Today it was the "International Dinner" at the kid's school, which is also celebrating it's 10th Anniversary. Happy Birthday, The Children's School in Brooklyn!!! Joseph asked me if I wanted to help out, so of course I jumped at the offer (I love to get involved in the kid's activities). I got there at 2pm, Joseph and the kids got there at 2:30, and we didn't leave until 7:30 but it was a great night. I helped out setting up some of the tables and I was also in charge of the buffet, which got a little scary when we saw we were running low on food, and the line of people was amazing. But it all worked out, except we run out of water.... oh, well. Someone went out and got about 8 gallons of water and some extra juice drinks for the kids. Hey, I thought we did pretty good considering there must have been about 300 people there tonight. I know the kids are going to fall asleep the minute their heads hit the pillows, and I think Joseph won't be far behind...

I'm kind of bored with the book I'm reading. So much so that I've been thinking about returning it to the library, I don't care that I didn't finish it. Maybe I'm just too excited about reading War and Peace, which I think will be my next book. That reminds me, I told Joseph yesterday that I want to have a new "less tv rule" in my house. We watch entirely too much tv, and I feel bad about it. I've become so lazy that I don't want to do anything. We don't even go out for walks anymore, which is something we used to do almost every evening after dinner. He wasn't very thrilled when I suggested we keep the tv off and find other things to do, but he agreed in the end. He suggested we read together, which is also something we used to do. I don't know why we stopped??

But to be honest, my main motivation to limit our tv time are the kids. I know they watch too much tv at home, and I can't say I would approve of the shows they watch if they were my kids. But I can't do anything about that. What I can do is take control of the tv in my house, and try to expose them to more educational and meaningful tv. I guess I've been thinking about it a lot since Mr. Rogers' death. I was too old for that show when I came to this country, so I can't say I feel the loss, but I grew up with Sesame Street and Kermit the frog, and I have to say I was very upset when Jim Henson died. But I remember fondly the lessons learned sitting in front of that black and white tv, and I wonder, who will the kids remember as their "teachers" outside the home when they're grown up? Pokemon?? That's a scary thought. Anyway, I know I worry too much. I'm sure they'll be ok, but I also know it'll be different with my kids.