It's Over

I just posted "Screen Free Day 4" But really it's day 5  I think. I have literally been so busy this week that even though I am allowing myself screen time in the evenings for blogging, I haven't gotten to write much.

I'm declaring Screen Free a complete success even though I crapped out today.  Caroline was up coughing last night, and so this morning I didn't have the gumption to say no TV to Will.  I think he may have watched TV, played Nintendo Ds, and Wii in sort of a TV withdrawal orgy.

Whoops.

And now we are sitting on the couch watching King Fu Panda.

 Here's the thing.  I love sitting on the couch with my kids. It's so cozy and lazy. Plus, to assuage my guilt I  have plans for a healthy dinner and a then an evening trip to the park.

To sum up: I have also learned how easy it is to reduce screen time and how well my children adapt and blossom in a media free environment.  I plan to have much stricter limits on TV and video games, and I don't anticipate much resistance.

Screen Free Day 4

Hey this isn't so bad!  I was hopeful about cutting out tv, but scared.  I don't know what I was scared of, like maybe their heads would explode, but really, no biggie.  They ask for tv, but not with much enthusiasm.  And the way they have adapted by wandering off to their rooms by themselves.  Yesterday in the time before they left for Dad's house, a period we often have the tv on, I laid on the couch and ignored them and they played a rousing game of school involving shouting  and jumping.

A few of my goals haven't been met, I haven't made it to the library YET.  It's now Thursday morning and I'm going to make it my main goal today.  But really, we've been so busy with a field trip, with bowling and going to the park we haven't had time to get books to read.

In lieu of reading actual fun books, I finally finished 1984 by George Orwell.  It was a slog.  I wanted to read it because of it's prominent place in our culture and all that.  I'm glad I read it, and I appreciate it's significance, but woof.  It's really not my kind of book.   In high school for summer reading, we had to read a book by Ray Bradbury, and the only reason I remember it is because it was so alien (haha) to me and things I think about.  In most cases, I am not a fantasy or sci-fi gal, and don't care much for apocalyptic visions of earth or society.

An apocalypse on a small scale, like a family tragedy scale, yes, but collapse of human society, nah.  That said, in the last few years, I've read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, World War Z, 1984, and a couple others, all giving a vision of post-western society.   Now that I have them under my belt, I'm glad, but ick. Not fun reading.

Screen Free Day 1

Day 1 of Screen Free Week at my house was pretty darn good!    The kids asked for tv, but really in a half hearted way.  They were both happy to find other activities; painting, playing Polly Pockets, Legos, dancing and doing dishes. I probably read ten books yesterday and have an assignment this morning from Will to get a Spiderwick book to read to him.

Yesterday, in the hours not spent watching TV, Will built this:

A clever, clever lego battle scene complete with zip line!
 and Caroline painted this:

Hooray!!! Look at my pink hair! I love my girl.



What I'd really like to do with this project is start a better pattern of using imaginations more and screens less, so I'm not sure how long I'm going to make this go-- seven days or five?  Should I make this a regular occurence?  Every few months rather than once a lifetime?

 I want my kids to be able to fill time on thier own, without relying on electronic devices. This is much easier in the  warm weather months, they are great at playing outside, and immediately lapse into thier own imaginary world when riding bikes or playing in a pool.  But during the winter, they were helpless to figure out something to do.  My goal is to have days like today, when Will asked if he had time to play legos after dinner.

My mom suggested doing some sort of reward.  I'm considering it, like a new Lego set for Will, and  some new thing for Care.  I don't want to treat no tv as a hardship that needs a reward, but I think rewarding them with something that encourages imagination rather than zombielike staring at a screen adds to the point rather than subtracts.

Now that I am writing this on day two, I want to add that Caroline built this:

It's a city, built out of assorted girl stuff.

Just this morning, she's given her dollies a bath, is coloring at the table and hasn't asked for tv once. I think just knowing it's not an option really makes a big difference.

I also want to note that my kids generally do alot of playing and art and building, it's just that this is more production than is usual.

