O.k. three kiddos home 9, 5, 3 months.......and I am home too. What will our summer look like? Well, we have decided to make things interesting by quitting t.v. and I don't just mean we turned it off for a few hours during the day and we didn't just unplug the damn thing we really quit the t.v.! Their still in the house but we had the cable turned off and without the cable we have NO channels. This is an experiment in uncomplicating our lives ...step one KILL THE T.V. ok... so how did I get to step one?
It started at least a year ago or more Jasun and I watched the kids sucking some insane t.v. Disney Channel I think, and commented on the brain suck that was in our house. We actually covered them up with a blanket one summer and told the kids the t.v. was on vacation. But, the problem was the t.v. was still there so the kids would go into the "I have nothing to do" mode and beg and plead for a little t.v. and I am sure we gave in here and there. So Jas and I talked about getting rid of cable but then there is football season and motocross that Jasun liked to watch and what about HGTV for me and TLC and how could I live without CNN especially during the election. So, I talked myself out of it time and time again. I threatened the kids with the loss of t.v. when we would fight about it. "I'm going to get rid of the t.v. if you guys don't start listening to me when it is time to get off!" Blah, blah, blah.....I am sure that is what they really heard. So what happened?
Well, Araya came and with Araya came some crazy doctor bills! I was paying our cable/internet/phone bill and realized that combined with our cell phone bill we were paying over 300.00 a month for these luxuries (although a better word here is complications). It still didn't convince me that letting some of that go was necessary. I still needed an aha moment in order to let the cable go. Did I mention that I had called the cable company three times over the course of 6 months to find out what our options were and how much we would save? Crazy when I look back at that.
So, what was that aha moment? We decided to take the kids on a Mountain bike ride in the foothills, while the boys rode Araya and I hiked around, her in the front pack. During the hike I thought a lot about what we could do to uncomplicated our lives and the cable thing was gnawing away at me. Jett is still young enough but could Indy be saved? It wasn't just the brain suck of senseless t.v. and lost income,it was the constant stream of media influence and the giving up of our ourselves our family time, ...........that was it, it was gone! I made the call and on a Wednesday they came to take it away. Coincidentally it was like the universe was watching the struggle I was having and decided on the same day that the t.v. shut down the PlayStation would die too. Alright I thought, "here we go"........... What does our life look like now?
1. No whining about t.v. no struggle it is gone they know I can't do anything about it.
2. My house is thrashed from their toys.....but boy their imaginations are in full swing
3. We have had a bike ride every night with the kids
4. Indy actually wanted to help me plant the garden
5. Indy helped me organize our craft cupboard sorting through all the markers, pens etc.. it took him over an hour.
6. Indy has asked his dad to teach him how to play the guitar that he got for Christmas.
7. on a hike yesterday the boys wanted to go further and further....there was no whining no "I'm ready to go home's"
8. Indy asked if I would teach him how to cook.........he wanted to make us all lunch...weird!
9. Jett has been crafting every afternoon and both the boys have begun documenting their summer with a journal.
10. dinner outside every night...together....bike rides....together....reading.... together.
It is official, I thought I couldn't hate anything but I do hate the t.v. more now then I did before! As far as it coming back I can easily say NO WAY and I don't need an aha moment to figure it out. I have plenty of amazing moments everyday to remind me how much of a life suck it is! It makes me feel sorry for those families trapped into that mode. I know they are giving up so much. I think even if you try to convince yourself that your family doesn't watch that much of it like I did you will be amazed at the shift you will have when it is gone. The truth is when it is really gone yours and your kids brains will shift...we were a play outside family we rode bikes we crafted at night even with the t.v but it was different my kids were different doing it. KILL THE T.V. didn't that suggestion come in the early 80's and since then we have given it more, more channels, more of them in our homes, in our childrens rooms (shudder)!
I have never been happier at my decision to kill something!
