by Donna Swagerty Shreve
When I was eleven, our family got the first television at our end of the block. Neighbors would crowd in our living room on Sunday evenings to Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town. The picture was fuzzy and in black and white. Dad would frequently adjust the antenna that leaned next to the house. Later he installed the tall, collapsible antenna on our roof which greatly improved our reception.
The television was a hand-me-down from my mother’s bachelor brother. It was trimmed in a blonde wood that went with nothing in the room. The back of the television had a small vacant compartment for a future color attachment. What a marketing ploy!
Mom controlled the television and she deemed that one hour a night was all of the week-day viewing allowed. The four of us siblings had to agree on that precious one hour and with a span of nine years among us, agreement was not easy. One program we all enjoyed was the cartoon Yogi Bear. It was so popular within our family that Dad came in to watch it with us.
Food was not allowed in front of the television. Meals were eaten around a table with the television off. Mom would proudly say we didn’t even own T.V. trays. Later after all of the children had left the house, they did get T.V. trays for the two of them.
The only food I can remember eating in front of the television was popcorn. At first it was made in a pot on the stove. We graduated to Jiffy Pop but it was still done on the stove. Sometimes in winter we got the treat of homemade hot chocolate with floating marshmallows.
As for raising my own family, I loosened the television restrictions. Saturday was cartoon heaven for my sons. I still insisted we eat as a family together at our table but I will admit there were times when our dinner had the background noise of the television. Today my husband either wants the television or music in the background to distract from any chewing or slurping noises. My mother continued her tradition of no television during dinner. She had many valid reasons but some of us have given into the lure of the box during dinner.
385 words
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