Shawn's morning shows

I know that in many of my previous posts I've made it quite clear that Shawn LOVES watching TV. Some of you may be wondering about the kinds of shows that he likes to watch.

The answer is, Practically EVERYTHING.

He loves action and "shoot em up" shows.
Keifer Sutherland's 24 is a big Shawn show.

He loves children's programing. Mr. Rogers being a favorite.

He loves game shows. Old shows. New shows. Half hour comedy shows.

There is one category of shows that Shawn is particularly loyal to.

Mom's shows!

That's right. He loves nothing more than to come into my room in the morning and sample a bit of what I'm watching.
Now I don't really think of myself as a big TV viewer, but in the morning, I like to casually watch TV.

For years, I have watched the Today Show.
Shawn's morning viewing had mostly consisted of, PBS kid's "educational" shows.

For the last year or so though, he is much more likely to have his TV turned to the Today show, than Zaboomafoo, or Sesame Street.

Why?

Because the Today show is what MOM watches.

For several months, I have passed up the Today show in order to spend time with Stacy and Clinton as they teach me "What Not To Wear."

So guess what has become one of Shawn's new shows?
You guessed it, "What Not To Wear."

I have watched the "View" for years.
At least since Lisa Ling's days.

What does Shawn usually watch come 10 AM?

Of course. The View.

The other day, my middle son, Kelly, asked me if I was aware that Shawn was watching "The View".
In other words a show clearly meant for a, mostly female, 28 to 65 year old demographic.
I answered him that
of course I knew that Shawn watched it.
Kelly had only one question as he looked at me with a very confused look on his face.

WHY?

Silly middle son Kelly.
He knows as well as everyone else in this family knows, that Shawn is a true,
dyed in the wool,
fanatical,
never, ever to change,
Mama's Boy.

Such a mama's boy that he likes to do as many things with me as possible. I rarely run errands without him as my tag along. He shadows me, wherever I go in the house, for at least several hours a day.

His dad or siblings will ask Shawn if he wants to go somewhere with them and his first question is almost always,

"Is mom going too?"

His acceptance of their invites is in direct proportion to my willingness to come along.

There have been so many times when things will go back and forth.

No. Shawn does not want to go to the store with dad.

Oh? What's this?
Mom has suddenly announced that she has decided to join in the adventure?

Count me in too!

Ooops, mom has suddenly remembered something she still needs to do at home so she has just told dad she guesses that she won't come after all.

Open the car door! What was I thinking? Of course I don't want to go!

WHAT?!? Mom just changed her mind and decided that, the thing she was going to do can wait. She is NOW going after all?!?

Hold that Van! I'm coming too!

This is a small but extremely accurate portrayal of how things work for Shawn.

So, yes, he likes to watch the shows that he knows I watch.

Sometimes though, I have to be very careful.

Last week, if you watched even ten minutes of TV the whole week, I'm sure that you saw Mackenzie Phillips talking about the, hmmm, shall we say, highly, HIGHLY, inappropriate, um, intimate, relationship she had for many years with her own father.

It suddenly occurred to me that Shawn was upstairs, in his room, about to watch the View.

Oh NO! Not on MY watch!

I raced up the stairs and told him that the View was not appropriate viewing for him that day. I had to mention,
Adult subject matter,
Subversive language,
Extreme Violence.

Trust me, these are words and terms he KNOWS.

One of his most passionate activities is reading parental warnings on the back of every movie he can get his hands on. No surprise that the video department is his desired location in whatever store he finds himself in.
Even though he is not allowed to watch R rated movies, they are by far his favorites to research the backs of.

They always have the very best warning phrases after all.

Anyway, back to the View and it's Offensive Subject Matter.
I've decided that I should probably have a little talk with Mr. Shawn. We need these little talks now and then to remind him about not watching inappropriate shows.
I don't want to outlaw the View for him because, well, you know how it goes, the things that are forbidden become the most desirable and all. He just needs to know that this particular show isn't always the best choice for him.

Hopefully it shouldn't be too hard a sell.

It's not all that difficult to direct his attentions to one or another of his millions of DVDs or to just plain have him change the channel.

I don't want to completely deprive him of his desire to watch his MOM shows. And he really isn't a stranger to my telling him that he can't watch whatever it is I'm watching because of it's; Adult Situations, Disturbing Language, Creepy Content, (as you can tell, over the years, he has come up with a few of his own warnings.) or Elicit Drug Use.

If he seems a bit unconvinced I simply remind him of the last two Harry Potter movies. He insisted he wanted to see them and they both scared the jeebees out of him. There are a few other things he has snuck and watched that have later really scared or otherwise disturbed him.

So it's fair to say that he has a pretty healthy respect for the things I tell him he can't watch.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that I will always be needed to monitor his viewing habits.
Not a big deal to me of course.
Don and I have known for at least 22 years that Shawn is going to be a full time parenting job.

We will never have an empty nest.

And it will probably always be prudent to keep an eye on whatever it is that he's watching.
We don't mind.
With Shawn, the rewards so outpace the challenges that it is seldom ever an issue.
I will continue watching the view, and I will continue letting him know if it's not a good day for him to be watching it.
He will continue to be my shadow.
We will continue to take advantage of all of the wonderful programs the ARC sponsors.
Because after all, even Mama's Boys need some time away from mama.