Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, October 25, 2007 2:07 pm

I spend a lot of time on this blog writing about TV and kids: What is TV’s effect on children? What are TV-free kids like? Without the “Babysitting Box,” how does one ever cook a meal?

But what about adults? For grown-ups who are in the habit of unwinding at the end of a hard day by channel surfing, or watching a favorite show, the prospect of a long and empty evening without the TV might be somewhat daunting to say the least.

If you are considering eliminating your TV, or at least reducing its use and are worried about how to fill your evenings, then here are some ideas:

- Read a book. (When is the last time you read a book? A recent, well-publicized poll found that 1 in 4 Americans read no book at all last year. If we take the glass half-full point of view, I suppose this statistic means that 75% did read at least one book last year. That has to mean something I guess.)

- Take a relaxing bath.

- Play a board game.

- Do a jigsaw puzzle.

- Take up a new hobby.

- Subscribe to a new magazine…and actually READ it!

- Write a blog.

- Write a novel!

- Write old-fashioned snail-mail letters to friends with whom you are losing, or have lost touch.

- Cook or bake.

- Organize that enormous box of photos that has been sitting there staring at you for years.

- Volunteer.

- Scrapbook.

- Sell all your old stuff on Ebay and make a little money (in addition to all the money you are saving by not having cable anymore!)

- Go for a walk, hike or bike ride.

- Take a class at your local community college.

- Work on a political campaign, or for a cause you believe in.

- Learn a foreign language with some books and tapes.

- Listen to NPR, or a podcast.

- Listen to music.

- Listen to a book on tape.

- Read aloud to your spouse or kids.

- Plant (or plan) a garden.

- Sit and chat.

- Play (or learn to play) a musical instrument.

- Obedience train your dog, or teach him tricks.

- Linger over dinner or dessert.

- Have more dinner parties with friends.

- Start a bookclub.

- Sit on your front porch and chat with the neighbors or simply watch the world go by.

- Plan a vacation.

- Stargaze.

- Call a friend.

- Do a crossword, or a Sudoku puzzle.

- Do the Unplugged Project with us!

Any other ideas?

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer Jane M. Sawyer for the photo.

Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, October 17, 2007 9:17 pm

There is another blogger out there who is trying to turn off the TV for one week, just to see how it goes. Becky of Boys Rule My Life (mom of three boys!) and her family have decided to try going without TV for one week. Becky says:

“Jeff and I have been talking about this for some time and after reading this post on Unplug Your Kids and seeing a tv commercial today showing a child coming home from school and the parents being too “busy” for their kids we’ve decided that it’s time: We are unplugging the tv for a week. ”
-We’re Going Unplugged, October 10th

One thing I think is clever, but perhaps obvious to most besides me, is that Becky actually physically unplugged the TV in order to avoid little fingers turning it on. Of course even the littlest children know how to push buttons and could turn on a TV with no problem. Plus, as Becky says: “…it is truly unplugged, which also means that I have to make a conscious decision to turn it back on.”

Becky is also trying to cut down on the amount of time she spends online. I must admit that the computer is also my weakness. During my TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge I cut back too, but it was hard.

Read about Becky’s first unplugged day here. It sounds like it was a pretty good day. Her oldest boy Will (age 5) was thrilled to play more trains, and Nathan (age 2) was a bit perplexed, but all was going fairly smoothly as of the time of her post.

She also posted an update today:

“Mornings have been less hectic. I don’t have to remind Will *quite* so much to get ready, brush teeth, etc. because the tv is not on to distract him. We’ve played trains or read books before school every day this week. The house is quieter. It’s nice.”

They have not been completely TV-free. The family has turned it on for a little while around 3PM, but only for a bit. The reduction in the amount of TV her family has watched seems to have made Becky pretty happy so far. She and her husband Jeff have been able to spend more time as a family, which was their main goal.

Becky’s “unplugged week” continues. Please stop by Boys Rule My Life to follow her family’s progress and wish them well!

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, September 7, 2007 10:33 am

I walked out of my front door yesterday and was delighted to see this graffiti on my driveway:

My kids had been playing Hopscotch! I wonder how many children today even know what Hopscotch is, let alone how to play it. Probably if you are interested enough in my blog to be reading it, then your children know how to play games like Hopscotch, so I am “preaching to the choir” here, but I want to write about it today anyhow!

My parents were English and I remember my Mom teaching me to play hopscotch when I was little. I taught my friends, and we all used to play this fun hopping game. So, it was a real pleasure for me to see my children enjoying it too.

