The Week Without TV, Computer & Video Games

I know that most of you have had many sleepless nights wondering how our TV turnoff week has been. (ha ha) Although it did not last the full 7 days I am happy to say it was a success.

I am so impressed with my children. I had an idea to keep a journal to write down all the negative feelings/issues that came up as a result of not watching TV, not going on the computer, and not playing video games. I thought that maybe this would help me address them properly.

Well, I did not write down one word. There never was an issue. My kids were so on board with this idea they were actually being examples to me. I never heard one complaint the whole 5 days we participated.

We played more together as a family which was great. We talked more too. And most importantly all of their Webkinz were still happy and thriving.

Some may think that we quit two days early. I see it as having five days of total success. The week went so well that when the weekend came I decided to let the kids decide if they wanted to continue the challenge for the last two days. They decided they wanted to watch TV, so I let them.

I think I had a slightly harder time than my kids. I learned that I am definitely a Blogger over a Facebooker. I did not miss FB but I really missed checking every one's blogs and posting on my own. My blog is truly my journal and to have that taken away was tough.

Even not being able to watch TV was tougher than I thought it was going to be for me. That is my way of winding down at the end of a long day. I will usually watch one show about four nights a week before bed and not being able to even do that was hard. I am so thankful for my DVR that so graciously recorded my shows for me to catch up on this week. What would I have done without it?

These are some things I learned/remembered this week:

Silence is peaceful.
TV controls me more than I thought.
I am a competitive game player even with my kids.
Spending quality time with my children is vitally important.
I LOVE to read.
Cutting out less important things makes time for more important things.
The term "Everything In Moderation" doesn't only apply to food.

With the success of this past week I have decided to implement this challenge more often, maybe every quarter? I encourage everyone to try it. The results may surprise you.