So, the other day my kids watched way too much TV. And I realized, at the end of the day, that more and more planned TV time had crept into our schedule. So I decided drastic measures were needed. That night I said to the kids "Tomorrow we are not going to watch any TV. We're going to play together instead. Games, coloring, Play-Doh, reading books..." At which point Naomi and Asher both burst into tears. Horrible, painful, sobbing tears. Apparently I had just ripped our their hearts with my hand (we're watching the Indiana Jones trilogy in preparation for seeing the new one). That night I just changed the subject and moved on with life, hoping that it they would be a little more used to the idea by the next morning. Nope. We got up at 6:45 or so because Asher had been awake and screaming/playing/singing in his bed since 6:00. By 8:00 I had given up on the idea of "no TV" because Asher would do nothing but cry and my allotted patience for the day was already gone. So the day changed from "no TV" to "Minimal TV". They watched 1/2 hour in the morning, then Naomi watched one more 1/2 hour while the boys napped and that was all! No TV at all in the afternoon! And it was one of the best days I've had with the kids in a long time. Naomi and I spent a while coloring and cutting paper, I pushed the boys on the swings for longer than usual, I actually held Isaiah while he drank a bottle, we went out to dinner and I enjoyed the company of my kids, Naomi helped me with some of my "chores". It was really an unremarkably fabulous day.
I learned some important lessons and hope to keep some of that "less TV, more interaction with my kids" in the schedule from now on. I'm sure the TV will creep back up on me - but I'll just do a "no TV" day again. That's why blogging is great! Now I'll remember what to do!
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I don't think I've mentioned that Richard has a herniated disc in his back. So he's been in a lot of pain for the past month or so and has been working hard to take it easy (ironic, no?). He bought a laptop so he can work on the couch, a new work chair, and a new mattress topper to help his back feel better. I was not excited about the new mattress topper. We've had feather bed toppers before (in fact the latest one made it look like a chicken coop in our bedroom because the feathers were everywhere!) and they've been alright - comfy but not really great for the back. So this time Richard decided on memory foam. THICK memory foam. That stuff is weird! When I first climbed into bed I was sure it would be awful. It takes a minute for my body to settle down into it. But I have discovered that I sleep sooooo much better on it. Deeper and better. The kids keep scaring the crud out of me when they come into the room or cry in the night because I am so sound asleep that I start awake. The morning surprises me instead of it being something I am aware is coming. By morning, my body is a part of the bed. We are one. It's cruel to separate us. And while I'm glad that I'm sleeping so soundly - it's weird to be startled by the sun at 7am. But weird in an oh-so-fabulous kind of way.
6 comments:
I am SO guilty of the TV thing. I used to have a rule of 1 movie a day. Now, sometimes they watch 2 movies in the morning and one in the afternoon. I know, it's awful. And mostly lazy on my part. I guess it's hard to be addicted to blogging, and play with my kids.... (for me at least). This summer I will try to be more interactive, especially when Winter is home. Her and Sterling fight all day if I'm not right there supervising.
Awesome job on the no-TV day. I totally agree that it creeps up on you until one day you notice everyone is watching WAY too much! My problem is that one kid wants to watch one little PBS show, so I say fine. But then a second kid wants to watch something else, and a third kid...and of course they all end up watching the other kids' choices...
Apparently there's a device that sits on your TV where each child gets a pin/access number, and they have to type it in whenever they want to watch a show, and when their minutes are gone they can't watch anymore--so the TV does your policing for you and if everyone wants to watch their full week's worth of minutes in the first day so be it.
Nancy, I love the way you write!!! You need to write a book! I miss your guts so much and your wisdom in my life! Poor Richard, last year I was just about to get surgery because my herniated disk was SO bad. It was getting to the point I couldn't even stand up straight! I ended up extending physical therapy a little longer and got an epidural shot. My poor little back is SO good now! It's been a miracle. Tell him to keep up the taking it easy (which is SO hard to do) but most importantly not to sit for too long and get good sleep (your pimped bed sounds like the perfect thing!) and stretching!!! Ah, miss you guys! I didn't know you were making jewelry!!! SO awesome, I'm going to have to check this out!!!! Expect some purchases from very soon!
That bed sounds so comfy, I want to go take a nap...as for the tv thing, we don't really have tv--we have the screen so we can watch movies, but no tv connection. I guess we'll see how things go when my boy gets older, but we aren't missing it now.
I've never heard a review about the bed toppers - thanks!
I think I'm going to have to get one of those memory foam things...
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