The goodness of TV as a childrearing tool

Rachel once told me that when she moved from East 90s to East 50s, she didn't have time to deal with her kids so she sat them in front of the TV while she packed and unpacked. Now her apartment is all nice and cozy but apparently the kids never got out of the habit.

I am a preemptive control freak. I'm bad at controlling things after the fact so I try to preempt. I can't pry a kid off a TV so I rather just raise him without one. One good way at installing "no TV" rules was to find a nanny who would rather go outside to the playground that sit in front of the TV. Delegation is everything to me.

"No TV" or "Yes TV" seems to be a topic that riles some people up, especially on childrearing message boards. Come to think about it I really didn't have a good reason to support my "no TV" policy. I turned out fine. I even worked in network TV for a decade for heavens sake. A lot of my friends were glued to the TV in their playpens and they are lawyers now. But then I remember my childhood, sitting in front of the TV all day, eating snacks or French fries and getting splitting headaches, not to mention gaining a lot of weight. I have a tendency to reflect my fears on my son. Those headaches were destructive to my mood and I'm too old to carry a heavy child. So it's no TV for him.

But how can I resist the remote control when Alex is nagging me to tell him each and every item I am unpacking and asking me whether he can touch the few Baccarat Crystals we have left?

We shipped the TV last. Ken was contemplating until the very end whether we should take it to Japan or not. I wanted to give it to our nanny. Ken thought about the prices these LCD TVs are in Japan. The day the movers came they put it in a box and wrote "to Japan". However, this was the second shipment. We did 2 installments. First was in May, the second end of June. It takes at least 50 days by sea. Our TV is still floating across the Pacific.

So I do not have a remote control button to push. I don't have a choice. I have to deal with my kid. Ken doesn't want to buy a TV when he knows a perfectly good one is coming in a few weeks. I am working from home without a nanny. How do people cope in situation like these?

I finally find a solution. I let Alex watch a movie on my computer while I read paper documents. problem is, since he's been raised without much TV, he gets tired at focusing and his interest wanes in 30 minutes.....

Tokyo Style Bagels

One of the things I miss is bagel. In Manhattan, I used to live near Bagelworks, a store written up in the NY times a few years back for having one of the most authentic recipe. On top of that, we ate Eli’s bagel at Vinegar Factory at least once a week when Alex attended swim classes near there. It’s been 3 weeks since my last bagel. I was getting withdrawal symptoms.

So off we go in search of bagels and in no time we stumble across a place called “Bagel & Bagel”. It had a subtitle – “New York Style Bagels” Sounds promising. Bagels slightly smaller than ones at Eli’s or Bagelworks lined up on a small table near the entrance of the store. Each bagel was wrapped in a plastic bag, and all were sitting nicely in baskets, sorted according to flavors. Bagels in New York were always heaped up behind a glass case with the ones on the bottom squashed. I didn’t believe in giving bagels the royal treatment, but I digress. This is Japan after all, a country that over-packages everything – even green beans.

I picked a bagel. It was lighter than I imagined. Suspicion arose. I put it back and eye the pumpernickel bagel. I am impressed that they decided to do pumpernickel. The Japanese have an aversion to bread with dark colors. They always strive to make them as white as possible. I pick it up. I smell something. Could it be…… chocolate? I look at the label. It says “cocoa and chocolate bagel”. I feel as though I have been violated. “Come on, don’t be such a snob. Try it, you might like it” encourages Ken. I drop the black bagel back in the basket and go for the safest bet, Everything. I asked to have it toasted with butter. I was told it’s $1.50 extra and that it comes with honey. I repeat my request for butter only. The girl at the counter repeats what she already said. I suddenly remembered the day when there was a riot at Vinegar Factory.

My friends and I buy bagels at Vinegar Factory after our kids’ swim class every week. Rain or shine, we are always hungry (class starts at 9am) so we get coffee, bagels, juice for the kids and just lounge there or at the playground and wolf down our purchases. One day one of us asked the bagel to be toasted as usual and was charged $3 extra for it. Suddenly there was a shouting match between us and the cashier. How can it cost $3 just to have something toasted? We’ve been going there for the past few months and never been asked for such a ridiculous charge. Ken was demanding a menu stating that toasting was $3, Carole was shouting for the manager, Steve was accusing them of ripping people off. I so wanted to join in this fun but someone had to sit with the kids. The ruckus went on for 20 minutes. They store held their stance saying that the price was the same as the restaurant upstairs which still didn’t makes sense since downstairs was less than a coffee shop. We eventually got the toast service for free, only paying for the bagels, but were warned that next time they will charge us.

