Monday, November 7, 2011

no more TV

A couple months ago I removed TV from our daily routine. I also stopped letting Jane use the computer. The kids were whining before and after the show was over. It seemed like a crazy idea to take it away, being a full-time stay-at-home mom with two young kids who don't go to school or daycare, have any sort of quiet or nap time. The results really surprised me!

The first few weeks were tough. I felt like I never got a break and they still whined a lot about wanting to watch TV. But now that it's been two months, things are so much better. They're getting along better and I find myself having more breaks because they play well together.

Within days of no TV, Jane began tying shoes and reading books out loud to us. She's now very interested in math and has me quiz her frequently.

We still watch a show or two if one of us is sick and sometimes we watch a movie as a family on the weekend, but overall we're mostly TV-free and it's working so well!

5 comments:

Autumn said...

LOVE this! With did this too, about a year ago. They only watched about 30 minutes of TV a day, but they were constantly asking to watch more shows. I got really tired of it and decided no more TV. Just like you said, it was really rough for a few weeks because they were whining about wanting to watch shows. But now they play so well together and find so many cool things to do with themselves now that TV isn't occupying their minds. We do still watch movies as a family, but otherwise they don't seem to miss TV at all.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

It's so awesome. We watch very little TV here too. Computer, however, is another matter. Daughter wants to play on it every single day. Luckily, I can still fend her off since she is mostly playing on my work laptop.

Our Little Lovie said...

Wow. That takes a lot of guts. I wonder how Hannah would do if Dora suddenly went away. I only have Hannah, so I haven't yet experienced the fighting over the TV. I'm glad your change is having the desired effect!

Anonymous said...

Dad wants more photos!

Juliana said...

Wow! Glad to hear it's been going well! You're inspiring me! :)