Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Ah Yeah, Straight Out of Nowhereness, Like a Fist, Can't Resist

On Sunday I did a very insane thing.

While visiting Alicia, we came to an agreement... no television during daylight hours (refresh my memory -- that is what we shook on, correct?).

Anyway, I kinda blew it already. I let the boys watch Dora while I made breakfast (the rule should be cartoons can be on until you've got a cup of coffee in your hands). I promptly turned it off when the show was over.

However, Griffin is sitting patiently on the couch, waiting for Mecca to be turned back on.


Sorry buddy. No television.

I would think that this would be my personal hell, but the house is wonderfully quiet, I don't feel like I'm loosing my mind and I'm oddly focused.

Perhaps this won't be a long, torturous month after all.

15 comments:

LLA said...

Yay to you for the tv-free-daytimes! Keep us posted on how it's going...

Anonymous said...

Yes! I told Jack no TV during the "day." (sometimes he and daddy like to watch baseball games together and techinically they start during the day.) So I think for us, day=when daddy is at work.

Good luck. :)

Anonymous said...

We are not TV watchers at our house - something that has evolved slowly as our children have grown, and I must say it is nice to not have that background NOISE seeping into your brain. A&E sometimes watch Clifford if they wake up in the morning before I get dressed, but that's about it during the week. And Aidin gets to watch Lazy Town on Saturday morning and Eliot gets to watch Thomas on Sunday morning. And honestly, we don't miss it a bit.

PamKittyMorning said...

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

OH MY GOD - I thought you meant for you, not the kids!! Hats off to you though, I hate the TV with a passion and will do anything to keep them away from it, but guess what the little devils love most? Looking forward to progress reports!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with this! I really like not having the TV on during the day. Our house is very calm and quiet. It helps that we don't have a TV in the living area -- otherwise, I would be tempted.

Are your kids into music? That's always a good alternative around here.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm. Well good for you! Can I ask what prompted this new rule? Just curious. Keep us updated on how it all goes.

Anonymous said...

I'm very impressed. In my house such a decision would cause a mutiny. Like the Bounty. Only worse.

But it's a good decision. Sometimes I switch it off while the boys are playing and they don't even notice...

Berber said...

Good luck with the experiment!

We decided to get rid of our television 8 years ago and never had it back in the house...we have more time to read and craft (and sit behind the computer of course ;)))
The children grew up in this situation, so no nagging about it :)

Anonymous said...

i was just going to ask how long it was supposed to last ...

wow! a month? you are either brave or stupid .... (just kidding)

my kids don't live on tv, but it's a nice distraction when i have to change sheets, do dishes, clean toilets, fix meals, etc, and don't need them running at my feet.

good luck.

Anonymous said...

Laura--You are very brave. I wish I could do that for myself, but it helps keep me sane!!
I was out of town all weekend, so I am catching up on your blog. I wish I could have been there to go to Santa-Cal-A-Gon Days with you like we did in high school. It used to be so fun!!
I thought Wisconsin was the only place that had dumb sayings like "Get'R Done" People really say that here, in a normal conversation.

MIss you lots! I will call soon.

Love,
Amy
Your Wisconsin Best Friend!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I've often said no TV on school days--something I'm good about, but hubby is not. The sad thing is, A&E will sit and watch tv together for HOURS without fighting or making a peep; no TV means more "I'm booooored!" until they discover art supplies and then it's like TV never existed. Note to self--buy more art supplies!

Hang in there and stay strong!

You can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner. said...

oooh.. we are cable free here ( 3 years!! witha 10 year old!! )and get no non cable reception.. but we have dvds.. and net flicks..
so we get our video licks in..

Power to ya, Friend!

Suse said...

Our kids are tv free with the exception of Son #1 who at 12 years of age is allowed to watch one show a week (Inspector Rex - he loves it, and as it's in German I figure it's good exposure to another language and culture ...)

We went tv free when they were very little and it was the best thing we ever did as a family. They play, they listen to storytapes, they create, they imagine, they read, they play, they do crafty stuff. Did I mention they play?

Anonymous said...

Our family has a no TV month every year in May and a no TV on school days rule the rest of the year - we do make exceptions for certain football/basketball games for my husband's sake. We play a lot of games, make and cook things together and my house is cleaner than it used to be. (It is hard to vacuum upstairs when you want to be watching a British murder mystery downstairs.) Good luck with your experiment.