We did an interesting exercise today.
My children have gotten into a TV habit, especially my 11 yo daughter. They go in and out of phases, but lately TV has been her vice.
They get their school work and chores done, but then they can do as they please, for the most part. We had a 1 hour a day rule for electronics, which included games and TV. Lately, we have been pretty slack on that rule. I think we slipped over our last vacation.
Anyway, she likes to watch the Nickelodeon and Disney channel shows, even though she has seen them many times before. Of course each of the shows follow a similar pattern…everyone is doing well in the beginning, conflict arises (and hilarity ensues), and conflict is resolved.
The question in my mind is…What causes the conflict?
Is there anything my children can learn from these mostly mindless shows about how to avoid conflict in the first place?
I have been doing quite a bit of thinking and reading about the ego lately thanks to Oprah’s online workshop on The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Recommended reading.
So as these shows were playing, we stopped the shows and talked about what caused the original conflict.
We found that the conflicts were caused by the characters wanting to be right at any cost (ego), putting conditions on a gift (ego), and wanting to be the best (ego).
My son really got into the exercise, but after a while it just annoyed my daughter.
I think it was educational.
