Dear Not So Shy Anymore Commenter,

In response to my "What Will Become of Him?" post, you wrote the following:

Dear Ashley,They call it an idiot box for a reason. You raising an idiot or a really smart Big Kid? Guess what? You keep the box off as much as possible and he will be creative, learn to read, ask why, can wes, and not pester you to buy all that bullshit they are marketing! Save a brain and save a bundle at the bank! Sincerely, not so shy anymore commenter.

It's so nice to hear from you! While I appreciate your unnecessary concern, I am quite confident in Big Kid's creativity level and brain power. Have you heard some of the things he makes me pretend? Did you miss that he's already reading, doing 2nd grade level math, counting to 100, making graphs for fun, knows all of his calendar months and has a fairly good vocab of both French and Spanish, among other extraordinary things for a 4 year old? He can also install software and customize your desktop and icons, and he'd be happy to do so. Oh, and I get plenty of "whys" and "can wes" even with the tv on, trust me, he talks all day long, television or not. Isn't that what 4 year olds do?

You must have missed that our television died. We now have a borrowed 27" that only works 30% of the time due to our satellite dish issues. Not that it really changes anything between you and I, I just thought maybe you would sleep better at night knowing my kids don't get to watch television 70% of the time, unfortunately we just don't get to pick the times. And you know what? He's fine! He's smart and creative and personable and independent.

As far as commercials go, I have been blessed. He is just now realizing that those things showcased on tv are available for sale and when he asks for them, he wants them for his Emmers or his friend Julian. He has never asked me to buy him something he's seen on tv. And if he did? No biggie. I'd tell him no, like I do for everything else.

Clearly you missed the point of the whole post. I did what I had to do and luckily it worked for us. We couldn't afford a nanny or daycare at the time, we thought we were in a great position with me working from home. We had no idea it would turn into such a demanding career and that it would be nearly impossible to "keep it on the side" as we had originally planned. It was important for me to be with him through his babyhood, and although he did spend too much time in front of the tv according to the AAP, he was home with his mom and I did spend every free moment I had with him and worked my butt off during naptime and bedtime.

Once again, I appreciate your concern but I've got it handled. I do wish your one and only comment didn't have to be so....well, annoying. But you've got to do what you've got to do, and apparently what you've got to do is tell other people how to raise their kids. Keep up the good work! Unfortunately, this mission wasn't successful but maybe there are other mommy bloggers out there eager to take parenting advice from an anonymous stranger. Good luck with that!

Please, stick around. I do love comments and maybe if you stay awhile, you can collect enough information to turn me into Department of Children and Family Services and save my children from a lifetime of being chained to the boob tube.

Yours Truly,
Ashley