Unplugged
No TV in June!!!!
It's as much like coming off a drug as I could ever imagine. This is our fourth or fifth year of unplugging the boob-tube for the entire month of June.
Why? It's much too early in the month for me to rationally answer that question because, God help me, I just want to sit down at night and watch a movie!
Seriously, if you want my maternally mature answer then; because it's summer and we don't need to be sitting in front of a television numbing our brains to the sounds and sights that Hollywood demands that we embrace. Nor do my children need to sit on their butts and become robotic-like warriors of all things Playstation.
June 1st was the hardest day to get through, especially for Clay. Every time his phone rang he heard, "I'm soooo bored! I have nothing to do. When are you coming home?" The fifth time I called he asked, "Aren't you the one that started the whole no TV thing? Yes, you are! Now live with your decision and stop calling me!"
What do we do instead? We read, talk, play outside, watch the bats come out at night, garden, call the cousins, call the grandparents, beg for people to come over, whine a little, wrestle, nag, eat and dream. And my children learn how to play......without anything that plugs into a wall.
Join us if you want, tell me how it goes and what you do instead of watching the bright blue screen.
13 comments:
While I applaud your decision I can't help but wonder about your sanity. No TV? For a whole month? God help you. I hope you have great weather and can keep the kids outside.
jean
Would it be cheating if I did the entire month of July instead? My show is still on!!!!
We're doing it too and it's killing me. I went down and pestered Donna for three hours today. The kids ended up in front of her TV. That doesn't count right?
April, this is a horrible idea and I kinda hate you for telling Bryan about it. We'll be over whining at your house tomorrow and watching you flick off your own tomato worms.
Jean, I'm sending them to other people's houses...where they are probably watching TV!
Hope4grace, We have to wait for June so we can finish watching American Idol and then try not to get to hooked on So You Think You Can Dance before we shut it all down.
Melanie, COWGIRL UP!
We do not watch TV but Friday night is movie night. This sounds like a good idea. A lot of work to cut out movie night but a great idea! Imagine all the things you can get done?! It baffles the mind... From not watching evening TV I should have tons of free time... but I am still looking for it.
Ok. Last year when the power went out all over St Louis, we didn't lose it. But we did lose our satelite connection, and it took 2 weeks for the repair guy to come. This was near the end of summer. The natives got restless. I can't imagine how they would be for a whole month and not even the rabbit ears or videos. Kudos to you for your efforts.
I totally agree with you. We almost already do that. We don't watch any tv. We do watch old movie and old tv shows tho. Only in the evening tho. no during the day. too much to do.
WAY TO GO EVERYONE! I am so proud of you all. As for us, summer is when we actually begin watching t.v. We have watched a movie the last 3 nights in a row - I don't think we watched that many from Sept to May combined! So, anyone is invited to my house for movies...
We don't watch much TV if at all. We haven't really since, I don't know, 1990. We do watch usually one movie a week. But I do remember the withdrawals, even 17 years later :) I watched a lot of TV as a kid, so I guess it all evens out. Of course, this doesn't explain the big screen HD TV my husband bought. Oh well, when we do watch it, it looks great!
Good luck!
I read on your blog a while ago, that you do this in June, so I decided to do the same. I have 5 kids, the oldest is 10, so it will be a challenge! But we will do it. Whether it kills us (ME) or not in the process is yet to be determined!
Great idea...wish we would have restricted it more when our kids were growing up. We did restrict to a certain number of hours per week (can't remember how long) but the thing we did do is demand that they all read for an hour each night. That included us as parents also. All but my youngest love to read so for her it was torture.
i haven't watched TV in years other than if it's on at someone's house in the background or in passing at work... i loathe TV. i do. i wish there was something better for people to do than stare at screens... it's frustrating for me to be at someone's house with the TV on. i tend to wince.
HEY -- next time do it all summer. I call it my summer sabattical. I used to be crazy and not use the computer -- but then I realized... I NEED my computer. LOL But we still shut the TV off. NetFlix family movies don't count. HA HA!!
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