I received an email on Friday from our internet provider informing me that we had already used 50% of our data for the month. Friday was January 8. Half of our data gone in 8 days...8 DAYS. Now...I know it isn't only my children's fault. I watch TV too, I use my computer, my phone, etc. But, it was a giant slap in the face that we use TOO much screen time in this house. So, I decided to rectify that little problem, starting this past weekend. And let me tell you, my kids were NOT happy with me, no, they were not. To which I said...tough.
Saturday was not too difficult, as I had already earmarked that day for cleaning and organizing our garage. They were allowed to watch some TV in the morning, mainly because I needed some mama time while I had my coffee, but I did tell them we'd be spending the day outside. Even if they didn't help clean the garage, we live right next to a park, so I told the kids they could go to the park, ride their bikes or scooters, or help in the garage, but they had to be outside. As it was a beautiful day, and their friends were also out, it was not a hardship to have them stay occupied, outside, and away from technology. And I got a clean garage. :)
There was a down side to being outside all day. My 4 year old daughter was exhausted! We came in around 5pm, and I had my kids take baths right away so it was done. We had dinner right after, around 6pm. She was so tired, she cried all through dinner because she wanted pasta, and not the gross chicken nuggets and French fries that I made for them, (insert major eye roll). Thankfully, daddy facetimed during dinner, so I was able to distract her enough talking to him, and having him ask to see her take bites, that she finally ate. But Lord, who knew a 4 year old would cry so much because she wasn't eating pasta? (If you read my Food post from last week about the English Muffin Bread, I told you I wasn't kidding about my kids and carbs). Needless to say, everyone had an early bed time that night.
Sunday proved to be a little bit trickier. I was up with the baby already when my two younger techno-loving babes came downstairs around 7am. As per his usual, my 6 year old went straight to the remote to turn on the TV. To say he was upset when I told him there would be no screen time just yet, would be an understatement. Whining, foot stomping, and angry little arms being crossed over his chest would not deter me, however.
I told them, as sweetly as I could, to get over it. No TV, and that was that. Instead of arguing, I started doing my chores and just left them to it. And do you know what happened? They started playing...together. I snapped a few sneak photos of my middle two playing 'make a cake' after they had finished a singing competition. It was great.
After a bit, my 13 year old decided to grace us with his presence. Now that all the children were awake...what were they to do? Games! Like any respectable family, we have all types of games...games of the board variety, games of the card variety...and, also like any respectable American family, we never play them. They sit in a closet, on a shelf, collecting dust. Well, not today. Today, games will be played.
The kids started out with Bobble. It didn't take long for arguing to ensue, ("Why does he get to go first?") followed by more cries as someone bumped someone else back to home base and, "Now I have to start all over!" The drama! As a mother's job is never done, I enjoyed watching them work it out on their own while I folded laundry, did dishes and vacuumed. I was able to enjoy chores while I watched my kids actually playing together. And by play, I mean squabble and complain, cry and argue. There were some smiles in there too. They may not have admitted it, but they enjoyed themselves.
Bobble made way for Connet4, followed by the Game of Life. They played games with each other, while their baby sister soaked it all in, for close to 2 hours. Not one request for television or a tablet. And I got a clean house. At 11am, we went outside. I needed to get a workout in, and I wanted them to have some sun. I told them when I was done working out, we could go back in and finally have some TV time.
Although I lifted the TV ban in the afternoon, where they were able to decide what they watched, I made some changes to our nighttime TV. We had dinner together in front of the television where I decided we should watch a documentary on Disney. So, we watched Wild Nordic and learned about Norway. It is BEAUTIFUL and has me putting it on my bucket list of places to visit. Despite my 6 year old being in constant denial about watching it, he would say, "Why can't I just watch something in the playroom?" followed by..."Did you see the way that eagle got the fish?" and would demonstrate for us, in case we missed it. I think watching a new documentary on Sunday will be something else we incorporate. It's time my kids learn there is a whole big world out there...and not just other people playing video games.
I thoroughly enjoyed our break from the mindlessness of television. Whether they realized it or not, so did they. As kids, they don't understand what they need. That's where I come in. Much to their chagrin, I do believe we will make screen free Sunday mornings our new Sunday ritual. No plug in connection until at least after noon. I'm still working on other ways to unplug my children, and myself. But Rome wasn't built in a day after all...unless there's an app for that. Hmmm?
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