It's going on 5 years on being television free WOOHOO! There was also a couple years earlier in our marriage where we did not watch. When we moved into our first home (the other was a rental) we just decided cable wasn't something we wanted to spend the extra money on.
I need a disclaimer...I do not judge people that watch tv..I am not completely ANTI TV but for our family it just works.When we go to friends, family, hotels do we boycott their tv? nahhh! So far anything they are watching hasn't been stuff I do not want my child to see. I like to watch it a bit myself on rare occasion when it is there. But it is not my choice of leisure time activity for my family. I admit to watching LOST on netflix years ago...and House...
Not in any particular order but one reason that comes to mind is commercials. The lack of commercials I think has made it so my children are never " I want I want" with any gimicky toy..product. OK I am a prude too...some commercials are not what I want my child exposed to right now. "kid shows" my kids have seen a few of them but to me it seems like they take what should be a childrens show and make the topic about older teen situations. Hee hee my dd barely knows who Hannah Montana is...I like that. ;) At 8 she does not talk about boyfriends...makeup....dating. I like that...there is plenty of time for that when she IS a teen. Violence. Trust me my son does NOT need to see violent cartoons. He is a mirror of whatever he is exposed to and has an imagination that makes up enough stuff it shouldn't on it's own.
Now we do watch videos...but not much. Maybe 30min - 1hr a day. We have a ton at home...plus we check out from the library often. Redbox is also an awesome invention.;) We do have a Wii but sonny rarily (maybe once a week) plays it and Z a few times...but they only play when hubby is here as I just cannot get into it. (although it is fun when I do)
What DO we do for entertainment? We love to spend time outside. Hiking, walking and in the summer swimming...camping. My daughters favorite spot is in a tree with a book. Z and I love doing crafty stuff and I am trying to increase that this year. Oh and of course activities with our homeschool groups...but I'm finding we have too many this year. My vice...I admit though is the computer...so the time others are watching tv...I am surfing craft blogs. ;)
I feel the same about television. We don't watch it either. We do watch some videos, especially old movies. The kids spend a lot of time outdoors and 9 year old Emily loves to read a book up in a tree, too. We have a lot of simiarities.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful, inspirational blog.
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