Getting a proper bagel has become a competitive sport. I gave up on butter with or without honey and just bit into the toast with maximum force because, of course, it’s supposed to be a New York Bagel. My teeth clanked real bad. I look at this thing that calls itself a bagel and right there where I have bitten I see the unimaginable. An air pocket. “Bagel’s air pocket” is an oxymoron. It won’t be a bagel if it had air pockets. But there it is. The bagel is so soft it only takes 3 seconds to chew and swallow. A bagel is supposed to be a zero calorie food. You burn so much energy just chewing the dang thing that the calorie of the bagel is completely used up.

Ken brings me a leaflet explaining this store’s offerings. They go in details the ingredients they use. Water from Mt. Hood National Forest, wheat from Montana. And they boast that the texture of their bagels is moist and soft. Moist and soft? Am I missing something here? How can a bagel be moist and soft when you use malt and boil the dough?

According to New York Times, the traditional bagel, born of Eastern European shtetls, was made of yeast, malt, flour, water and salt. It was rolled by hand, first boiled and then baked. I am pretty certain that this store doesn’t follow this formula. Defeated, I go home and google New York bagel. I get Wikipedia that leads me to H&H. They ship worldwide. I am saved.

Country of Dyson

2 weeks after moving into our apartment, we finally went out to get a vacuum cleaner.
Someone told me it was Japan where Dyson made his big break. Dyson was so grateful for the chance to prove himself that he still spends a significant amount on R&D dedicated to the Japanese market.

His current offering is limited to canister models; i.e. no uprights like they have in New York. However, considering the lack of storage space for tall things in this country, a canister model with its telescopic wand and hose that wrap around the body to make a tight small bundle is actually perfect.

I look at the most expensive model, which is officially $800 but actually gets discounted to $700, and compared it to the Dyson Stowaway I saw in the city. Its wheels are bigger, the wrap tighter, the hose sturdier, the body a darker color with the canister being a chic champagne gold. It looks far better than the U.S. model. I was told it also hooks up to the internet. Yep, the internet. Apparently it can receive data through that; I don't know what for. There seems to be more bells and whistles regarding its ability at cleaning too.

It looks like the only thing that is superior in the U.S. model is its cost efficiency. The U.S. price is $500 with a 5 year guarantee (Japan only stretches 2 years). Ken is not happy with the price difference nor the price, period, but I can live with that. Beats dealing with filters.

Back in New York, I was told from someone who uses our cleaning lady that she doesn't exchange filters. I only found this out after hiring her for a year. I don't even want to think what was going inside that machine. Dyson it is. Now I have to find a cleaning lady who can use it.

Tokyo Buses

The bus stops.

It’s in front of the bus depot.

2 men run toward the bus.

They wait in front of the bus, standing straight, hands by their sides, as if they are soldiers waiting for the general to walk past by them.

The bus driver takes off his name plate from the holder above his seat (if there is a complaint to be made by the passengers, they know the drivers name), bows towards the passengers and gets off the bus.

Another driver in identical uniform climbs in, bows, attaches his name plate and sits in his seat.

The other guy who accompanied him in running climbs in, faces the passengers, bows and says “Our apologies for delay, thank you for waiting, the bus will start now, have a nice ride”.

This guy and the driver who ended his shift are standing on the sidewalk, heads bowed deep down until the bus speeds off into oblivion.

MTA straphangers, eat your heart out.

potty fishing

Alex wanted to fish. He needed to fish. So he finds a rod and some fish and happily goes in search of water. The tub takes too long to fill, the kitchen is too high to reach. The bathroom sink is being used for soaking his underpants that he peed on heavily (by accident, he insists).

He then finds a pool of water, just sitting there, waiting to be used as a fishing pond. He is ready to throw in the fish when I spot him. 

"Alex, please don't fish in the potty"

He turns around, quizzical. "Oh", he says looking lost.

I turn to leave when he asks "why?".

Does he seriously not know? I mean he is totally potty trained by now, he knows to wash hands after going to the toilet.

"because you pee and poop there. It's dirty".

"but it's flushed. It's clean now"

"um..... well, sometimes you pee and forget to flush"

He proceeds to flush the toilet.

"it's clean now"

The hygiene talk is not going anywhere so I need to change strategies.

"what if mommy needs to go pee right now and you are fishing there? There will be no time for you to pick up the fish and it will get dirty"

"you can use the other potty"

It was a comeback I did not expect. He is getting good at this.

"Ummmm, it's too far if I really wanted to go now"

"oh, okay"

Phew, he bought it!

So he takes his rod and fish and starts fishing on the carpet in front of the bathroom.

I am satisfied with my interaction with him thinking I have mastered the art of child rearing.

I go in the bathroom just to check he didn't do anything in the bowl or splash water around.

I notice a spot on the mirror so I start wiping and then I start cleaning the hand washing sink and then wipe down the toilet ending with another flush.

I come out of the bathroom seeing him content and happy.

He looks up.

"Is it clean in there?"

"of course"

"yeah! now I can fish!"