As winter approaches and the days get shorter, I would usually be quietly dreading the hours stuck indoors with two small children who despite their father’s best efforts, don’t really like going out in the cold (like their mother). In fact, you’d think I’d be dreading it more this year because three months ago I banned almost all screens and cancelled all my various television subscriptions.
The only digital viewing that the children are now allowed to indulge in is DVDs from a selection curated carefully by me, including adaptations of Angelina Ballerina and Brambly Hedge, and my favourite childhood films including The Sound of Music, The Secret Garden, The Railway Children, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mary Poppins. It has to be fun for me too, right?
This radical measure was brought in partly because I became sick of giving money to the likes of Amazon and Netflix, who produce some truly disgusting content. But it also came in after months of having “I wanna watch Paw Patrol on your ’puter!” shouted at me relentlessly from the moment the children got up until bedtime. The only respite came during the brief spells when they were actually watching Paw Patrol on my ’puter.
There were moments when we were running a multiplex cinema in our kitchen, with each child glued to a different screen because they couldn’t agree on what to watch. More than once I had a phone thrown at my head because I had deigned to put Paw Patrol on in Polish in an attempt to get them to at least learn another language while watching the nonsense.
The whining and mood fluctuations, caused by the endorphin rush they were getting from being glued to the bright screens, were becoming unbearable; I had originally allowed them to watch this stuff because I longed for some peace and quiet, but the opposite was happening. My husband, who hadn’t seen the extent of it, was hesitant at first. “Are you sure you want to take this drug away from them?”
I had prepared myself for a long war, but thankfully it took just three days to break the addiction to the screens, which I only now realise were sending my children mad. They have since never asked to watch anything, and are now noticeably more even-tempered and can be found leafing through books and engaging in other wholesome pursuits.
The other great thing about not having telly to watch is that I personally have become hooked on YouTube, and more specifically on a documentary channel about Catholic families called One of Nine.
One of Nine was started by Peter and Maria Jones, a couple in their 30s who live in Hertfordshire with their six children, five of whom they home-educate in conjunction with the Regina Caeli hybrid academy, which I wrote about in my last column.
Peter, who also makes films for EWTN, is the cameraman and his wife Maria, who is one of nine children herself, presents the programmes. It makes for gripping, uplifting and educational viewing.
As a Catholic mother of young children, I have found it inspiring and helpful, and would highly recommend it to others.
The channel is “a window into real Catholic life,” says Maria, looking onto “the joys and the challenges for our family on the different stages of their journey heavenward.” When I speak to her on the phone, she has just put the cartoon Bernadette, Princess of Lourdes on for her children as a special treat after a morning of home schooling.
A typical weekday in the Jones household starts with morning prayer, followed by maths, then English literature. With the younger children finished for the day at lunchtime, Maria’s eldest son Rupert will then do his Latin and science, the latter of which has inspired the younger children to take an interest in insects, birds and nature journalling.
There is a variety of programmes on the channel, including instructive episodes which show how the home-educating works and how to pray with your children. Peter and Maria also engage on camera in general discussions about what it’s like to live the increasingly counter-cultural life of a Catholic.
For me, the best of it are the episodes when they go into the homes of Catholic families and interview them. Families of two, four, seven, nine, 12 children: praying the rosary every day, singing grace in harmony before meals, speaking openly and eloquently about their choices and the trials as well as the joys that come with them. Other interviews deal with issues ranging from infertility and child-loss to conversion and vocation.
I haven’t come across that many families like this, who really live out their faith, in Britain – but they do exist. Maria Jones is a real person: I spoke to her. She was charming and down-to-earth and her faith, like the faith of the many men and women she interviews, is truly inspirational. I’ll be pleased if I ever achieve even 10 per cent of it. At least I’ve solved the telly problem – for now.
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