite likes this, though apparently we got the old system, not the new one - lol.  It's pretty good, lots of interaction, games and words, and it reads the books to you!

So that's our shelves at the moment, it's nice to have new things out to play with, and a glimpse of what Ms Nearly 3 is interested in!

More fun apps for your iPod or iPad for kids!

Here is what Lolly is choosing regularly on the iPad/her iPod lately.  She is nearly 3. 

Madera and Figaro Save the Day
Many books on the iPad only really give the same experience as a paper book, with someone else reading the text.  That's fine!  But many are billed as "interactive" when really you just touch words or characters and get a single unchanging sound or movement.  I don't know about your kids, but mine finds that interesting for about 2 seconds.  It's the truly interactive apps that she loves.  Something with variety, where she sees that she is affecting what is happening, different levels of challenge, bright and cheery.

Lolly is nearly 3 now, and definitely more interested in story than she was.  So, we love these two apps from Lyn and Line.  They are some of the few "book" apps that are really stretching what a book means given the new technogies we use to view and truly interact with them.  There is a central storyline, with activities on each page, interactive things to touch, things that move and dance (we love the mice!), puzzles and elements to move on the story line onwards.

Even some choose your own next step stages, where you can choose between three options to do next.

Just a great and challenging app/book.  One of the best apps I've seen for toddlers and young children.

They have another game, but this was made for iPhone, which means it's not as speccy on the iPad: Madera and Figaro: The Rescue of Ginger.  Still awesome though! 

Bartleby's Book of Buttons:
Okay, I'm including this one though it's a little too advanced for Lolly to get the most out of, but it too is an awesome app that is stretching the technology available on the iPad. 

At the moment it's a little complex for her, but there are some stages she is really enjoying, and I see her choose it on the iPad often just to have a look and short play, so she is obviously attracted to it. It would be a great choice for slightly older children.

Clicky Sticky:
This is one of the best of the 'sticker' apps available, with lots of screens and stickers to choose from, and interactive "stickers" to use.  Lolly loves it too as she is very keen on "ocean animals" at the moment, so she loves the ocean scene.

You can save and email the pages made too, which is very cute.  A simple app, but Lolly chooses it reasonably often.  The plane page is cute too, and makes some good sounds with simple animation.  A good sticker app for young kids.

Park Math:
By Duck, Duck, Moose, who have some great apps for kids.  Again, this is an app for iPhone, so we miss the high definition graphics.  But Lolly likes this app a lot, it at the same developmental level as she is, she gets challenged by it and often chooses it to play.

**Oh I just noticed they have an iPad version now!  Yay! *goes to download*

It has simple maths, counting, addition, sorting from large to small (and small to large), with nice clear graphics and an easy-to-use menu.

Sorting from small to large -

Feeding the hippo (counting, discrimination) -

Lolly loves this last one, the food you aren't supposed to feed the hippo gets stolen by ants and carried off, and she thinks this is the height of hilarity.  If you hold your finger down on the "wrong" food, the ants can't get it.  I think she thinks this is the point of the game!  Very funny, and she totally cracks herself up "stopping the ants from getting it!".

Their other games are also well worth it, Lolly also loves Fish School (now with an iPad version), and Baa Baa Black Sheep (the latter is iPhone only).  This developer is doing some great work on children's apps, for a reasonable price.

Dora's Christmas HD:
Okay, I have some issues with this one, it's based on a "naughty" or "nice" dichotomy which I totally disagree with, and have never used with Lolly!!  But she is obsessed with Dora (and Diego) and saw an ad for this on an episode of Dora I'd recorded off Foxtel.  It's relatively pricey at $5 or so, and other than it's terrible "naughty" message, is a great little app, a simple story with interactive steps along the way that kids have to solve or do to further the plot.

It has Santa in it, and we don't "do" Santa, but I don't mind this so much as we just talk about Santa as a character, and she's used to charaters not being real.  It's the "naughty/nice" crap that drives me crazy if she plays this.

