Too Much TV

In our household we are going on day 5 with my daughter having a fever and staying home from school.  It is hard to pass the time when you don’t feel well and don’t have much energy to play.  Sooooo, my daughter has spent too much time in front of the television.

I told her to turn the television off today and she said, “NO”.  I quickly dug deep to my inner poet and recited the following poem that I memorized years ago while teaching 4^th grade.

Jimmy Jet and His TV Set by Shel Silverstein

I’ll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet-

And you know what I tell you is true.

He loved to watch his TV set

Almost as much as you.

He watched all day, he watched all night

Till he grew pale and lean.

From “The Early Show” to “The Late Late Show”

And all the shows between.

He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,

And his bottom grew into his chair.

And his chin turned into a tuning dial,

And antennae grew out of his hair.

And his brains turned into TV tubes,

And his face to a TV screen.

And two knobs saying “Vert.” and “Horiz.”

Grew where his ears had been.

And he grew a plug that looked like a tail

So we plugged in little Jim.

And now instead of him watching TV

We all sit around and watch him.

I recited this with my most dramatic and charismatic character, complete with over exaggerated facial expressions (all of which I inherited from my mother).  It worked, her eyes became large and round like saucers and she turned off the TV.  Don’t ever underestimate the power of a good poem!