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By Mom Unplugged, May 13, 2008 2:26 pm

In all the business of life, I have not yet gotten around to sharing the TV-Turnoff Week story of Mom of 2, a reader who participated in the TV-Turnoff Week Blog Challenge by email. Here is her wrap up (which she sent promptly on April 28th, sorry I am so late!):

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“We did really well through the week (though things kind of collapsed on Sunday), and it was surprisingly easy! My 4 year old got really excited by the idea that, as I told him, “lots of people are not watching TV this week.” and didn’t ask a single time to watch TV!

I put up a NO TV sign on the TV cabinet to remind us not to watch, which he loved because it started with N, just like his name. The only protest was a short tantrum one morning by my 2 year old when his brother started talking about the No TV sign and he perked up at the mention of TV and was mad that I wouldn’t turn it on.

Saturday morning the kids wanted to play a computer game, but when I said that part of the no TV week was also no computer, they moved on to other things. They spent the afternoon and evening at a birthday party, where I suspect at least one video was watched, though they only talked about the bounce house and all the presents the birthday boy received. That night, I came in from dinner with a friend to find my husband watching TV and pointed out it was still no TV week. He argued that it only applied to Monday - Friday.

Sunday morning I slept in and got up to find the kids parked in front of the TV. Hey, what happened to no TV week? I asked. It’s the weekend, it’s over my 4 year old said. Hmmm….where had I heard that before?

So after a week without TV, we’ve decided that we’ll keep it off in the mornings before daycare. It just makes it easier to get out of the house. We’ll also experiment with turning it off earlier in the evenings, as having more attention from mom & dad leading up to bedtime did seem to help the kids settle down to sleep more quickly.

I also realized what a constant presence it’s become on the weekends. I’ll have to plan more activities so we don’t turn it on just because there isn’t anything else planned.

Mom of 2″

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Mom of 2′s experience is quite similar to many of the other final posts that I read. I will definitely put up a summary post of my impressions of the participants’ experiences soon.

Thank you again to Mom of 2 for deciding to join us via email!

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By Mom Unplugged, April 19, 2008 9:19 am

Wow! Thursday was my biggest day ever thanks to all the people searching for information about TV-Turnoff Week. I actually had to upgrade my account in order to avoid exceeding my bandwidth! I only went from “Baby” to “Hatchling” … so I am really not THAT big time, but it was certainly a huge surprise for me.

Today I had planned a post with some alternative ideas to TV, so with this kind of an audience, I guess I had better come up with a few!

Since we are TV-free all the time, I can tell you what my kids like to do:

• Read
• Do art projects
• Play outside
• Play imaginary games with each other, or by themselves
• Build with Legos, Knex, or blocks (especially my son) and then create imaginary games
• Dress-up (also leads to imaginary games)
• Play board games either with each other or with me
• Do puzzles
• Write stories (my 2nd grade daughter)
• Play with the cats and dogs

Here are some suggestions and elaborations that might inspire you and your children. If anyone has any other ideas, then please comment!

• We are fortunate to have a great backyard and a swingset…plus a big forested area next door. If you are less well-endowed in the yard department or live in an apartment, then there is always a visit to the park, or playing at a friend’s house, or having a friend over.

• Be tourists for a day. How about a trip to local attractions such as zoos, aquariums, parks, or playgrounds that you might not have been to yet. Think about tourist attractions that you and your children might enjoy. I don’t know about you, but when I live someplace, I tend not to visit all the attractions for which that location is famous!

• Art Projects: you can always search the old Unplugged Projects (the category is: “Unplugged Project” of course!)

• Bring out some board games and have a family game night. My advice for preserving your sanity: try to pick a game that your children like, but that is not deadly boring for the adult participants. (ie. stay away from Candyland - that one sends me into an immediate coma)

• Turn on some music and dance (again: pick something you like too or you’ll go crazy!)

• Try a Kids Cook Night. Pick a recipe that your kids might not ordinarily like. I find that if my kids do the the cooking themselves (with supervision of course), they are more likely to enjoy the meal.

• Listen to a radio play for kids. Jens Hewer, creator of the Adventures of Billy Brown, recently contacted me about his wonderful series of radio plays. These are more than just books on tape. They are fully produced children’s radio plays, a format that has apparently been popular in Germany since the 1970′s. My review is coming soon, but in the meantime, you can download one of Billy’s adventures for free at his website, Giddio. There are also free Billy Brown pages to color. Perfect for Turnoff week and great imaginary fun for kids!

• Volunteer with your kids (especially if they are older). Habitat for Humanity, your local animal shelter, nursing home, or soup kitchen would probably love to have you help out for a day…plus you’d give your children a bit of perspective and teach them the good feeling that comes from helping others.

• Wash the dog, or teach him tricks.

• Take a walk around your neighborhood, or be adventurous and go on a real “nature hike!” Check out these sites for more outdoors/nature-related ideas: Backyard Nature, Green Hour

• Teach your kids to knit, crochet, embroider, or french knit…or learn one of these skills together.

• Visit these sites for more TV-free ideas: Bubblegum Books, Center for Screen-Time Awareness, Instead of TV

• When all else fails…bring out the Mommy I’m Bored Box.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, April 16, 2008 8:24 pm

If any of you have been reading the posts by the TV Turnoff Week Blog Challenge participants, you might have noticed a common theme to just about all of them. It seems that most bloggers anticipate that unplugging the children will be far less traumatic and problematic than unplugging themselves from their computers!

I’m not sure if the reason we were drawn to blogging in the first place is because we like the connection we feel from being online, or whether the decision to write (or read) a blog created that need for connection. It is indeed a philosophical chicken and egg issue.

