23 Apr 2008
In addition to his normal assignments this week, my son -- a first grader -- had to list three things he'd be doing in observance of TV Turnoff Week.
In his composition book, he dutifully wrote:
do my homework
ride my bike
play ball
Truth is, he'd have been doing these things anyway.
A few years ago, our family decided to make every week a TV Turnoff Week. In our house, the rules are simple: no TV on weekdays, but a little screen time on Saturday is fine. Of course, what ends up happening is that our weekends become so busy with soccer games and ballet classes... with school events and family visits... with hiking and biking and good old-fashioned outdoor playtime that nobody really seems to notice or care that we've never even turned on the TV. And on the days that we do -- well, cozying up on the sofa for a family movie sure isn't the worst way to spend a Saturday evening, is it?
Give it a try -- you might find that the less you watch, the less you'll miss it at all. And for those absolute necessities (like, in our family, an addiction to "Lost" or a predeliction for New York Mets baseball games) nothing beats a DVR or TiVo for a little commercial-free viewing after little ones have gone to sleep. (Shhh!)
To me, it's really all just a reminder of how important it is to model the behaviors we hope to see in our children, and of how the things you choose to do together with your children are given an extra measure of power. Here's hoping that spending outdoor time together is one of them!
| This year's TV Turnoff Week runs from April 21 - 27. For more information, visit the Center for Screen Time Awareness at http://www.screentime.org |
