To my surprise, we've received some criticism, shock, and very little support of our next big decision for our family. We've talked about it for years, but just now got the courage and the confirmation that it's a good idea. We're putting away our TV.
It was a compromise between turning off the cable and internet (gulp!), unplugging for the month of July, and keeping it all going. After reading that dang book and having all those discussions, we wanted a shift for our family. TV plays a large roll in our day to day life, mainly entertaining the kids when it is helpful or easy for us, and we want to see how things will change for us once we remove it.
We won't become one of those "everyone should throw away their TVs" people. Nope. We love TV and think there are a lot of positives to TV. There are so many things that Curious George has taught Burl, and some great movies have introduced him to adventure, life, and great stories. For John and me, we each grew up in families that watched a lot of TV, and we each had our own personal TV in our bedrooms. It's always been a part of our lives and we're not knocking it. We are saying, however, that kids don't have a lot of will power to turn it off and we, as adults, don't either. Temporary removal is the only solution for us. (Gulp.)
We're putting our huge hand-me-down box TV upstairs along with our Wii and DVD player. I'm taking it one day at a time, but John says we're putting it away for the whole summer. I'm sure that it will return, especially when new babies come along, so we're not turning into extremist. We told Burl about it and he got sad and asked, "no George?" Then, we explained all the fun stuff that we're going to do instead (wrestle, paint, play outside, ride the tractor, build forts, picnics). Both times we've explained this his mouth dropped, his face lit up, and he got so excited. We're onto something. #winning
We're putting the TV away tonight, so tomorrow morning I'll be frazzled and crazy and excited. Anytime that we talk about doing this, and even as I type this post, my heart races, I get short of breath, and one time, I swear, I felt the rush of adrenaline pump through my arms. I'm scared. Good gosh, what if my brother's right? What if this is the worst decision ever? It's only temporary. It's only TV. That's what I'll be chanting tomorrow.
To my local friends, if I develop a twitch or start slurring my speech, then please step in and tell me enough is enough. If I start being one of those "no TV" freaks that talks about how I just never have time to watch TV, then slap me. If I become awesome and start having grand fun and doing all those cool things that non-TV people do, then please, give me a high 5/hip shake/fist bump. This is going to be interesting.
Any advice or well wishes, or heck, even criticism, is welcome. Wish me luck.
