When I was a kid, my family would sit down almost every night at 8 p.m. and watch TV for an hour. We watched shows like “Little House on the Prairie,” “The Waltons,” “Eight is Enough” and “Happy Days.” It was all great family stuff.
My kids, on the other hand, don’t watch much TV. We don’t have cable, so there’s not a lot on that we would want them to watch much less prime time programming they would be interested in. But this year, we made an exception.
For the first time, we allowed the older three to stay up and watch some of “American Idol” every Tuesday night. They savored the experience even though I think the songs often bored them. They loved watching the judges criticize the contestants, and they often turned to me to find out what I thought of each performance. It’s been a fun experience, and I’m sorry the show is ending this week for the season. I wish there were more shows on regular TV that we could watch as a family.