I fall in and out of love with television. There have been seasons where we have watched no TV. And seasons where vegging in front of the TV at night was a wonderful way to chill and relax. We opted out of American Idol this year and it's actually been nice to have two nights of the week not consumed with it all. We still hold sacred our Thursday night line-up of Survivor and Lost and that won't end any time soon. Other than that, Mike and I aren't much into TV these days.But it's a whole 'nother story with my almost 2 year old. We have free cable (our high-speed connection only works if we have cable so they give it to us free) and man, is it ever easy to use Noggin or Playhouse Disney as a babysitter. Little Will is a handful and gets into every and anything at cyclone speed. The TV offers me the time to have him sit completely still and almost comatose while I get dressed, do dishes, laundry, and of course email and blog-reading. And when he gets nice and grumpy later in the day, the sounds of Little Bill calm my little Will right away and all is nice again. But I find myself using it more and more as a way to not have to deal with his feisty-ness or to not have to find something creative to do or to not have to read another book...it tempts me to escape mothering and nurturing and to escape to isolation.
And it can also happen when I am weary with all the children's sibling squabbling and grumpy attitudes. I can easily just say "turn on a movie" or "yes, go play a computer game". This isn't wrong per se but often I just don't want to deal with any of it. Even as I write this, Will is fussing and wanting to climb up into my lap and I just wish he could go be entertained.
So recently I have been thinking that I would like to curb some of the TV viewing by my younger two during the morning hours and to curb the computer time by my older two during the afternoon hours. And to curb my own computer addiction that shows its face at random hours every day. So I stumbled upon this TV Turnoff week and thought it would be fun. Well, maybe not fun, but interesting to say the least and good for us for sure. We need a break from being plugged-in...to re-find other ways of recharging, to use our minds for creativity, and to be our own entertainment. I need to take responsibility to take care of the sibling squabbles, to help Will when he is grumpy, and to be more present and interactive with my children instead of being distracted and ignoring them (which happens when I am computer-focused).
So here are my personal rules:
1. No TV for the week. Now my husband isn't sure he'll let go of Thursday night even with my offer of taping the shows. But at least for me and kids, the TV is off (including of course all movies and videos!)
2. No computer games for the week for the older children and no web-surfing for me. Ouch-ola. I will check email twice a day in the morning and at night.
Will I make it through this?!? I don't know. If the going gets too rough, I won't beat myself up too much. But it's good to have goals and it's only for a week. And I bet good things will happen as a result.
Here's to being unplugged.
9 comments:
I think that you can do it...and find that it very nice. My students usually don't like the idea, but they get used to it...I would suggest making a plan with your older children of things to do so they have options. I did a post on this and there are some books with great ideas of things for kids to do alone or with their family instead of watching tv.
Good luck to you and thanks so much for deciding to join in! You wrote a great post! I like your thoughts on how insidiously TV and computers can replace actually having to "deal" with the children. My big challenge next week will be the computer too! I look forward to reading how it goes for you.
Thanks for being transparent and sharing about your struggles in "dealing with" the young ones. I face the constant battle of wanting to turn on the TV for the kids just so I can have time to get stuff done and "check out" from the ruckus of having two little boys. More times then I would like to admit the TV stays on longer than it should. It has been my goal to have it on less and less everyday. It's comforting to know I am not the only one struggling with this. Hope this next week is a blessing!!
Good luck Aimee...I think I could give up the TV more easily than web/blog surfing. Let us know how it goes.
Hope the week is going well, Aimee. Looking forward to seeing how it went for you.
Happy Earth Day!
great idea! I told my husband this idea and he kind of looked at me funny for a minute and then said..."humm..that might be a good idea." :)
You CAN do it! We're 10 years without tv altogether and life is much better for it!
I would definitely plan other fun activities with the kiddos to have it not feel like a punishment and to make it easier for everyone.
It is a challenge not to sub in other things like computers though, but worth it!!!
i have no idea how i even found your blog, must've been through someone else's. anyhoo, we decided to go the whole month of April without TV. we will watch an occasional movie, about once or twice a week. i'll tell you what, by now it has become a habit and the kids don't even ask anymore! i haven't heard them ask to watch anything in almost two weeks. i'm not even going to mention when may comes b/c i think this is a habit we should keep. good luck to you!
So, how did it go? I missed my computer a bit at the beginning of the week, but found it is a much greater distraction to life than I realized.
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