The national nightmare known as "Screen-Free Week" is upon us once more. It's only been a few hours, but my hands are shaking. My life seems so empty. There's a remote on my bed. It would be so easy to press that red button... Just once...
OK, it's not THAT bad. Not yet, at least. After I pick the boy up from school, well, we'll see.
For a while, I tried to limit the kids' TV time, but the more I tried, the more attractive the TV was becoming. TV became the reward, rather than just another thing the kids could have fun with. So between noticing the kids were doing a pretty good job moving from TV to toys to running around, and feeling like a hypocrite, since I watched a lot of TV as a kid, I ended the war on TV. Also, to be honest, I feel TV can have a positive effect on children (in moderation. All in moderation). And sometimes I do need them to veg out because I have things I need to do. And it's hard to hurt yourself while watching TV, but it's pretty easy to hurt yourself when you run from one room to another and your brother runs the opposite direction, not stopping until heads meet.
So I don't limit TV time. The kids are doing well, thank you, and I'm pretty sure none of the experts that warn me about the way TV is ruining my kids actually lives in this house, so the experts can keep their advice to themselves.
But still, last year, when my kids' school asked parents to sign up for a screen-free week, we signed our kids up and we signed up ourselves. The first day was hard, but by the 7th day we all felt much better. My boy could even play a tune on the keyboard he never previously touched. I have nothing against TV, but Screen-Free Week turned up to be a great week for the family.
And now it's here again, and we all signed up. No Game of Thrones. No 5 minutes of Monk on Netflix to help me fall asleep. No crazy Baltimore people on the local news. Nothing. Just a black screen. But hey, I quit smoking--I can do without TV for a week. And my kids--they'll be fine too. Sure, they'll bump heads a few times (literally), but they might just end up better for it (not the head-bumping part). And when the week is over, they'll remember (and we'll remember with them) that TV may be fun, but it's not necessary, and that no one has ever died from not watching TV. Unless we miss a tornado warning.
And now I'll update this post every day, to show our triumphs and our failures (and by triumphs and failures I mean playing together as a family and sneaking into the bathroom with headphones to watch those 5 minutes of Monk). Stay strong! And no Game of Thrones spoilers, please!
