We are unplugging from TV and video games this month, except for an occasional football game perhaps.
I have a love/hate relationship with the idea of unplugging.
Why are we unplugging?
Heck if I know.
Ha.
Well, it's because we are super-spiritual parents.
(insert laughter here)
Man.
In all seriousness there are several reasons, and they all boil down to this:
We want to reprogram.
I can tell you this about my experience regarding the effect of TV. Whenever we get around cable, it only takes one short day for the bad attitudes to start taking over. The switch is nearly instant.
The first two mornings this week the poor children sat around twiddling their thumbs not sure what to do. It took a couple days for the creative juices to start flowing again.
Last night they played board games with Shane. They went to bed early and asked to have time to draw with their little lights on. Today they've been creating smoothie recipes. They are playing games. They are creating new games.
Here is something else that has been happening. The boys are singing. For some reason this has surprised me. But they seem happier and I guess when you are feeling settled on the inside, sometimes it just comes right on out in song. How does it go? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
It is like an atmosphere of joy has invaded our home.
I'm not telling you that three screen free days have morphed my kids into perfect creatures. What I am telling you is that the atmosphere has quickly changed for the better and the change has been pretty drastic.
I'll be real honest. I use screen time every day in my household and while I'm pouring my guts out now is probably a good time to remind you that we also eat sugared cereal.
The books say to have quiet time in the afternoon and give the kids a choice to read or rest.
Confession: my version of that is Wii or a movie.
I can't say for sure what has stopped me from enforcing the reading and resting. Probably because Wii is easier. There is no backlash from that so I suppose I just choose the easy road by default.
I'm pretty sure we'll reintroduce Wii/TV back into our home. I can't imagine not having any of that stuff and I like the idea of learning balance. But these short three days have fascinated me and I thought you might be interested.