As I researched this post, I discovered that Hopscotch began as a military training exercise in ancient Britain during the time of the early Roman Empire. Soldiers had to hop across a 100′ field while in full armor and carrying all their equipment. This was thought to increase stamina and agility for battle. Roman children copied and modified the game drawing a smaller court and adding a scoring system. Thus, the Hopscotch game was born and was soon played by children all over Europe. Interesting, isn’t it!

Teaching children the “old” games is a great way to get them outside and away from TV and video games. Plus, since it seems we soon may have no more un-recalled toys left in our playrooms, Hopscotch is a perfect game since it requires only some chalk (preferably chalk that was NOT made in China) and a flat stone.

If you need to refresh your memory, check out the BBC Schools website for detailed rules of how to play this old game (apparently popular with children in Victorian England). The site also has a short video of a girl playing hopscotch so you can really see how it is done!

My good friend Wishy, who has lived in India, told me about a variation of hopscotch that all the children played there. I believe that the rules of “Indian Hopscotch” are basically the same, but she said that they draw the boxes really, really big so the hopping part is much more challenging.

A few more Hopscotch links:

Hopscotch 101 (History, rules, variations, etc.)
Hopscotch by Dagonell the Juggler (Brief history and different variations)

Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, August 25, 2007 9:01 am

Simple pleasures make children the happiest.

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, July 3, 2007 8:33 am

One of the many great things about TV-free kids is that they really like to be outdoors. In the nice weather, my two oldest children are outdoors almost all the time. Without TV and video games, there is nothing much for them to sit around doing indoors. Besides - the lure of trees, rocks, bugs, bikes, scooters, swing sets, and “clubhouses” is too great.

In fact, last week I was very pleased that my children chose to go “sploring” outside (as my 5 year-old son calls it) despite being offered the opportunity to watch “Sprout” on TV at my sister’s house when we were there to have dinner. They climbed trees, found bugs, and moved sticks and rocks from “point A” to “point B.”

Several weeks ago, whymommy linked to a Washington Post article entitled Getting Lost in the Great Indoors. The basic point of the article is that today’s kids don’t like to go outdoors, unless the purpose is an organized activity such as soccer or Little League. They would rather be indoors with TV’s, computers, and video games.

A 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that children ages 8 to 18 spend 6.5 hours a day on television, electronic games, computers, music and other media, with many multitasking electronically.

Here is a telling quote from the Washington Post article:

“In Great Falls, the Hefner family has a back yard of more than an acre, a green swath of kid heaven at the edge of Great Falls National Park. Three years ago, George Hefner, a general contractor who knows how to work a saw, built a two-story “treehouse” that stands on the ground between two leafy maples.

He imagined his children fixing it up, sleeping there.

But 10-year-old Paul cannot remember the last time he played in the little house. ‘Animals live out there, you know,’ he told his mother one day. His older sister Sarah, 16, admits that she has never set foot in it. ‘What would I do in a treehouse?’ she asked.”

According to the article, getting kids outdoors is a new venue for activists. There have been Capitol Hill hearings, state legislative action, grass-roots projects, and even a U.S. Forest Service initiative.

This recent public concern appears to be partly inspired by a book entitled Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. This post may be a tad premature since I have not yet read Mr. Louv’s book. It remains on my “To Read” list. However Mother Rising wrote an interesting post about it, that makes me want to read it all the more! (Has anyone else out there read it yet?)

The book seems to be creating public awareness of a trend that many parents have been noticing for quite a while. In addition to the obvious culprits, TV and other electronics, the article also suggests that parental fears of leaving children unattended, more working mothers, and more organized sports may also be to blame.

It does seem that today’s kids are so overscheduled that there may be little time left for unstructured outdoor play. Overscheduling is something I would like to avoid if possible, but the lure of fun, educational activities is always there to tempt parents (a struggle I wrote about here: The 6 Year-Old and her Executive Secretary).

It is so sad to me that we need grass roots initiatives and Congressional hearings (not to mention the $20 million that 40 “civic leaders” are trying to raise to fund 20 country-wide initiatives) all simply to encourage kids to go outdoors.

I am fortunate to live in a small town. If I lived in a big city apartment it would obviously be much harder to get my kids outside. I wouldn’t be able to simply release them into the backyard. We would have to depend on family trips to the park, the country, etc. I do realize how lucky I am.

However, there are plenty of families who do have the ideal safe, kid-friendly yard (such as the family quoted above) and who nonetheless have problems getting the kids outside. My advice is to try turning off the TV and putting away the video games. You don’t need a $20 million initiative to get your kids outdoors! Just allow them to “be bored” and see what happens.

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer ximenez.