Tonight was the night that I had had enough. The TV, the computers, the gaming systems had been on all day long and I just couldn't take it anymore. This actually is pretty normal in our house and I'm to the point where it has to change. But I know that with my son it is going to take baby steps. So after dinner tonight I told him that there would be no TV or "screens" on for 30 minutes. You should have seen the look on his face and the reaction that I got. You can only imagine the comebacks that I got after announcing that.
He promptly sat himself down at the computer. I said, "no", it's a screen. He then asked me if he could play Wii with me and get some exercise, I said "no, it's a screen". But you have to admit that he was trying hard on that one. So he sat for a few moments with a sour look on his face in one of our chairs in the living room and I could tell he was trying to think of something. He even asked if he could at least play his DS....again I said "no". I never raised my voice but I made it very clear that I would not say "yes" to him. I proceeded to clean up after dinner and he promptly marched in the kitchen and announced that, "but there is nothing to do!". I suggested that he could read a book, play with his legos, draw, write, read one of his magazines or play with any of his toys. But I don't want to do that was the response that I was given. I told him that he could just sit for awhile in the quiet.
Once I was done in the kitchen I got my book and headed to the living room only to find him reading one of his books on the living room floor. Trust me, I wanted to say something about what he was doing but I didn't. I just enjoyed the time. Then my phone rang. "But mom...it has a screen!" he quickly pointed out. I told him that yes it had a screen and that I would look to see who it was. If I felt as though it was someone that needed to talk to me than I would answer it but if not they could leave me a message and that I would check it after the 30 minutes were up. He did agree to that....WHEW! It was a text from a dear friend and once I saw who it was from I knew that it could wait.
Okay...only 5 more minutes to go....Okay, Sam, times up! He looks up at me from the floor and says, "Well that wasn't so bad". You can't imagine how that made me feel. I did something and he really didn't throw a fit about it and then said it wasn't that bad! I did tell him that this would be constant thing and that our (notice I did say "our") screen time had to go down. We would do at least 30 minutes a day, if not more, every day. And the biggest shocker for me was that he even waited awhile to turn the TV back on. It was time for "Wheel of Fortune" you see.
How about you? Have you found yourself with all of this technology around and realizing that it's just to much? I'd like to know.
So as the title of this post says....We'll just have to see how this goes.
3 comments:
We don't have screen time during the school week. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays are limited to an hour and a half (for ALL screens!). Of course, there are exceptions - like if we're watching a sports event or a movie. But once those are over, then it's times up. It works pretty good for us. The boys complain from time to time and I relent from time to time, but overall I don't have many problems.
It's also helped that Alex has finally learned to ride his bike without training wheels and I started to let him go outside without me. He loves that he can go outside on his own now and wants to do that every day!
One thought, though. Yes, phones have screens. But I don't consider a phone call or text message "screen time". (Unless you're texting all day, in which that's too much.) Any other use of the phone, yes, that's screen time. Just my 2 cents.
Well, my little ones are little yet so we have time to work out "screen time" for everyone. Right now, Alex gets a show in the morning, one before nap, and one before bed. They're each about 20-25 minutes long.
For my blog, I try to keep off the computer while my kids are both awake and in the main living area. There are times when Alex goes off to play with his train table and I grab the laptop. I guess it's just "adjust as you go" right?
We don't have "screen time" in our house. My kids are older and they need the computer to complete exams, papers and online research. They pretty much get off the tv, computer, gaming systems and such on their own throughout the day, so I don't have to tell them no.
But I wish you all the luck in the world with this and I don't know if I could incorporate this type of system in my house. I don't know if it would "fly".
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