Our youngest daughter was addicted to the television. She tried to turn the TV on the moment she walked into the house and preferred to watch TV over anything else. We had to find a way to break the hold the television had on her impressionable little mind. Now before you start thinking I am the kind of mom who just let my kid watch anything or used the TV as a babysitter, let me reassure you:
She plays sports and runs cross country, attends girl scouts and church activities, performs chores, reads for 20 minutes daily BUT when there was a free moment she wanted to watch the TV. It was a battle at times to get her attention away from the TV! We could see the harmful influences: Her lack of reading skills and EVEN WORSE, her lack of a love of reading, her mimicking some of the kids behaviours she saw (backed up by a laugh track).
So we instituted TV free days (now expanded to technology free days). The Television and the computer are OFF limits-every Tuesday. Each person in the household has to find another way to entertain themselves (no computer games, not TV, no hand held games, ipods or CD players)
It was hard at first for her to break the habit but she has managed to be Technology free on Tuesdays for over a year now. Her reading has improved and she has moved up in class in her cross country team! It took a lot of reminders on mom and dads part, but we're all happy to have a technology free day once a week NOW!
Some benefits you might realize are: improved reading and test scores, improved concentration, better sleep, family meal times, happier pets (after they are walked on this day), weight loss or other health improvements, etc. Try it and see what impact it has on your family. Good Luck!
Cell phone free days are a great addition Didn't think of it for our house...because we don't use them at home! I WILL have to add this for my teenager though!
I think this is a wonderful idea and I think that I will have to try it. I homeschool my two boys, but my 11 y /o thinks he has to have the TV on when he is not doing something else. That or he is hooked up into the PS2
I think this is a great idea especially in this day and age, but I think telephones, especially cell phones should be added to tech free night. People have gotten so addicted to phones which are now mini computers, game machines, MP3 players, instant messengers, email senders and receivers, video players and so on... It has really gotten ridiculous. You hardly see people in the restroom, at the grocery store, in traffic, who aren't plugged into a phone these days.
so how about another tech free day?? yes i have the tv on most of the day. i live alone and i find it comforting to have it on even when i am not in the room.
We have done the same thing in my house, but it also happened to be "family game night" for at least an hour or two.
The only exception to the rule was the night we rented Monopoly for the Playstation ;)
Everynight however, is technology free when we sit down for supper. Cell phones get turned off, the ringer is off on the landline, and there is positvely NO TV while we eat.
Of course, we have exceptions for this as well..."fend for yourself night" and Pizza Night are both excluded...but those rarely fall on a tuesday ;)
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