Other than this major flaw, which if I'd know about, I wouldn't have bought this!!, a nicely presented app with plenty to interest your toddler/young child.  Miles better than the terrible rainbow game app they had prior to this one!  So boring!  We recently got the new Dora colouring app, too, which is nice, but far too expensive for what is basically just another colouring app.  Lolly rarely chooses these, she's not a huge fan of colouring in.  She basically just chooses it to see Dora and Boots.

Toddler Counting for iPad:
This is the simplest app EVER, but both girls LOVE it!  Its just a nice friendly voice counting as you touch different things.  As you touch the objects (there's a huge range) they grey out and the number appears.  You can set it to below and above 10.  I also like that is often does "one" and the voice says "there is only one" - good for her learning, and also cracks up this Highlander fan :D.  The repetition must be interesting to Lolly, who has recently been mastering counting, up to ten anyway, different objects, as she chooses this app a lot.

Snail also loves it, as it's simple, responsive, and she feels she gets a result from simply pressing the screen.  She absolutely cracks up with laughter, it's VERY adorable!

A popular app round our place!

What apps are your kids choosing!?

You might like to read my previous posts on Apps - Great iPod/iPad Apps for Kids and the Montessorium Apps.

A question...

So, when you're 2 and a half year old is flouncing around the dining room table looking extremely pleased with herself, brandishing a toy mop and shouting "Shucking Hell!!  Shucking Hell, Mummy!!" - for fun, not being insulting or anything - do you try to stop laughing long enough to correct her pronunciation?

Who, me?

This week's shelves

The shelves have been sadly neglected for a couple of weeks.  But I managed some work on them the other night, and this is how I have them set up for this week:

We have sparkly pom pom sorting at the top, and her hammering toy (with the pieces in a little pot); on the second shelf, her number puzzle, a space where the flower acitivity goes, and her bead threading; along the bottom, a bowl with her matching cards in, her matching box, a basket of blocks, and our library books.

I have some new activities out - a "flower" building activity with pipe cleaners and big buttons, some sparklies for sorting with an easter egg chocolate tray, and some lizards for sorting and playing!

This is a lovely idea I got off a blog in my travels (wish I could recall which one!), to put pipe cleaners in one of these chocolate shakers (I got this at Woolies for only a few dollars).  Then you can make little flowers by using buttons.  I got these lovely colourful large buttons from Spotlight, they were pricey at around $10, but worth it I think, as I can use them for sorting as well.  I wanted something too large to be a choking risk for littler kids we have to visit.  Putting the pipe cleaners in the holes is a great fine motor activity, as is the button threading!  Lolly really enjoys this and it has been out every day so far!

The sorting is popular, too, but mostly for throwing the sparklies in the air then picking them up again.  I got these sweet sparkly pom poms from Spotlight for a couple of dollars.  Lolly likes to put each colour in a separate egg shape, as well, when she's not throwing them round the lounge!

This is the lizard sorting I put out, from a set I got for a couple of dollars at Crazy Clarks.

She doesn't really "sort" these, more just likes to put them in the containers.  The set turned out not to be great for matching, either, too many different colours.  But she likes them, and I have them out on her table by the window. 

The Montessorium apps for iPad/Pod

Lolly loves the Montessorium apps.  I'm aware of the controversy of attempting to 'translate' Montessori to this kind of technology.  To some extent, I agree with the critique.  But, I thought I'd try out the Montessorium numbers app with Lolly and was really impressed.  Lolly particularly likes the number tracing, and this is the application's strength, in my opinion.

Montessorium - Intro to Math:  This is a beautifully presented application, with several Montessori-based games.  I agree that "red rods" on the application lose too much in not being a three dimensional object that a child can feel and move around.  Lolly hasn't done the red rods at Nido, she's probably a tad young anyway, but I do think if a child had done the rods successfully in "reality" then they'd enjoy the application version.  Same with the counter activity.

