TV Turn-Off Week

Posting from Sue...

I had been feeling like our television had been on too much and it was becoming easier for me to say 'yes,' at times when I normally would say 'no' to watching TV. So, we put a plan into action of turning off the TV for one week. Here are my observations related only to our family and not as a judgement of what others do...

1. The TV does not need to be on in the morning for us. Most mornings I would turn on Good Morning America in hopes of catching up on some world news and weather, when in actuality, I would simply hear some fluffy morning news, always miss the weather, and get annoyed w/ it being on b/c it would just become loud background noise. The kids would usually watch about 30-45 minutes of TV before school and I realized that isn't necessary at all. So, beginning this week, the TV will not be on in the mornings in the Wager household-we will catch the weather and news on the internet and the kids will play.

2. TV after Calvin's home therapy time: this was probably my biggest fear of the week. Most days, Calvin is allowed to watch a movie after he completes his speech therapy w/ me or our speech therapist. This is a huge incentive for him to work hard during his therapy time. I realized that was another crutch for me. While it would have been nice to have a little more quiet time for me, it was neat to incent him in other ways. After the turn-off week, I've decided he will be allowed to watch an afternoon movie on M-W-F and on T-Th, we will read books or do puzzles.

3. Doug and I don't watch much TV. I knew this, but it was nice to have it affirmed. Although, after a particularly challenging day at home for me, and at work for him, we were going to 'cheat' after the kids were in bed and watch our favorite sitcom: 30 Rock. I felt guilty, but had loads of laundry to fold, so figured, 'oh, what the heck.' Well, it was a rerun, so we immediately turned it off-all the while knowing that we should have just kept it off in the first place honoring our commitment.

So, there you have it. It wasn't painful at all, in fact it was good. The kids groaned at first, but by the end of the week, they knew and understood. Now, I need to stick to my own guidelines, b/c this was more about me hitting the 'reset' button than it was about anything else. And, it was really nice to have the house a little more quiet filled w/ sounds of playing, laughing, (of course, some fighting amongst the kids:) and interacting instead of the blaring of the tube w/ zombies in front of it.