Well, yesterday I had a perfectly hellish evening with my seven year old. I know she is addicted to TV, but I have ignored it for a while. TV wasn’t always the problem it is today. She didn’t watch any TV until she turned three. Then she watched Sesame Street, Caillou and Blues Clues. When she went gluten free at five and a half I wanted her to feel like a regular kid and I loosened up on the TV watching. Because of the type of kid she is and in order to compensate for the fact that she had to be gluten free, I didn’t put any huge limits on her TV watching over the last two years. I figured there were a ton of limits on what she could eat, so I would put less limits on her TV watching.
At the beginning of the school year she got an alarm clock as a gift and began setting her alarm clock so she could wake up at 5:30 and do her homework and watch TV. Because I am not a morning person, I thought it was not such a terrible quality that she could actually wake herself up, do her homework and then plant herself in front of the TV before I even opened my eyes. But as the school year has progressed the TV watching became a problem and yesterday after a screaming fight I took away the TV.
Well, it certainly is amazing how much you can get done when you turn off the TV. We made lemon squares and painted this morning before I took her to school at 8 am and had more quality time together than I can remember. I am planning on turning TV off for a month. (I did say she could watch while her grandparents took care of her this weekend– which has kept her from losing her mind.) Maybe after a month of no TV she can watch on weekends. But really, life is too short and why not take one more step toward having a healthier family.
Betsy - I am having to crack down on this right now. We are done with our homeschool for the year and have more time on our hands. The boys would love to fill the time watching Disney shows they have seen dozens of time. No more of that.