Both my husband and I grew up in homes where the TV was a constant companion...whether anyone was paying attention or not. For some reason, he grew up to be the same way and I grew up to be the opposite. Granted, he's not as attched as my dad was, or as his mom is, but when he's home, the TV is on least 50% more often than when he is not home. So I have to say (sorry Honey, but I must) that I love having control of the remote when he's not here.
In most cases, I'd rather read than watch TV. And I'd rather my kids be reading (or playing outside, or playing board games, or cards, or wrestling, or dancing to Nate's piano playing, or playing our nighttime favorite: hide-and-go-seek-in-the-dark...all of which I also participate in...not the wrestling as much). We have so much fun together!
Not to say that we never watch TV. We do. And we enjoy the downtime together: sitting all cozy on the couch, but when it's just me as the parent, I get to choose the shows we watch. (whoo-hoo! No more all evening marathons of Law and Order--it can be so depressing and never good for Grace to watch and she doesn't, but if Joel is, then they're not interacting; and Myth Busters--I can't get over the wastefulness on that show...) six months ago we didn't have access to any TV because we didn't have cable and we'd cancelled our satellite for the past 2 years to save money. But when Joel was to come home briefly, last summer, for the first time since starting his new job, I wanted to surprise him with TV reception so I signed up for one of those internet/phone/TV deals which happened to include DVR. The DVR thing was a bonus that I knew my son and Joel would appreciate, but as a person who watches little TV, I also appreciate it greatly.
My three TV shows of choice are Ellen, So You Think You Can Dance, and Jeopardy!. The kids enjoy laughing and dancing (well, only Grace and I dance) with Ellen. She reinforces what I teach my kids: be generous to all and to have fun while doing it. So You Think You Can Dance is a show that I decided to try when we first got this DVR thing because I LOVE to dance and watch dancing, and I love the show. It's doing great things for dance and the arts. And Jeopardy! is a long-time family favorite (my dad, my sister Cheri, and me all love trivia games and shows). So I get to watch the shows of my choosing without having the TV on all day or all night long.
In general, when Grace watches TV, it is something from PBS or Animal Planet. Nathan enjoys the animal and nature and discovery type shows, but he likes to watch my 3 shows, too (and reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond). But the bottom line for me is that we're not watching or having it on every minute we're here as sometimes happens when my beloved is home.
So to me, having control of the remote is definately a benefit of being a single-parent. (Although, I have to say, really, Nathan controls it, he says I'm too slow at FF through the commercials, and that's fine by me.)
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