Our family reluctantly decided to give up TV for 1 month. This is part 2 of the story.
For this family experiment, the rules were simple: we would watch no TV shows, no movies, no Netflix, no nothing for 1 month (Feb 2012). We all love TV and watch several hours daily, so this was a big change. Leading up to the start date, we all binged on more TV, like someone stuffing themselves on chocolate before giving it up for Lent.
The first morning was pretty quiet. It was a school day, so the kids did not have much time to watch TV anyway. Our TV-fast was the talk of the morning. Several times someone would remind, “Remember, no TV.” One of the kids would respond, “Why are we doing this again?” When the kids returned from school, they seemed to be accepting the experiment. One of the boys sat down and grabbed the remote before contently and resolutely proclaiming, “oh yeah, we’re not watching TV.” The afternoon was quiet. It was spent reading books and playing outside. No one, well at least none of the kids, threw a fit or complained about the TV ban. In fact, for over an hour after dinner, during a prime TV time, the kids put on a wrestling match while we sat watching and laughing. It really was a fun, relaxing family moment that for some reason doesn’t happen for us with the TV on.
After the kids went to bed, Kara and I reflected on our newly initiated experiment. We wondered about how our month would be different from previous, and developed a list of hypotheses, which we tracked throughout the process:
- We will all get more sleep. We often stay awake to watch TV, and with it off, we’re free to just drift off to sleep.
- I (Matt, the dad), will do more chores around the house – if nothing else just out of shear boredom.
- This was kind’ve vague, but we predicted that we would feel more productive and less apathetic overall.
- As a result of the above three, we (the parents) predicted that we would spend more quality, loving time together and subsequently our intimacy would increase. We’ll see…
The Kids
If you’re a parent of young kids like we are, you might be saying, “My kids would throw and ever-loving fit if I banned TV.” We thought the same – but were very surprised by how well the accepted and adjusted to the experiment. In fact, only once, on day 3 did our oldest son really complain about missing TV – “It’s not fair…I didn’t even do anything wrong.” He was quite angry, but his frustration didn’t last as long as a Pokemon episode. Even on Saturday morning, which at our house is a cathedral of anime cartoons (two TVs and an iPad), no one even asked to watch a show. It’s weird how they’re taking to this experiment. The kids all woke up shockingly early for some reason. It would have been great to throw on the automatic babysitter – Saturday morning cartoons.
This is what I miss about TV so far – not the shows or the content, but the way in which we used it as a tool to pass time. When the kids are restless and we’re trying to cook dinner, the TV makes a very useful babysitter. When it’s late at night and we’re not quite ready for bed, it’s great to just zone out in front of the TV. When I really need to be doing something, like mowing the yard or gathering my tax documents, the TV is a perfect excuse to put stuff off till “a little later.”
We spent the Saturday afternoon taking naps (Kara has napped almost every day), and the boys played with their beloved Legos, that often get tossed aside to watch a show. That afternoon it was pouring rain. NOLA style. Instead of the kids plopped in front of the TV watching another show, they played board games and puzzles with 3 friends. Nobody has even mentioned TV. That’s really pretty cool. We seem to miss it more than they do…
On school mornings we don’t generally watch TV as it’s too distracting for everyone as we’re trying to get ready, eat, and get out of the door. Our family almost always has breakfast together and this is a dear time of sharing and encouragement. Online, I did update myself on the SuperBowl outcome and English soccer scores (go City1). I spent five minutes tops versus the hours I would have spent watching contests I didn’t really care much about.
It’s weird. We’re spending a lot more time together as a family, reading, playing games, discussing stuff, and playing with friends and with our toys.
Sound nice? It is.