So, I agree with the critics of these applications that there are aspects than need to be experienced viscerally by the child.  However, Lolly has definitely engaged with the application, and frequently chooses it.  Is it "wrong" to give a child an online version of a Montessori based activity?  I don't think so.  So long as they are supported to continue to interact in three dimensional physical ways with these (and other) activities as well. Ideas on how to do this are included on the Montessorium blog - try this post.

That said, the "sandpaper" numbers in the app are very similar to the "real" thing.  Lolly loves doing this activity!

Here's the Intro to Letters version of tracing -

While, admittedly, the child can't feel the texture, the sound and lines that appear when the app letters are touched provide a very real interface, and from what I can see with Lolly, seems just as "real" to her.  She has only recently begun tracing activities on the iPad/Pod, but chooses them repeatedly at the moment, so is obviously interested and engaged by it.  I purchased the letters version of the Montessorium app and she is really enjoying tracing the letters, too.  It seems to me that the action of tracing with her finger is pretty identical to tracing a sandpaper letter with her finger, so in that sense I think this activity is closer to the "real life" physical version of it.  So, it's more successful for her at the moment.

The apps are both beautifully presented, a little pricey at $4.99 each, and as yet there is no combined version of the two apps, but I can see that as Lolly grows and is exposed to more of these activities at Nido and school, that we'll get long term use out of both applications.  I'd definitely recommend them to all parents, especially those interested in Montessori, who have an open mind about it all!

Would you use a Montessori application for your young child?

Great iPod/iPad apps for kids!

You might have noticed we got Lolly an iPod touch recently.  Dave and I also got iPads (yay!), so we've all been shopping madly in the app store and trying out applications.  I've read some decent reviews of kids apps, and thought I'd add my voice to the mix.

Here are our favourites for a 2 and a half year old (I know, we're THOSE parents).

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles!  It's all about the puzzles!  Lolly loves real puzzles, and not suprisingly loves the puzzle apps on her iPod.  If you're looking for puzzles, you can't go past tozzle - which is just great. 

Tozzle is a series of puzzles, including letters and numbers.  Lolly loves it, though my main critique is that they do need to release some new puzzles as upgrades, she's done all of them now, and doesn't choose this one as much as she's become familiar with them all.  More puzzles, please!  That said, there are 33 puzzles on there, all with sound effects and animations. All for only $2.49 (prices in Australian dollars), which is great value.

More puzzle goodness - Anything by Alexandre Minard is great - Here are My First Puzzles and My First Tantagrams.

Just gorgeous, and really engaging.  Though like all the puzzle games, they could do with releasing more puzzles rather than making new apps (yeah right :p).   These are cheap, only $2.49 a pop.

redfish is the iPad version of poissonrouge, the great kids website.

This app is amazing.  Just so creative and intuitive.  Lolly loves it, and I can see it would engage kids much older than her as well.  It's relatively pricey for the whole package, $12 from memory, but worth it!  You get a lot of games for that within the package.  There's heaps in this version, and if you do an app search for redfish there are a few to try for free as well.


Monkey Preschool Lunchbox - this application is just adorable, and when we first got it for her, Lolly spent AGES playing it.  It still gets in regular rotation here, too, so it has staying power, which a lot of these apps don't really have.  It's a mix-em-up game, with counting, sorting, matching, puzzles, letters and colours.  Well worth it.  It's a little praisey, but hey, most of them are (sigh).

Lolly is also really enjoying this Interactive Alphabet game - it has little animations for each letter.  She seems to really like it.

Some others worth checking out - Tickle Tap apps - these are really sweet!

The toddler pack has five games and has been worth it.  They have a second collection, toddler pack 2, coming soon which I will probably buy for Lolly.

The is the biggest problem with kids apps all round, is that there are a limited palette of options inside the game, and kids gets to know them and get tired of them fast.  It's not a product of the technology, at least not in my experience, Lolly has the same thing with "real" wooden puzzles, for example.  She's engaged while it's a challenge, or if it becomes new and interesting.  Otherwise she moves on to the next challenge.

