Screen-Free Week 2011

Last year was the first year the whole family participated in Screen-Free Week, also known as Turn Off the TV Week.  Toad can earn prizes at school for each day that he does not watch TV, play video games, or use the computer.  As we did last year, Birdy, Hammer Guy, and I are also participating.

This is Day Two, and so far so good, with a couple of exceptions:

• Birdy was home sick from school yesterday and she and Hammer Guy, who was also under the weather, rested in front of a movie.  
• Toad had some photos taken over the weekend and I showed him the slideshow.  
• Since HG and I are required to use computers for work, I do not consider time spent on the computer -- at least for us -- screen time.  I will not give up writing for Screen-Free Week; the computer and internet are my main tools for that part of my career.

Yesterday when Toad came home from school, he and Birdy played a ton of board games and Critters and read together.  Toad and I played a couple of cutthroat games of Go to the Dump (our version of Go Fish) before bed.  Today Toad got out his Star Wars Legos and played in the living room for two-and-a-half hours.  Birdy was so exhausted from her first day back at school (and she still isn't feeling 100%) so she was in bed by 6:30!  Tonight the boys are at Cub Scouts and I'm enjoying the quiet of the house to do some writing.

Turning off the TV is harder on the parents at our house than it is on the kids.  A house rule is that the kids don't watch TV on school nights, a rule that's been in place since Toad was in preschool.  Every now and then, we break that rule, especially on days after school that Toad is so bored and, since I work from home every afternoon, I am unable to satisfactorily keep him entertained.  Hammer Guy and I like to watch TV after the kids go to bed, so this week we'll be missing a few of our favorite shows.

I think it's important to limit screen time and monitor what kids are watching, what websites they are visiting, but I also think that you shouldn't go overboard.  Sure, Toad sees a lot of commercials for crap now that he's moved beyond PBS and Sprout, and yes, he tells me how cool everything is and how he wants this and he wants that, but obviously we're not going to buy him every single thing he sees and he gets that.  He gets excited about new episodes of his favorite shows, but he also gets excited about new books.  For months before its release, he told me how he couldn't wait for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.  Birdy doesn't watch as much TV as Toad does, and many times when we put in a movie for her, she gets bored before the end, but she has her favorites, too.

I think about my favorite TV shows from when I was a kid and I know that I benefited from watching them -- Electric Company, Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood from my early days, the Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Eight is Enough, and the Love Boat when I was older.  I remember sneaking Dallas and Falcon Crest when I would stay overnight at my sister's house.

As with most things in life, it's important to have balance.  We're turning off the TV this week, and maybe next week we won't watch quite as much as we did before.  Maybe we will.  We don't need a special week to remind us that we can do other things.  We play board games, ride bikes, go for walks, play Legos, color, read, read, read.  And every Friday night, we have a family movie night. And that's okay for us.