Our whole family loves the Berenstain Bears books. Besides having great illustrations and lovable characters, the Berenstain Bears books are very good at dealing with "important issues" in a clear, thoughtful way...without every becoming condescending or overly preachy! They strike a perfect balance of entertainment, folksy wisdom, and loving parental advice & support. They were a favorite of mine growing up, and I'm so happy my kids have joined me in loving these stories.
In the book pictured above, Mama Bear gets worried that the rest of the family is too hooked on the television, at the expense of valuable family time. So one night, Mama announces to her couch-potato family that they will all forgo television for one whole week. Despite the family's initial protestations, everything works out swimmingly (it IS a kid's book after all); the family takes more nature walks, does more family activities together, and finds that they don't need to watch so much TV after all. It's a short, simple, yet effective reminder that it's important to balance our television viewing with other family & personal activities.
Thus, it was time for life to imitate reality! Lately, I'd begun feeling a lot like Mama Bear, worrying about my kids spending hours on end in front of the TV each day, wasting precious daytime hours watching shallow, pointless programs. I was however, a bit embarrassed that Mama Bear ended up being the moral compass of my own family in this matter...I should have proposed something like this sooner!
Even with Lorelai's enthusiasm backing me up, I'm ashamed to say I allowed the rest of the family to "cheat" a little. Since my two youngest still can't read, I exempted them from total participation. However, I did heavily cut down their TV watching that week, and they were required to turn off the television whenever Lorelai came home from school (or whenever Nathan and I were in the room). Nathan and I also didn't go on a complete "technology blackout": we still spent large portions of the day on the computer, and we even played some computer games during that time (although Nathan did cut down his game time a significant amount). Also, I tried to consciously avoid watching YouTube clips or any other video on the computer for the week. The goal was "as few moving pictures as possible."
So...how did everything go?
Overall, I'd give us a "B/B+" grade for the week. Lorelai was a real trooper, but the first two days of the no-TV week were a Saturday and a Sunday...it was very hard for her to resist turning on the TV, and she loudly complained of boredom to anyone who would listen. We tried to help out by playing a board game or two, reminding her to practice the piano, and giving her chores. She also escaped outside on her bicycle a few times. Luckily she had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday (and had church on Sunday), which helped break up the days a little. Celeste & Aurora "cheated" by watching a short program when Lorelai was at the party; Nathan and I excused ourselves from the room for that.
The rest of the week wasn't nearly so hard; school hadn't gotten out yet, so she was kept away from temptation most of the time. However, the school itself ended up playing spoiler to her resolve; on Tuesday, she watched part of a movie in class! She felt pretty bad about it, but I told her it "didn't count" because, school. I hope she accepted this answer! At home, she often told me she wanted to play video games (which I'd given her limited permission to do), but she rarely followed this up. In fact, I can't remember her playing the Wii once that week, and she only checked a few small things on the computer. She never stayed in front of the computer for long. It was nice to see her "electronic resistance" increase throughout the week.
Lorelai also got more into her personal reading than usual. In my opinion, this is always a good thing. She even spent an afternoon or two reading stories to her little sisters...
As for Nathan and myself, the "no-TV" week didn't turn out to be much of a stretch. The first day or so was a little hard, but we quickly got into the groove. It helps that we both enjoy reading so much, and that we had our lovely glowing computer/mobile device screens to keep us company. I think that for Nathan and I to really grow and sacrifice, we'll have to turn off the computer and put down the tablet and smartphones as well as leave the TV dark. Well, maybe not all the way off...maybe we could only check our Facebook for emergencies...or just check our e-mail one time...or...well...yeah, we have a bit of a problem. But television? Apparently, we can live without it just fine.
I feel like Mama Bear at the end of our Berenstain Bears book. When asked why she "didn't like" television, Mama Bear responded [paraphrasing here], "I like television just fine! But it's the amount of television that I want to be careful about." I really enjoy television, and there are many television shows I love to watch. However, I think I am past the point where I want to "binge-watch" television; I don't have the time to sit and watch for hours on end, because my mind and body begin screaming at me to do something else. This is an equilibrium I hope I can hold onto for the future!
Lorelai's no-TV week ended on a Friday night, when she spent the evening at a friend's house while Nathan and I went out to a movie (thus ending our no-TV week as well!). When we picked her up after the movie, Lorelai looked down--a little embarrassed--and said, "Mom, I watched TV tonight." She actually felt guilty for ending her no-TV streak a little early (technically, she had started her week the last Saturday morning, so she ended a night early). While I reassured her that she did fine and applauded her effort, I was also secretly pleased that my daughter is automatically questioning whether or not she should be watching television. That's a self-consciousness I want her to maintain throughout her life...it's good to keep a balance!
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