This is something game designers need to account for in updates, especially for kids games in this area.  When your app is limited to the alphabet letters, or to 12 puzzles, it's only going to engage a toddler for a certain amount of time.  Games for older kids have more choices, they are often playing  an actual game, rather than just interacting more simply with the device.  There needs to be more thought to these apps for kids in the 2-4 range.


I'm going to review the Montessorium apps separately soon!

Which apps does your toddler/young one enjoy!?

Housework

And how she loves it!

Washing dishes.

Cooking.

Washing (here, "helping" is making off with the basket, then standing in it while holding a stuffed crocodile toy).

Sweeping.

Who needs pants!

It's a non-stop housework party round here!  I'm sure she's looking round saying "you know, we could do with more housework, Mum!" right now!  Me, I'd rather surf the net and watch TV - lol.

What have we been up to this week?

Drawing with chalk outside.

Sorting and scooping is a very serious business.

 Excited about a new matching card game.

 Dinner time craziness!

Pouring rice using a cup and funnel.

Eating chocolate :D

Stacking and watching "dancing" after school - which is what Justine Clarke's DVDs are called round these parts.

Yesterday I got some easter egg molds at a seconds store for cheap.  I was unpacking them in the afternoon, and this is what I came out to find Lolly had done...nawwwwww!

I hurt my back yesterday afternoon, so this is what our lounge room looks like this morning (it hurts other than when I'm sitting down - lol).  Needless to say, the television is ON!!!

Television - the Dreaded Box!

Television viewing is the secret shame of most parents I know.  No matter how well adjusted we appear with our self-regulatory arguments, even self regulator parents have a secret spot of shame about how much their kids view sometimes.  Other than super parents who don't have a television, all of us struggle with how much kids watch, and what they are watching.  So I thought I'd work through some of my thoughts on this here, though I freely admit it is an issue I feel a lot of conflict about.  It's not a referenced post, though I think I'll expand on some areas in later posts with references :D.



To view or not to view? 

We are obviously television viewers.  I harbour a secret dream of having some perfect TV-free life where we all play games, read, and discuss politics or something, but we live in a real, digital world, and I actually think it's part of what I have to guide Lolly through as she grows - viewing and managing various forms of media. 

My other main, and considerably less noble, reason, is that I get time.  I get to sit and have a coffee.  I get to pay bills.  I get to surf online.  I get to catch up on chores.  I get to cook dinner.  I get to write on this blog.  And so on.  I don't have to be "on".  And that's important to me.  In the absence of a tribe with which Lolly can play and interact, a LOT of the time it's just her and me.  So, in order to maintain some space, I view television as both a necessary and valuable thing, and a sometimes welcome distraction/"evil".

Those who have seen my house will be laughing at the idea that I need to "out" myself online as a TV viewer.  We have, I kid you not, a 60 inch plasma screen television that is the biggest thing you've ever seen.  Please ignore our lackluster curtains and drab stained carpet in this shot.  You can tell what our priorities were, giant TV or makeover for the lounge.  The TV won.  :D 

Watching Backyardigans.

I love this shot of Lolly at 15 months watching In the Night Garden.

OMG!!!!111!!  Pinky Ponk!!!  In other words, this is one serious television. 


How much to view? 

We are predominantly self-regulators, with a dash of "just No" thrown in - lol.  I think learning to regulate her own viewing is important, and to do that, Lolly needs the freedom to over-indulge and feel the effects of that (I think her ability to do this increases as she gets older).  But I also, at a practical level, reserve the right to say No on occasion, or to put the television on when it hasn't been requested.  My general policy is only to put it on when it is asked for.  Sometimes I might refuse if I think it's motivated by frustration, or comes at a bad time, like when we're getting ready to go out or have dinner.  Likewise sometimes I put it on when I need it on, like if I'm tired, sick, or frustrated.  This latter type of viewing is what I am trying to cut out entirely.

