Great TV Purge Check In

Today marks day 28 of the Great TV Purge.  I thought it would be harder.  I've considered getting rid of the TV for years and always changed my mind because it seemed too difficult.  I figured I would miss my favorite shows.  While I've never been a big TV watcher, I did have a few shows that I really enjoyed and faithfully followed.  I haven't even really missed them.  My kids haven't asked me to watch TV in weeks.  They do ask to watch Netflix which is approved in small doses.  I've also checked out two educational DVDs from the library which they have also watched (one on butterflies to wrap up learning about a butterfly's life cycle and one on the first settlers in America to go along with learning about Thanksgiving).

What have I learned over the past month through this experiment?  First, we can live without a TV.  Second, there is a lot less begging, whining, fighting, crying, and complaining when the TV is off.  Begging for stuff they've seen advertised, begging to watch TV, fighting over what they watch, fighting in general, crying because they want to watch something else, crying because I say they can't watch TV, complaining that their sibling is sitting in their favorite spot on the couch, and complaining that they are bored because they can't watch TV and thus don't know what to do with themselves.

Now they play with blocks.  They play with legos.  My girls played with those tiny little legos for the first time last week and then asked if they could get some of their own since they are Dave's.  They read.  Every time I turn around I see a child on the couch with a book in their hands.  I check out oodles of books for them every week.  When I go to read a book out loud to my kids, they all say, "We've already read that book."  They invent games.  They draw and write stories.  My house is overrun with art projects.  They dance around.  They play outside.  They don't complain about being bored anymore.  I may just make the Great TV Purge permanent even after all the Christmas commercials are over.

But for sure, the greatest and best change that going TV free has done is bring us closer as a family.  We just hang out more together than before.  At the end of the day when I pick my kids up from school, they tell me that they missed me, that they missed Joy.  Joy tells big brother and sister that she missed them.  They are becoming better friends because they've been left with the choice of either being bored or finding something to do together.  I have always thought we were already a close family until this past month when we've become even closer.  Sometimes maybe a little too close:)