Watch and learn

These are pretty cool, eh? Our littler boy and I made them on the two hour flight to his grandparents, just after a three hour layover which had followed a seven and a half hour flight. Plasticene and some plastic and we were busy for at least twenty minutes.

We have just made the return journey which included a five and a half hour layover. What in the world to do with two small children for a travel time of around 15 hours? Well I had it all planned out with a couple of new DVDs and some tried and tested, guaranteed to keep them glued for hours, ones and the beauty of US airports being the willingness to let you plug your stuff in. (Not sure about UK airports.) Well, then I went and packed the charger in the checked bags. Just great! Four hours of DVD time and when to use it became the debate.

During this trip we broke the news to our little people that we were likely to cancel our Sky package on return to the UK. The grown ups in this house have virtually eliminated TV from their activities and are surprisingly unbored and definitely not lacking in stimulus. I have no problems in the kids watching TV but I am beginning to see just how much they are influenced by advertising and if it is bad now then it will only get worse, right? The little girl just has to have Lelly Kelly shoes and why? Because they come with a crazy amount of sparkles and a lip gloss. I don't think so. The little boy went through a phase recently pointing out cleaning tasks and announcing "Cilit Bang. Just one spray Mum and the job is done." It is a cleaning product, for goodness sake. The news that there may be no more kids channels from Sky was met with some real resistance but I think we will not be swayed. We have a ton of DVDs.

Anyway we found a good spot in the airport to set up camp for a few hours and I put on one of our new DVDS, trusting that this was good use of precious charge. It kept them busy for a wee while and then I saw their attentions beginning to wander, becoming completely engrossed in the unloading of a huge aeroplane parked right outside the window. It was a huge operation with trucks, cranes, trolleys, moving ramps and a whole heap of people.

"Watch and learn, buddy!" the little girl said to her brother.

"Yeah, this is great!" he replied.

Watch and learn, Mum. Who needs endless charge on the DVD player?