Self regulation with digital media has worked well with Smash, who is nearly 15.  He goes through periods of lots of screen time (he doesn't get much of a look in with the TV, but plays WoW) and periods of almost none.  I notice that on holidays there are days of almost solid TV/WoW, which dies down after he reaches saturation point.  I work in a similar way, so find it easier to understand.

My fundamental view is, that I watch television and use lots of digital media, and I'm fundamentally okay.  So why will my children be any different?  Some days I want to watch heaps (obviously I'm thinking pre-kids here) and others, none.  Some days I can sit and read all day (pre-kids - lol), some days I don't read at all (rare!).  Television is not evil. It's just a thing.  Another thing all of us need to deal with at some stage in our lives.  I'd rather not make it more attractive by being forbidden, and use it for what it does offer, a glimpse into other worlds, fantastic opportunities for education, and for entertainment.

If I did regulate, and I know some do this as their kids get older, I would probably go with a 'number of shows" approach, not time limitations.  Like, you can watch 2 movies, or 3 episodes of whatever, a day.  I think saying "only between 4 and 5 o'clock" or similar makes that time about television, not choice.  At Lolly's age, I'm not considering regulation, and in keeping with what I believe about self-regulation, I don't think it will be necessary.  It does involve a lot of trust that the child knows what they are doing, though!  It can be hard as a parent!


What to watch? 

Here, I am NOT a self-regulator, not with Lolly anyway.   I think regulating content is too much for small children, with no context in which to do it, and loads of natural curiosity.  Smash, well, we now let him choose what he likes, and have done since our last bastion of censorship fell by the wayside - South Park when he was round 12 :D.  Lolly and Snail, I control content.  Mostly for gender and praise, violence, and other negative social messages I want to avoid for as long as I can.

So what I do is allow free choice within a limited palette.  At 2 and a half, this is easy.  To be honest, I think kids generally choose shows that suit them anyway, so don't think this will be too much of an issue, but I may be eating my words in a few years, who knows!  Being fundamentally a self-regulator, I'd have to have a compelling reason to say no, too.

I try for shows with little or no obvious gendered behaviour and characters, and as little praise for nothing as I can.  Shows with music and dancing, and shows with real people, as well as animated stuff, are good too.  A minimum of violence, and appropriate treatment of children as little humans is a must.  We probably allow more violence than I'd like in an ideal world, as we have older siblings.

As she grows I anticipate increasingly allowing her a choice and voice, until I don't provide any "no"s at all.  This is what we did with Smash very successfully.  We had a couple of programs, Family Guy and South Park, that we didn't "allow" him to watch until he was 12 or so because of their style of content.  I think you need a well developed sense of irony to appreciate them.  We talked to him about it, and he always seemed fine.  I think by 11 or 12 he was so proficient at computing that continuing to "forbid" a program was a waste of time anyway, as he could easily access all that content online by then.  I'd rather watch a show with a child and talk about it that make it Golden and Forbidden.  It's about providing the child with a structure for approaching and understanding content, and making up their own mind within a supportive environment. 

So, what does Lolly watch?  Things I liked for Lolly very early years - In the Night Garden, Play School, Wonder Pets, The Upside Down Show (this one was her first obsession and she requested it All. The. Time for about 3 weeks, and they only made one series!!!  She was round 20 months then from memory), Peppa Pig, Timmy, Shaun the Sheep.

As she headed into the twos, we introduced movies:  Ice Age 1, 2 and 3 were her favourites (she still likes these), Madagascar, Wall-E, and unfortunately, Astro Boy (or Robot Guy as she calls it) which we watched with the family and she became obsessed with a few months ago.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Bee Movie are also popular.

Stuff she loves now - she's 2 and a half:

- The Backyardigans - this is a fantastic, creative show, that she has liked, on and off, for many months.

