Wednesday, November 3, 2010

WTF Wednesday - The Molly Ringwald Edition

According to UsMagazine.com Molly Ringwald has some fabu parenting advice that really hit home for team LiLa:


"I don't let my babies watch TV at all since there have been tests done that link it to ADD [because of the rapid editing]," mom to twins Ringwald, 42, tells The Washington Post. "I didn't have a TV for the first four years of my older daughter's upbringing, and now she really just doesn't much care for it."

This is bad news bears for the two women currently attempting to write 50,000 over the course of the next 30 days with 4 kids under the age of five and six measly hours of preschool a week for childcare.

In honor of Molly's exceptional parenting advice we're rewriting a scene from Pretty In Pink to reflect our feelings on the issue:


Molly: What do you want to hear?
LiLa: Tell me!
Molly: What?
LiLa: You think we're bad mothers!
Molly: No, I don't!
LiLa: You're ashamed that we believe that Nick Jr. really IS preschool on demand. You're terrified that your god forsaken nannies aren't nearly as effective at teaching multiculturalism as Dora.
[Lisa hits Molly]
LiLa: Just say it!
[Laura hits her again]
LiLa: Just tell us the truth!
Molly: You don't understand that it has nothing at all do with you. I just can't stand for my kids to watch television shows that I'm not starring in.
[LiLa runs away]
Molly: [wipes a tear] LiLa!!!!

[End scene] *LiLa bows*

26 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

OMG. Was that the scene from the dance when Anthony Michael Hall asks if he can have her panties? Oh wait. That's Sixteen Candles. Shit! I'm getting my John Hughes films mixed up here.

So if they can't watch TV that she isn't starring in ... then they can't watch TV, right? She's not acting again is she?

Kristi Faith said...

Great stuff! :) And don't feel bad...the tv comes on when I'm trying to get anything accomplished. LOL

Marissa Burt said...

HAHA! "We think Nick Jr. really is preschool on demand..." Love. It.

Christina Lee said...

Crap. Is that why my child is the way he is?

I hate when actors say this kind of shizzle!

Kerri Cuev said...

Um that was me last year kids, tv,nano, great combination lol. Oh don't forget to throw turkey day in the mix. And I wonder why my characters throw themselves off cliffs.

Loretta Nyhan said...

This made my week. Favorite post ever.

(And Nick, Jr. is totally preschool on demand...)

Katie Anderson said...

HA! :))) Love the "preschool on demand."

Stina said...

I don't feel quilty . . . too much.

And my son's ADHD has nothing to do with TV. Heck, he doesn't last long before he's off doing something else. He reads longer than he watches TV. :D

Can't say the same about the younger two, though.

Kristal Shaff said...

I don't believe it. I have a son with autism, and don't blame it on the TV. (and that is another story)

However, moderation is the key. A little tv can be a great educational tool. I had some videos that helped my autistic son start speaking.

When I wrote my first book, I'd allow "movie time" for my kids. And during Beauty and the Beast, or whatever, I'd write like a fiend. I wrote my whole first book that way.

K. M. Walton said...

Don't worry, your kids will thank you when they're older and have famous author moms.

Marsha Sigman said...

Molly is sooo 5 minutes ago.

Who's to say that Scooby Doo does not help my child learn deduction skills? Or SpongeBob doesn't teach my child about under water exploration and being nice to your not so intelligent friends? (Yes, I mean you Patrick Starfish)

And who doubts the joy of Yo Gabba Gabba? Just the name alone is fun.

Don't knock it, Molly. You have no idea what you're missing here.

Anne Gallagher said...

When my daughter was a baby I breast fed until she was almost a year. I made real food and ground it up for her. I washed all her 100% cotton clothes in no dye/no perfume laundry detergent. I made sure she wore a hat and socks everywhere.

I let her watch all the damn tv she wanted to. Nick Jr. is preschool. Elmo is a great babysitter. The Disney princesses are lifesavers.

She's now (at 5 1/2) reading books and doing math problems, knows big words (like perpendicular and horizontal) and can tell you where every single animal lives in the world and what they eat. There's nothing wrong with tv for kids.

Take that Molly!!!

CHRISTIE said...

LOL!!! Nick Jr. is preschool on demand made me snort?

My 3 kids have all watched more TV than “experts” probably think is ok and seem to be just fine. When I discovered episodes of the Power Rangers made my colicky baby stop crying the TV was on a lot. I also gave every Power Ranger DVD we owned to my neighbor once the colic crying stopped for good, and prayed I’d never have to sit through another episode again :) Sometimes you just do what you have to do.

mountie9 said...

I loved your post so much, that I just went over and preordered Liar Society from book depository!

Why oh why must these actors be so holier than though. I have a sudden urge to find her and smack her upside the head -- after I give Tom Cruise a few first.

Stasia said...

Ah, well, her kids don't watch tv but they're probably being raised to believe that there will always be (paid) adults available to play with them or see to their needs every minute of the day. This, too, may cause ADD (or other interesting issues) down the road. I say your kids are lucky to have moms who model a life full of dreams of their own (and, hey, at least Dora's teaching them some Spanish!) :)

Lisa Potts said...

Ha! I recognized the hall locker scene from the very first line.

I popped Pretty In Pink in the DVD player the other day because I thought my kids would like it as much as I did.

They thought it was "weird", and I again considered the possibility that they were switched at birth.

Krispy said...

I used to watch Nick Jr. all the time, and I think I turned out okay...

Stephanie said...

I can;t even begin to tell you how much my daughter has learned form Nick Jr. shows. And she's 7 and has no signs of ADHD. most fot eh time when the TV is on, my kids are doing soemthing else too...it's more just background noise.

As I type this my son is engrossed with Monsters Inc..his new fetish. He looks like he's gonna fall asleep. SWEET!!

Elana Johnson said...

Yeah, you definitely need TV. Heck, I have one daughter who's almost 6, and we put a movie on every day. And she's still pretty smart. I think. Oh crap...

Sara B. Larson said...

Wait, Nick Jr ISN'T preschool on demand? Ah, crap. Now I have to go turn off the TV and stop checking blogs and be a mom. Curse you LiLa and Molly. Curse you all.

Ha ha. ;)

Lisa_Gibson said...

How much do you wanna' bet she secretly parks her kid in front of the glowing screen - okay nevermind.
Your re-work was hilarious. :)
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Nicole Zoltack said...

I put PBS on during the day. Nicholas just turned two and he already recognizes and says the alphabet (not that he knows how to same them in order yet) and some of that is me and some of that is SuperWhy. He loves that show. There's nothing wrong with kids watching TV.

Abby Minard said...

Geeze. Seriously, I was deprived of tv when I was a child, and its on like, all the time in my house. I think that method of no tv whatsoever backfires in the end. Plus, my 5 year old knows way more Chinese than I do, and knows more Spanish than I did at that age.

Jemi Fraser said...

My kids absolutely loved the Elephant Show with Sharon, Lois & Bram when they were little. It was 30 minutes of happiness... for me :)

Little Ms J said...

I hope she's also making her own organic baby food and knitting hemp diapers. It would suck if they bypassed ADD only to get allergies or a troubling arm growing out of their head from hormones and chemicals. It happens. Serious. Ask Gisele. She knows everything.

Unknown said...

First off - I tried this with my son. Refused to buy him a video game his entire life. It became like crack to him... still is and he's 24.

Second - You refer to Molly Ringwold as an actress but I beg to differ. Have you seen Secret Life of an American Teenager? Blech.

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