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.