It's colourful and filled with music for younger ones, and she follows the stories and plot now she is older.  It's CGI animation, and the dancing is modeled on real dancers.  There are five animal characters who share a backyard who go on imaginary adventures each episode, with a different musical theme.  There are heaps of episodes, and I recently read they are making a new season this year!  The gender stuff is good, with three male and two female characters, and each character having turns in all the types of roles, king, queen, captain, knight, scientist, explorer, detective, pirate, journalist, superheroes, and so on.  There's a minimum of praise as it's all child characters talking to each other.  With simple stories and catchy tunes, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it!

- Charlie and Lola - adorable, especially as Lolly has an older brother, too.

- Wallace and Gromit - she LOVES this, though it is a little scary on occasion, and can be violent (cartoonish of course).  Not many episodes, but they did do two films, thank goodness.

- Timmy Time , by the same animators who did Wallace and Shaun the Sheep.

Lolly recently went through an obsession with "Timmy on teevee!", I think because she moved beyond the cool colours and cute animals she liked as a younger tot, to the plots of each show - which are simple toddler problems like sharing and dealing with frustrations, and so on.  Timmy does have some episodes I culled, which included a "naughty step" - the opposite of what we practice here!  In general it is a little too "good" and "bad" for my taste, but manages to pass more generally because of it's simple young child issues, and managing emotions positively.  I would warn homeschoolers that it's about 'nursery' school.  Lolly doesn't go to school, though, and doesn't mind this at all.

- she likes some things as entertainment, I think, like Pingu, which she laughs at and says is "so funny."

- she watched Poko almost exclusively a month or so ago, but is off high rotation now.

It's a lovely gentle show that focusses on emotional intelligence and development in children.  Poko deals with upset and frustration gently and successfully.  It's lovely and bright, and Mr Murphy the monkey is a favourite round here.

- Shaun the Sheep is still a fave, and we all enjoy the show.

Intentional viewing.

This is the biggest change in television viewing for our whole family, and is a product of pay television and digital storage of films and shows.  Since we got our digital recorder, and Foxtel, we watch almost NO live television.  We record everything and watch when it suits us.  This has been the case since before we had Lolly.

The two main side effects of this are the almost complete lack of commercials, and that our viewing is more intentional.  We don't turn on the television and watch hours randomly, we are watching things we want to watch.  Now, if I'm honest, of course we still can be found with our bums on the couch for hours at a time, but at least we're watching things we are interested in rather than whatever we can get from four or five channels, at a particular viewing time, which is very much how it used to be sometimes long ago in pre-digital eras :D.

For kids, the lack of commercials is truly fantastic.  I can't really overstate just how awesome it is.  And intentional viewing, while it may not be truly ideal in terms of Lolly's brain, is still involving choice, preference, lets her explore a show over and over again while she learns what she likes to from it, and memory and communication as she finds ways to ask for what she wants.

Negotiation is a big thing, too, when all of us are watching, or even just Lolly and Snail.  For example, Snail LOVES Blue's Clues, and would watch it every time the box is on if allowed to.  In my pre-Lolly days, I watched a complete shed-load of Blue's.  Lolly likes Blue's, but she just doesn't have the single-minded focus of the Snail.  So Snail's request is always "Blue" and Lolly's is most often "not Blue."  I've started negotiation with Lolly (Snail finds this hard, it is a little beyond her other than "not now, soon" or "first this, then Blue"), first Blue's for Snail, then your show (or the other way round).  It works about half the time - lol.  On less than ideal parenting days, I go with whoever will whinge the least (usually Snail). 

So, that's our television truths.  Lolly watches from 3 or 4 hours to no hours a day, but normal for us is a couple of hours spaced over the day being normal, especially when we have Snail as well.  After school I do tend to put on the television for them, and they wander and play around it.  I try as much as possible to have television free time, and this is increasing as Lolly gets older.  I don't make a big deal out of it, I just leave it off!  My main "rule" now is that Lolly or Snail have to request the show.  So the television is off unless something particular is requested.  This is working well, and I'm hoping will limit "default" viewing.  I also quite often turn it off altogether if neither girl is still watching. 

How much television do your kids watch?  How and why do you control it?  We're all curious, let's be upfront!  :D