Another Tracy Parenting Rule bites the dust....

"My child will not watch TV until she is at least 2 years old." This is what I have said with conviction for as long as I can remember. Today, I bought Zoe her first Barney DVD, and even worse -watched it with her! OK, here is my rationalization... In order for me to stay home with Zoe I need to be able to work from home at the jobs I have discussed in detail for months now. The operative word in "work from home" is WORK. I can not do this because Zoe does not really nap, so I don't have much time to do the aforementioned "work". If this keeps up , I can't stay home anymore. If this was to happen, my heart would break into a million pieces and Zoe would be scarred for life. OK, this is a slight (huge) exageration, but it is not what I want to happen. Since Zoe does not nap well, there needs to be a few blocks of time where I can make phone calls, talk to clients, and just work. This is where the videos come in. If I can get her to be entertained/distracted for a half an hour, I can work. She is even starting to play on her own, so that will add to the work window as well. I figure that the small amount of time a day that she will be watching TV is greatly outweighed by me being able to stay home with her every day. At least this is what I tell myself. And it helps that she absolutely loves the kids in the Barney video, and has quickly become a fan of Elmo as well!