The Clucking of Hens

My brother and I didn't grow up with television.  (No, that isn't a picture of my brother.)  For one thing no one HAD television then.  It only came in when I was around ten.  For another, we couldn't afford it.  Besides, we were used to our routine, our life-style, and though we found TV to be a distraction, we didn't feel we needed to be distracted.  We preferred doing crafts on the kitchen table or reading some of the childhood classics like Robert Louis Stevenson or going out on bike rides around the neighborhood or helping our mother make cake or ice cream or visiting cousins and playing games.

So now when I turn on TV, I too often feel sorry for children who have to watch programs made for them. Who have no introduction to other things to do in life than sit glued (good word) to the TV since it CAN mesmerize one. But the noise it provides can be rather disruptive.  To my mind, children do not need the constant ups and downs of loud noise even from what are known as "the educational programs"-- what (to my ear) can come across as yelling. All supposedly in good fun, mind you.  They need time for gentle sounds.  The clucking of hens.  The telling of a good story.  The sound of spring rain.  The hum of the car's motor on the way to the beach.  If a child is being baby-sat by being placed in front of the TV, something less frenetic than the children's programs I happen on could be advisable.  Even turning off the volume.

Call me unrealistic.

Or, what about this:  find a CD of hens clucking and play that.  Wouldn't that be soothing!