We have not had a TV for about 4 years now–we never had cable, and when the broadcast TV service switched from analog to digital, we never made the switch. (We did get a converter box, but for some reason it did not work…could have been my and my husband’s lack of mechanical expertise, could have been patchy service…either way, it didn’t work!) We haven’t missed it much–I would have liked to watch the Olympics last summer, but that’s about the only time I’ve missed our television.
This is not to say that we do not watch TV. We have a Netflix subscription, a decently large collection of DVDs, and we make use of Hulu, PBS, and other network sites to watch TV. We also check out DVDs from our public library and my husband’s university library. In general, I allow my kids to watch about a half an hour of TV a day, and I watch about 5 hours a week, between watching films and watching TV series. It is probably too much.
Taking time off from TV was my husband’s idea, and he proposed a month. It was a good idea, but I did not think I could go that long. So we are starting with a week. I hope that after this week, we can adjust our schedule so that we are not watching something every day. The hardest parts of this for me will be a) managing the after naps/before dinner crazy time of day, which is normal TV watching time and b) cutting out my own watching, which usually happens during the end-of-the-day collapse after the kids are in bed.
We are only on day one, so we will see how it goes. Today, we have the help of good weather–we’ve already visited a new-to-us city park with a pretty fun playground, and will head outside again after naps for a little bit. We also have playtime with friends scheduled for tomorrow and Friday, so those will also help.
I should note that this will not actually be a full week. We are attending a wedding on Saturday without children, and I do not believe in leaving a babysitter without the option of TV time.
Here we go!
Small Things 