Crap, it starts today

Shit and Hell.  TVfree week begins today at my house.  Better switch off the tube and shut down this computer before the kids' dad drops them off at 8 this morning.

I am really unprepared for this. My children are going to be VERY angry with me.

I also need to get to the library, I've got nothing to read.

Sayonara Boob Tube!

Around my house we watch a fair amount of television. Much of it is fairly innocuous children's programming,  but some of it is SpongeBob and recently we have picked up a few less nice shows on Cartoon Network- Ick.   Also, I bought Will Lego Star Wars for his Nintendo DSi, and he loves it which is sort of good, but he is obsessed with it. He wants to play every minute, and  since the game's arrival, I have seen a marked decline in his behavior. He whines and threatens, and acts annoying about a stupid black plastic box.

Luckily, today a new issue of Tessy and Tab , a fun little magazine for kids, arrived in the mail.  In it, Tessy and Tab participate in Screen Free Week.  A week with no tv, video games or computer. "National Screen Free Week" is April 19-25, but I think I'm doing it  the week of April 26th. I don't think the  Screen Free gods will mind. I'd also seen this in an Arthur episode a few years ago, and I thought it was a good idea but was really too much of a disaster to buckle down and turn off the tube.

I'm confident that I can easily get my own tv habit under control, I keep it off in the evenings once in a while, and if there's nothing on, I turn it off. I also don't watch anything for myself during the day. On the flip side, my kids watch TV for probably about 2 hours a day weekdays and possibly more on weekends.  They really like tv. It makes me a little sick to think about it actually, the brain cells that are collapsing as they stare zombie-like at the gentle flicker. Hmm,  I don't think tv's really flicker any more.

Because this idea came into our lives at a moment when screens seem to be  negatively influencing behavior, and because I like to do things that are a little hard and not that fun, we are participating.   I'm sort of on the fence about whether I will allow myself to turn on my computer at night to check e-mail and weather.  Will is very concerned about finding out the weather report, and this way I can convince him that I am magic and psychic.  Also, blogging could probably be allowed as it is creative writing.  I'll think about these issues....

I bet I get a lot of reading and knitting done. Plus maybe some good game time, puzzles, library trips and probably some yelling.

I invite you to participate, and if not, at least  to review your own television habits.

A Plea. Plus Picture!

Now that I have a camera again, here's a picture of Patch. Handsome, No?

I think I'm out of reading material at my house.  Have any good suggestions?

Also, please note that every blog post title in April has an exclamation point.  Hmm.  I think I may need to revisit my punctuation policy.

Born to Run... Yahoo!

I come from a family of great readers and athletes.   People in my family are runners, cyclists, surfers, etc.  Also, my parents read, my grandparents read. Everyone reads. Best of all, my brother, sister, her husband and I all  have a loosey-goosey tradition of reading and passing around various books. And at the moment, we are all also in a running/swimming/biking kick. It's really fun.

 In the past, we have all read David Copperfield, East of Eden, The Caine Mutiny, Life of Pi and a few others I can't think of right now. I like to think of it as a very exclusive book club.Usually one of us reads a book then pressures a sibling to read it.  Then the other sibling catches wind that the other two (three, including my brother-in-law) have read something and picks it up to see what all the fuss is about.  Sometimes this is a process that takes a few years, for instance, my sister has yet to read War and Peace.  

Our current hot book is Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.  This book now holds a special place in my sister's heart because she is the one who "discovered" it, gave it to my brother for Christmas and then he loved it and passed it to me.  I had heard both of them talk about it but frankly ignored them.

Honestly, I kind of thought they were bonkers.  I run, and  I even just read another really good book about running (What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by  Haruki Murakami )  But I didn't immediately pick this one up.  My brother brought the book over on a recent Sunday and then asked me every day whether I had read it yet. 

I had finished up Emma, and didn't have anything else particularly pressing on my nightstand, and I was already in bed, so kind of by default, and with an eye roll, I picked up Born to Run.  It immediately hooks you with an account of a search for a sort of mystical/crazy runner living in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico, moves through McDougall's own quest to figure out why he had so many running injuries, and skips along from there. It is well paced, informative,  and interesting enough to keep me up all night.

