Family Challenge

[bright sparks]

As a child, television was restricted in my house, not a choice I made but a rule that was forced upon me. I wanted to watch tv and would go days, sometimes over a week without so much as a single 5 minute cartoon show and felt hard done to. As an adult I now understand that my parents kind of had my best interests at heart. Their mistake was that they didn't give me anything to substitute it with. Yes I had certain things I could play with in my room, but I only ever received a few toys for Xmas and birthdays so I did not have that many things and got tired and bored very quickly. When I was younger there was never any encouragement to use my imagination to have fun, only abrupt dismissal every time I approached my parents and I was seen as a burden. There were never family nights of board games, days out/ trips to the park or playing ball or bike rides with my parents so all my parents did was cause me boredom while still wanting me to be "seen and not heard" My parents were extreme hardasses and this made having fun a challenge. Due to this, as I got older I became very much a fan of radio. I would record music from the radio and inbetween songs DJ I loved it.

Anyway, now as an adult, I love tv. Its almost like due to my parents being overly restrictive meant that as soon as I was able to be in control as an adult able to make my own choices, I ended up being the complete opposite and went from literally no tv to lots and lots and lots of tv. My tv was restricted for 14 years so a lot of resentment built up towards my parents as they had zero leniency to pretty much all their rules.

I think the idea of no tv is absolutely fine as long as it is everyones choice or kids understand why its a good idea and are involved in coming up with fun replacement activities so they don't see it as losing out. I have a 10 and 12 year old and I am sure if I picked a few days a week to have no tv and "explained why", and then included them in brainstorming more ways to use time constructively then it could be a very productive lifestyle change. IME as a child always being "told" what to do without any kind of reason, reinforcing the idea in my head that my parents must not care what I think, ended up being a very negative thing.

I agree with Playfelt that tv gets a bad rap. I think balance and moderation in most things is very important. I love watching complete seasons of tv series on Netflix and quite frankly I know that I waste a lot of time watching them lol, but lets be clear that I can waste just as much time when I get into a good series of books at which time my DVR ends up full in no time as it can be days without the tv going on. The laundry pile is big in either case, the kids have to wash their own dishes and my floors go un mopped a few extra days. It's not the tv or the books that is the problem. It's me lol and its not the end of the world. I seem to go in waves also depending on how busy I am. I regularly go to night school at which time I get little down time at all so then it is sleep, work, study and repeat and I am home a lot less.

I do not have a tv in my daycare room and it is not a part of my day with the kids. Kudos to anyone who willingly chooses to eliminate tv all together. I would love to know what new productivity comes as a result. This summer my kids are restricted with tv and video games. We have had a family discussion about it. I already made the decision for them but wanted them to feel that they had a say in the decision as I personally don't feel like it would be an easy fight if I just flat out told them NO. Together we have come up with things to do each day. They are learning cursive, doing daily math drills and have a spare time topic research project they can do when they are "bored". My Gifted/LD son who is 10 is also learning the periodic table over the summer. If I had simply told them no tv and no video games and then when they complained of being bored I just told them to go away and stop complaining then there would have been problems but instead they have a choice of things to do in place of the "zombie box" They also know the consequences of not sticking to the commitments "they chose" to make.

Funnily enough though, they know to leave me alone for an hour after the daycare kids go down for nap so I can have some alone time......to watch tv LOLOLOL

[kimmills]

Hey Trace of Angels, I can't believe this, how could anyone stay away from such an addiction for 7 long years. Kudos to you for that. I agree with everyone that TV is such a waste of time and when the kids start getting a habit of it they should be stopped then and there so that it does not become an addiction. I also love watching TV but many a days I get up in the morning and pledge that since there is too much of work today I won't watch TV today- to complete my tasks, and tomorrow- to take rest and nap.