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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

the garden...unplugged

We are addicted to television. The kids are addicted to watching it and I am addicted to the peace I get while they are watching it. Little Boy was getting a more TV than the expert recommended 1-2 hours of television a day and Little Sister was getting a heck of a lot more than the expert recommended ZERO hours of television a day. The Doodlebops, Wonderpets, and Higglytown Heroes were taking over. It was getting a little out of control, the kids were not having the greatest behavior, Little Sister didn't know how to entertain herself without television or someone reading to her, and I was starting to have trouble with these little cartoonish characters taking over my children. There was only one thing to do...Turn off the tube.

But could I do it? Wait a minute...is this smart? I mean, this is a punishment for ME! I will get no peace! I will get no quiet! I debated and procrastinated until one day when I realized that Little Sister's idea of a fun day was taking up residence in front of The Wiggles with a bowl of dry Fruit Loops.

That's when I decided to be the control freak that I am and took control of the situation. I declared a NO TV WEEK.

Day one was a bit trying, but by day three they didn't even ask to turn on the TV. When strange things started happening I realized that the No TV Experiement had suceeded:

Pirates set sail in the hallway...

The Arizona desert appeared in the living room...
And wild animals inhabited a dark cave in the family room...

We did have one half hour of failure. The kids were bouncing off the walls and I needed to shower. The Wiggles came to my rescue, but one half hour of TV for a week isn't too shabby!

The TV is back on now, but in very limited quantities.

I completely recommend this experiment if the TV is a constant buzz in the background like it was at our house. It works and really, it wasn't even painful!

10 comments:

ellen said...

Good for you!

Char @ Crap I've Made said...

We did that after #3 was born when I needed to regain control and re-establish rules. It took about 4 weeks before things were back in some sort of order. We do watch TV again, but not nearly as much.

Valarie said...

we need to make some major changes. He walks straight to the tv in the morning because PBS kids raises him until an hour when one of his parents is willing to take over.

beth said...

I've been thinking about this a lot lately too since I've come to depend on Sesame Street to get myself a decent shower. Good to know.

Mall Worker said...

That is just great! I'm trying to practice the same thing over here. I turn off the TV during the day, I don't want Boo learning his TV watching habits from me. When I want to take a shower I use Price is Right for a half hour. But lately I've been putting on music for him. He'll dance and play with his toys and I get to have a shower. I put on Beethoven to be exact, I don't want to listen to those kids cd's!

Melzie said...

:) Kiddo only watches 30 minutes of tv during the school year. I watch maybe 2 hours a week- and it's 2 shows I try to catch. We lived 2 yrs with none- and it was FABULOUS! :)

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the day my kids set those things up around my house!!!

Nicole said...

So great! That tv thing is hard, and I often feel torn myself, between little man watching too much and me having a moment to myself.

sheri said...

It seems like it goes in cycles for us here. I'm good about limiting it (with Kyle, during the day, of course. not me or dh. let's not get all crazy here) Then it slowly creeps up and before I know it, he's watching way too much and his behavior is out of control. It's also usually the point where all I want to do it stick him in front of the tv because he's so annoying. But I've learned now that the tv is usually the culprit. Then we go cold turkey on him and w/in a few days he's good to go again.
(and so the cycle goes)

Missy said...

I realized that I was in the middle of making a comment when I was distracted by that "buzz" you were talking about. Hey, it is after 9pm though. ;)