“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Confession: Our kids watch too much TV.
It’s embarrassing typing this “out loud” for the world to see because honestly, I’d love for people to think that we have it all together: perfect marriage, committed to being cool/collected parents, darling house, and TV-free, well-rounded boys who obey the first time and live perfect, tantrumless lives.
Yeah, that’s not us.
Just three days ago, we decidedly stopped watching TV. There wasn’t a single earth-shattering event prompting us to unplug, but a steady trickle of behaviors from both big people and little people confirmed that we should go for it. The Netflix “Just For Kids” option is all too convenient. Putting on a show is easy and a quick fix to the chaos commonly found in the homes of small children. But let’s be clear – ease of access and the succeeding silence were notthe problem.The problem was us.We used the TV too often to occupy our kids or calm them down. Yikes – in hindsight, this kind of thing just oozes dysfunction. Cue more heaps of embarrassment.
The timing seemed pretty bad – with the recent addition of a newborn who inevitably and consistently ties me to the couch to feed him without the guarantee of effectively disciplining his brothers, combined with the tendency of said brothers to express their curiosity to drastic heights when I’m conveniently disarmed and flying solo, it really didn’t seem like a good idea. Plus, there is nothing inherently wrong with the shows my boys like – Lunar Jim? Fireman Sam? Characters who promote adventure and responsibility with the added bonus of catchy theme songs hardly wave a red flag.
Still, I casually asked Andrew Thursday evening, “Should we do a media fast for the kids? Cut off their viewing time entirely?” We hemmed and hawed knowing that zero TV would be pretty exhausting for us who are accustomed to letting our kids watch an episode or two of Super Why. But again, we noticed that we relied on the TV too much to keep our kids occupied. Our kids relied on the TV too much for entertainment. Their TV time was interrupting their play time and clipping their creative wings, which to us sounded like a super-big problem.
Friday morning I woke up and the TV was gone. It’s unplugged, dethroned from its post atop the entertainment center, and hidden in the baby’s room where it will remain without certainty of return. Sure we might lug it out every now and then for some veg time, but generally speaking, it was getting in the way of life, of creativity, and most importantly, of quality time.
Oh the possibilities!
Without the TV and easy access to boxed entertainment, we just decide to do something else. We keep a supply of rolled craft paper that I stretch out on our kitchen table for fun, limitless coloring and the boys’ once-dimmed fascination with their toy trains has rekindled into mild obsession. They run up and down the hall pretending to chase after or run away from imaginary creatures; they ask more questions about the baby; they want to read and talk more; they live. Similarly, we’re engaged with our kids and more involved in their play and interests. The challenges of from-the-couch parenting are few and far between and short-lived when they do come – Thank God for outlet blocks and baby gates!
Fasting from shows and movies lends itself toward excitedly anticipating each day 10 times more than I did before! Today will be Day 4 of TV-free living and I’m already pumped to see what we’ll do. Our family life is far from perfect, but we’re hoping that beyond the box, we’ll all be happier and well-rounded individuals who live life abundantly.
Well, we’re far from being a perfect family but on that point we’ve always been strict,with our first batch of children now grown up and the second batch (3 between 15 and 18)(God knows why there is a gap between the 2 lots of children.
We have a TV ,but we decide when we watch it,the news once or twice a week and when younger always with Mum or Dad,, sport (dad is a sport fanatic) but not for hours on end and the odd program , mainly we use it to watch films that we have chosen , Sunday evening is our family video wtaching regular occasion often with a pizza our something to nibble as we had our main meal at lunchtime, a perfect way to start the working week. Our children are used to it, hardly ever complain, and seem to manage with their friends who do watch a lot of TV. Our adult children are much more critical and choosey about what they watch on tv than the average adult. So I thank The Lord for helping us to keep at it.
Time to push the furniture together and get the blankets out….your boys will love to make a tent and live under there with pillows, favorite toys and each other! My boys loved doing this and I had to learn that I didn’t live in a museum, but a “well-used” home…… you are doing a great thing for their creative minds, Katie! Bless you and your family.
I’ve been thinking about doing this for my marriage too.My husband and I enjoy following a show at a time together on Netflix, but I think about all of that time that we spend not-talking to each other that maybe we could use for something better…just wondering if my hubby will ever agree to it. 🙂
I struggle with this, as well. We have done it on and off when we feel like we need to reconnect and refocus on our relationships as a family. And I’ve found that we all do best when I’ve got a game plan of activities – even if it’s just silly little things. Good luck! We need to revisit this in our home, I think.
don’t worry, we cannot be perfect, otherwise we would be in heaven with God! we can only try with His help. We’ve managed to sortt out the tv problems,but I don’t even dare to share all our family problems?God ,,help us !