TV

Tonight, as I tucked Bumblebee into bed, she asked for permission to watch TV if she got up really early.
Well, of course, I told her that she could certainly turn on the television if it would get her out of bed more than 5 minutes before we need to leave for school!  (Yes, I wake her and shake her and tickle her and toss her clothes to her and remind her what time it is in regular intervals between when I wake up and when she stumbles bleary eyed to the front door.  And yes, we've tried putting her to bed earlier.)
Good, she told me.  The PE teacher told us we need to watch more TV.
Now, I'm all for progressive learning.  And I'm not opposed to a little television, I even think that it can be *gasp* educational in certain amounts.  But...the PE teacher suggested more TV?  Really?
Uh, huh.  Oh, and we're not supposed to watch PBS or movies, she adds.
This has me suspicious.  I'm a little curious as to what else is ON TV, since we don't have cable and rarely even watch broadcast stations.  So I ask her to elaborate.
"We need to watch something with commercials," she explains, "So we have time to do push ups."

I wonder if the PE teacher expected any of the kids to listen to her advice and hear "You need more screen time!!!"  Probably not.  But I may mention it, anyways. 
And Bumblebee?  She's been informed that while she is welcome to watch a little TV now and then, we're not going to carve TV time into our day to help her make time for push ups.  She can do push ups while she's dancing to "The Dog on the Front of the Tag" or waiting for Webkinz to load.  She can do push ups while she's draped over the kitchen chairs complaining that dinner takes too long.  She can do push ups instead of creating a new railroad layout.  She can do pushups instead of pulling out the Littlest Pet Shops when watching a movie. 

Bumblebee disagrees.  She's pretty sure she's supposed to watch more TV.  And stay up later, too...