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TV Turn-Off
Rated by 3 members
Things had clearly gotten out of control. My 3-year-old daughter, Tiny Girl, was waking up each morning, carrying her blanket and stuffed lamb to the couch, plopping herself down, staring at me, and demanding, "TV! TV!"
What had started as an innocent way to occupy her as everyone else prepared for work and school had become a serious habit. As for my 5-year-old son, Fellow, he had spent so much idle early morning time scanning the cable dial, he had begun requesting that I record Texas Hold 'Em tournaments for him.
And there were the channel fights: "Science show!" "No, kids' show!" "No, science show!" We were a family with a screen problem.
The solution, surprisingly, came in a simple handout from the librarian at my son's public school, encouraging families to take part in TV-Turnoff Week (www.tvturnoff.org). My son, still young enough to take recommendations from school as commands from heaven, told me we had to turn the TV off for the week. My daughter, still young enough to do what her brother told her, agreed.
And so for a week, there was no morning TV before school (which was their only regular viewing time). The results were startling. When they woke up on Monday, we put on a CD and peacefully listened to music over breakfast. By Wednesday, they were working on puzzles together before school.
And as if that weren't enough, then came...the compliments! Thursday morning, Tiny said to Fellow: "You look very handsome today," then Fellow told her, "YOU really look like you're ready to get your picture taken today!"
Finally, on Friday, Tiny awoke first, and since she'd been struggling with a cold for a couple of days, I turned the TV on for her while she lay on the couch. Then Fellow woke up, heard the sounds of "Caillou," and stood stock-still in the hallway, out of sight of the set with his hands on his ears, until I turned it off so he could enter the room without breaking his vow.
All in all, it was an impressive experiment, and I look forward to repeating it this year. (This year it's April 21-27 -- of course, I'll tape "Lost.")
You don't need to agree with all the arguments and warnings that you'll see on the websites related to TV-Turnoff Week, about the perils of kids watching TV, or spending too much time in front of screens. You don't need to go along with any of it to appreciate the simple benefits of five days with the set off. Who knows, maybe your kids will start complimenting each other, too.
Member Comments On…
TV Turn-Off
My family doesn't watch too much TV, but there are certain things that we have put in place to ensure this. No TVs in the kids rooms. My husband and I have one in our room, and there is one in the spare room (which NEVER gets turned on). We have about 3 shows a week that we TiVo, and watch together, but other than that, it's filler when my husband flips from the History channel to the Discovery channel before bed. My concern is the time spent on the XBox!! But that is a whole other article!!!
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When my son was born, he's now 1 yrs old. He had colic. My daughter needed to be occupied. I didn't know what else to do.She would watch 2-5 dvds a day. For us this was alot. My son is no longer colicy, but he doesn't nap and is sooo very clingy. I used to do crafts, games, and all kinds of things with Aubrey.I still don't find much time for all those enriching activties we used be so fond of. At least now that the winter has let up a bit we're getting alittle out door time. I'm at the end of my rope. My son doesn't want to read, won't play by himself, doesn't like the cold weather. I feel like I've tried every thing. Does anyone have any ideas. Feeling guilty, stuck indoors.
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My kids no longer watch TV in the morning and you may not believe this, but I really miss it. We used to watch Sesame Street every morning (before it was a show "for babies" only) and as soon as Elmo's World came on, my kids knew it was time to get up and go brush their teeth. If the end credits came on and we were still home we knew we'd better hurry. Now with the TV off, it's a constant battle to get through our morning routine and out the door on time.
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This article came at a perfect time...I have found our TV on more and more as our winter drags on longer and longer! I am planning to turn the TV off for the summer. My brother-in-law used to put his in the closet for the summer! I hope that if we can go TV free for the summer, we won't slip back into bad habits next winter! Wish us luck!
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No I dont worry about to much T.V. my kids watches. I let my kids know when they can and can not watch T.V. When my kids are not watching tv we are out side.
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We did a no TV for a month challenge over 5 years ago & like the rest it is the best thing we have ever done! We have movie night on Friday for the children and that is it.
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We turned the tv off for a week 3 years agp and haven't turned it back on it has made our house calmer and soothing
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Being a scrapbook momma, I have taken a useful approach to the TV/computer watching issue. I altered a Kleenex box with fun scrapbook paper and velcroed 3 buttons to each side. One side has TV buttons, the other computer. Each button is worth 1 TV show or 20 minutes of computer time every day. When a button is removed, it is placed inside the box for safe-keeping until the next day when we start all over.
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We have a variety of approaches to limit TV viewing in our home. First, there aren't any TVs in their bedrooms. Second, no TV before school (we have a hard enough time getting out the door in the morning without throwing TV watching in there, too!). Third, our kids are busy---with either after school dance/sports, Brownies/Scouts or playing outside with the neighborhood kids. When they were younger, I would turn on kid music for them in the morning. Purposefully turning on music especially for them reminded me that I didn't want to resort to TV watching right out of the gate in the morning. Honestly, even with all of the above tips...limiting TV watching is a constant vigil. It's like many other aspects of parenting...hard!
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I must say I have taken steps, too, to cut back on our children's tv hours. They love to have spending money by doing simple chores at home and now they have learned that by earning tv time, those chores must be done first. Along with reading time and doing puzzles and playing board games that helps maintain their learning, too. Our society has gotten to used to using the tv to keep our kids occupied while we do our own chores and we need to do whatever it takes to get back to quality family time without including the tv at that time. The old saying "the family that prays together, stays together" holds true because the family that does things together, interacting with each other has a close bond and that is what this generation needs!
Thanks for this article and we know what we will be doing April 21-27 this year!
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