Day 3 of the"Experiment"

For awhile now Mark and I have been talking about all the TV watching, video game playing, and computer usage that go on in this house. It is basically a constant thing. A family in our ward recently got rid of their TVs, their XBox-everything! The mom said she was tired of her kids leaving her to spend time doing those things. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually don't mind my kids leaving me alone once in awhile ;) and I am by no means a television hater...I love my Lie to Me, my American Idol, and about a dozen more shows I could mention. HOWEVER, Mark and I wondered if limiting this stuff would make a difference in how our kids interact, how they talk to us, and how the general "feel" of our home would be.

We have tried the "each of you can pick one TV show per day and one video game, etc..." But, that always ends up in everyone watching everyone else's shows which results in watching more than we had envisioned. SO, on Sunday night we had a family meeting and asked the kids to raise their hands if they like TV....duh :) if they like video games, etc. Then to raise their hand if they thought Heavenly Father liked them...Mark and I were the only ones to raise our hands :) Then we talked about what happens when we have too much of a good thing-brownies, peanut butter bars, etc. Sam put it so well, "Too much of anything can make you sick!" So as a family we decided to have four days a week where we don't watch any TV, play any video games, or get on the computer, and three days when we can. They decided to have Sun-Wed be "NO" days, and Thurs-Sat be "YES" days.

So far, mind you it has only been three days :), the results have been very interesting, and very encouraging! On Monday we heard a few complaints, but not many. Sam actually asked me to write down some math problems for him so he could "get smarter", and he memorized a new song on the piano! Devin accidentally got on the computer-habit, I guess :), but caught himself. He definitely spent more time talking to us than he usually does.

Yesterday Sam was really upset that he couldn't watch Ruff-Ruffman, but he didn't tell me that until I went down to his room to find out what was wrong. He said he had a headache from our "dumb rule". During dinner I could tell he really DID have a headache, so we gave him some medicine and he started feeling better. I really think he may be a TV addict...don't addicts get headaches when coming off of caffeine, drugs, etc.? Scary! Sam definitely watched too many movies and too much TV. Anywho- after dinner no one had anywhere they had to be, so we all hung out in the living room and actually talked! Mark played Jenga with the boys and then they went and ran at the Community Center. When they got home Devin and Sam each had one of Devin's Zune earphones in and they were singing together. It was hilarious.

Even though I know the boys are looking forward to tomorrow, I really think this "experiment" is going to be a great thing for our family. Even though there have still been "moments" I can see the difference in the way our home feels and the way the boys interact. I ultimately hope the boys get into the habit of finding other things to do besides watching TV and all that.

Now I'm not saying anyone else "SHOULD" do this ;)-but, so far, it has been a great thing for us!!