At the same time as he changed his own life by becoming a long distance runner, McDougall produced a well woven narrative about the build-up, planning and execution of a 50 mile footrace in crazy mountain terrain with personal stories, training advice, running history and philosophy,  as well as anthropology and finishes up with a book that could quite literally change your life.  

If you are inclined to be saved by exercise, back to the earth eating and running barefoot, that is.  

Suffice it to say, I stayed up reading this damn book until two in the morning, ran a few barefoot laps around my local park and ate a baked potato for dinner tonight.   

Go Team Why Mommy!

I am blogging for Susan today. she is a very dear friend of Stimey, a friendly aquaintance of mine, a terrific mom and blogger, and a scientist.  Today Susan is having surgery to battle the cancer she has been fighting for several years now, and Stimey has asked bloggers to write a post about science and our children to honor Susan.

                                         We staged these photos. What an actress.

Yesterday, Caroline fell asleep on the couch, and I had some time alone with Will. A very rare occurence, so I suggested we make granola bars.  He was excited and we moved into the kitchen to begin the process.  As we proceeded, I realized we were out of Karo syrup.  I checked and re-checked all the cabinets, cursing all the while.  Finally, instead of giving up, I decided to substitute honey for the Karo syrup.  We discussed what we needed to hold the dry bits of the granola bars together-- sticky things, peanut butter, a sugar solution, fats, and that the syrup and the honey could be substituted as they were both sugar solutions.

We needed to add three cups of oats the the mixture, and the one cup measure was all sticky from the wet ingredients, so I decided to add a little math lesson in and learn fractions. There's math in science-- right?

How many halfs are in a whole Will?"  I asked.

"I dunno."  He shrugged.

"Two. Right? One half, and another half make a whole. This cup is  a half cup, so two of those makes one whole cup. We need three cups, so we need two half cups three times. Six scoops."

Blank stare. He didn't care.  He wanted to scoop oats.

                                      (Note the finished granola bars and the attractive sneer).

I counted "One half. Scoop again. Level it...  dump. And another half. Level, dump. One cup.   See-- those two scoops are the same as one scoop of the one cup measure.  Let's go again..."

We then added the coconut, sunflower seeds and mini chips. Then baked the granola bars.  They are yum.

Did Will learn math yesterday, or chemistry?  Maybe, maybe not. But the words washed over his brain. I laid a foundation, as I try to do every day. Layering knowledge as it were.   Did he learn any fundamental baking truths? No.  But we had a really nice ten minutes together.

Susan, as we made those bars, and I spent time with my son, teaching him life skills, I thought of you.  I thought of the wonderful mother I know you to be, and how precious the time you spend with your boys is.  I know how mindfully you live your life.  I honor you, and try to follow the fine example you set.

Cat Watch! and More!

The cat leaves my room a little! Hooray. It turns out I'm not a fan of cat hair. Or having a cat box IN MY BEDROOM. The cat has also been wormed and had his toenails clipped.

Patch was pretty shy at first, and wouldn't leave my room. He was social in there, but happy to stay confined. Last night though, he hung out with me and was VERY interested in Life on Discovery Channel. I think he's going to be a good cat. Busy, but good.

Have I been reading? Nah, not alot. I finished Emma. It was lovely.

I also just made a really fun Amazon order for my family. If you know me, you know how rare this is. Will got Lego Star Wars for his Nintendo DSi. I got Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-Mc Phee. and Caroline got... The Princess and the Frog! Best movie ever. We love it.

Today is going to be a new stuff and Easter egg dyeing day-- always a good day.

Back to Knitting Rules!, I sort of think of Ms. Pearl-McPhee as a sort of sassier, knitting Laurie Colwin. She writes funny and or poignant essays about knitting and all things wool, as well as a very popular blog. This book, published in 2006 has lots of basic knitting information as well as some good recipes for a hats, socks, sweaters. I hope it will turn into a reference book for things like sock sizing and fixing other problems like that..