It's been a full week now...and what I realize is that limiting the tv is harder for me than for the kids! I had already greatly curtailed their watching, mostly because I much prefer their DOing something to their just sitting and watching. What has hit me most in the last week is my own attachment to tv. I really love old movies!
We have moderately interesting conversations during meals now, and we can really work on 6yo son's table manners (ick!). This morning the kids and I played "animal lotto" during breakfast.
I have to find a new place to knit. My knitting bag has always sat next to my spot on the couch (the end closest to hubby's chair), but that spot is also directly opposite the tv. I swear it calls to me sometimes! So I've been knitting very little--I'm afraid to sit down there! I can't move the knitting to the bedroom, because the minute I sit down in there, I will have a cat in my lap. Cats and knitting are not mutually beneficial.
The bad thing about kicking the tv habit during Christmas: all those great Christmas movies. The good thing about kicking the tv habit during Christmas: all those great Christmas songs on the radio. And our tendency to play board games as a family during the holidays. And bake cookies. And get out and go look at Christmas lights. And do Christmas crafts.
Maybe by January, we'll be so used to doing other things....
well, I'll finish that sentence in January!!
An update as of April, 2007: The TV is not on all the time, but neither is it off all the time. The kids are much more apt to find something else to do than ask to watch something. We get a movie for "Family Movie Night", we watch the History Channel, and right now, a lot of Baseball! But TV watching is no longer the first option and sometimes we just read a book together! I think, all in all, we have benefitted from our experiment. It has made us THINK about how we spend our time, instead of frittering it away. And that's a good thing!!
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