There's a handful of good programs on "TV" these days. Berta and I have been enjoying House of Cards, True Detectives, and The Walking Dead, for example. Game of Thrones is soon to return to the screen, and we watched the first episode of Black Sails last night, which wasn't bad. But none of these shows are appropriate for our kids, aged 9 and 12.
Well, that's not completely true. There are shows that are designed for 9 or 12-year-olds. But those shows are of no interest to Berta or me. They're all trite and lack complexity. And I'm not against cartoons, but it would be nice to watch something together that's not a cartoon.
We had burgers for dinner last night, and got into a conversation about hamburgers and their names, in general; how a hamburger isn't made of ham, and so a burger made with bear meat (for example) could, in fact, not necessarily be called a "bearburger".
During this conversation, somehow the trademark name of a burger came up in topic: The Quarter Pounder.
The kids are basically home on their own this summer. Nana is there to keep them out of my hair three days a week, but apart from that, they're on their own to figure out what they're going to do all day, be it outside or playing games indoors. But this undirected summer "activity" selection more often than not ends up with the kids on the couch staring at the screen, with or without a game controller in hand.
This summer, we wanted to give them something to focus on, maybe attract their attention and learn something. We wanted to provide them a direction for discovery, and not necessarily some mandatory activities to try to force them to enjoy. Obviously, there are chores to complete. And there are some activities that are mandatory for this discovery, but I think we've worked out a good plan.
