Good news, so far we have
adopted this as our new strategy at home and it has been accepted and
implemented and is going strong! The
first few weeks were actually harder on us as parents than I think it was on
the kids. I didn’t realize what a gut
reaction it is for me when I’m trying to get something done or when I feel like
they are irritating me to plop them in front of the TV and say “here, watch something!” So it was good insight into my own behavior
and my own triggers! They no longer
complain about not watching TV on the weekdays, they know the rule. And they still don’t watch an excessive
amount on weekends, typically an hour or two each day. It feels good that there are 4 solid days of
the week that the TV doesn’t come on in our house and I would encourage other
people to try it too (I say 4 because Friday is “movie night” at our house and
so they get to watch that night).
I am now moving on to Phase
2, which I didn’t know there would be, actually, but now I can see that the TV
was not enough. And I think Phase 2 is
going to be more difficult. What has
happened is that because the TV is off limits, the kids have found “the other
screen,” the computer screen, and latched onto that. They have a newfound interest in playing
computer games ever since we started the experiment. The hard part about it is that we already
limit them to only educational games (math games, spelling games, etc.) and so
technically what they are doing is educational and for Avery it even counts as
homework/study time. So I’m trying to
figure out what our limit should be on this type of activity. I’m leaning toward 30 minutes a day as a
limit. I still think that interacting
with a screen (computer or TV) is generally not the kind of “play” that I want
for them on an extended basis and so limiting this seems like a good idea. But I also don’t want to take away
educational opportunities either and certainly computer skills are
important. I’m open to thoughts or
comments!
I think it's a tough balance between the reality that the whole world will/is be dominated by screens and your desire to limit "screen time". Technology like "Facetime", the E-readers, to me suggest that screens are the new reality for almost everything we'll be doing.
ReplyDeleteSo my push back on this post is: what are you really concerned about limiting if it's all educational screen time? I have no argument with TV, which we watch almost none around here largely because I think the commercials are the issue. Commercials make us fat and lead to the rampant consumerism that pervades America. My heart breaks just thinking about my daughter "needing" some stupid item she sees on a commercial (hasn't happened yet).
I think my pushback is that I really don't want them sitting around any more than they already are in school. As it is they only have PE twice a week, the rest of the time is mostly sitting in the classroom, it bothers me to have them come home and do more sitting, I would rather see them playing outside or even doing some sort of interactive/imaginary play with each other or with friends. Plus, these computer games don't really feel that educational (even though they are supposedly) and they clearly get addicted to them, and it just feels wrong to see them so glued to the screen like little zombies, they can't even hear me speaking to them when they are playing they are so engrossed. I agree with you that it is the way things are going that screens are part of our life, but "should" it be? I have the opportunity right now to set some limits and try to show them what is good for them and not good for them, to try to teach them they have a choice and that they can do things without a screen in front of them, so I want to capitalize on that while I can.
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