But regardless of the psychology behind it, the fact remains that most of us who use our computers on a daily basis are ADDICTED (myself included). If I had any doubts about my own addiction before last year’s TV-Turnoff Week Blog Challenge, the difficulty I had with minimizing my computer time that week made me realize that I am indeed dependent upon the computer.

I found that the computer sitting on the desk in my kitchen was silently calling to me: “Come on, turn me on…you can just quickly check your email then turn me off again. Where’s the harm in that? …do it, do it, DO IT!!” My goal of reducing my online time to one hour, gradually and insidiously increased throughout the week to more like and hour and a half (or maybe even two). It was torture.

However several days after TV-Turnoff Week ended last year, I had something of an epiphany about the whole computer issue:

I had a similar personal revelation today. Today I took care of a friend’s one year-old, so I was caring for two one year-olds (only three months apart in age!). Dueling babies. It was rather like having twins I suppose. I had decided ahead of time that I would simply have to stay offline. I did check email and comments once during their nap, but otherwise I really was not online.

Since I had already decided that I would not have time for the computer today, I was able to deal with the very mobile, busy babies with mindfulness. My mind was not on what might be happening online. As a consequence, the day went quite smoothly and actually seemed almost easier than some days when it is just me and my one year-old…and my computer!

It all went better for me than during the Blog Challenge where my mind was always half on my computer even as I tried to do other things. It seems to me that FOCUS is the key to success. My reader seemed to have this experience also. Whether it is a “PPP New Year’s Resolution,” or caring for extra babies, the ability to not just turn it off, but forget it, not even expect it, is the key to success.

This is an excerpt from a post I wrote about a reader who emailed me the results of her TV-Turnoff week. If you want, you can read the whole post here.

Mindfulness and focus are the key to success. Can I apply these principles to my TV-Turnoff Week this year? We’ll see!

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Here are a few tips that might help make turning off your computer a bit less traumatic:

• Mindfulness and focus (explained above)
• Move the computer out of your normal living space, especially if your goal is NO time online that week at all. Why have it there tempting and calling you?
• Try and have a list of goals to accomplish during the time that you usually are online.
• If you enjoy more spontaneity, then make a sort of “Mommy I’m Bored” Box for yourself. Put all your goals or activity ideas for yourself in a box or jar and just pull one out when you feel that need to check your email coming on.
• When you feel like blogging, instead read a book or try a craft or recipe that you can blog about after TV-Turnoff Week is over! Think of all the great fodder for posts you’ll have. (Is this just postponing your online time? Perhaps not truly in the spirit of the week, but that is for you to decide.)

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, April 9, 2008 2:55 pm

Yesterday I received a great email from “Mom of 2″ who has no blog, but would like to join our TV-Turnoff Week Blog Challenge. Here are her goals for the week:

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“1) No TV, no DVDs or videos! Yikes! I’ve been relying on it to distract the kiddies so I can get ready for work (hubby’s already left in the wee hours) and he’s using it so he can make dinner in the evening (before I get home). Hubby’s said he’s on board, but I expect I’ll get some grumbling from someone other than the kids before the week is out.

2) No computer for me at home. I’m online all day at work and (obviously, since I’m writing this in the middle of the work day) have some free time to do personal stuff there.

3) No computer for the kids. Shouldn’t be too hard since they rarely use it. Although my 4 y.o. might turn his sights there when he finds out he can’t watch TV…

4) Time rescued from the TV will be spent
- playing with or reading to the kiddies. I hope hubby will join us!
- catching up on my magazines…so many piled up with articles I’d like to read but don’t seem to find time for.
- getting more sleep. Yes, sad to say, I sometimes opt to watch just one more show, even though I know I’ll be more tired and less patient the next day.”

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Thank you to “Mom of 2″ for joining in the Blog Challenge! If any other blogless readers out there are tempted to join, then please just send me an email like “Mom of 2″ did and I’ll publish your thoughts and goals on Unplug Your Kids too!

You can reach me at unplugyourkids “at” gmail “dot” youknowwhat.

Photo thanks to morguefile.com and photographer Clarita.

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By Mom Unplugged, April 8, 2008 6:46 am

Thanks to all so far who have taken the plunge and decided to join the 2nd Annual TV-Turnoff Week Blog Challenge. If you have ever toyed with the idea of unplugging, even just some of the time, now is a great time to try it out. As a group we can support each other and share our experiences. Plus, it just might be fun!

Everyone who has joined so far has put up their first post about the challenge, and their goals. I had better hurry up and make my goals public too, so here they are:

1) No TV (not hard since we receive exactly zero channels), no DVDs or videos (not hard since my children rarely ask to watch any, and I haven’t watched one myself in well over a year).

2) No computer for the kids (not hard since my daughter rarely uses it and my son is banned from the computer until he is 6 - he banged the screen of my old MacBook with a toy car and ruined it, the display looked like there was ink running down the inside, wild!).

3) Minimal computer for Mom (ie. me). What????? HELLLPPPPPP!!!!!! I would say NO computer, but I have the Blog Challenge to run, right? However I will write draft posts ahead of time so as to limit my online time to one hour per day after the kids have gone to bed. I will check my email in the morning and the evening. I will not obsessively check my stats.

4) Instead of being online, I will attempt to accomplish the following:

- Sorting and arranging that pit which we call “the playroom.” This shall include the elimination of many unloved toys who shall be sent to find better homes via the school garage sale fundraiser.

- Read one of the books that is gathering dust on my nightstand.

- Spend more time outside and begin to get the garden in order for the summer.

- Play more with my children: board games, art, read-alouds, etc.

- Study my aviation books (I am a pilot and am finally getting back into flying after a seven year hiatus).

- Get out my flute and recorders and play.

There. Easy right? I’ll be sure to let you all know! Check out the other participants’ posts to see what they hope to accomplish during TV Turnoff week.