Last month, September, we tried a television free month. The television spent a month at the bottom of our wardrobe upstairs but now in October, it has returned to the living room.
After our TV free time we discussed whether to have the television back. I was the only one who wanted to stay without so I was well and truly out-voted! My husband seemed to be the one who missed it most. He rarely reads and watching TV has always been his way of relaxing after work. The boys both read a lot and seemed to be able to fill their time but both wanted the television back although my eldest son is watching less.
I have to admit to being very disappointed that we brought it back. I don't watch much and had expected to enjoy being without the box. In reality it was even better than I expected. Not only did everyone have more time but our evening schedules did not revolve around programme timings. We spent longer over our evening meal and chatted a lot more during the rest of the evening. I had more help with the chores as no-one was rushing to watch a programme. I would have liked to extend the time so that everyone had a longer time to find other activities and get used to the quiet evenings but the deal was that we would have a vote at the end of the month and so that is what we did.
Maybe after a little while I'll see if everybody would be willing to try another month!
4 comments:
Hi Willow,
i think that it sounds like a really interesting family experiment. Since we have had the cats the tv is on less as the girls enjoy playing with them instead of switching on. I could so go without a telly but on occasions it is nice to enjoy a programme all together.. now i couldn't go without a computer but then again maybe i could... all these things are distractions and unless used in moderation can potentially affect our relationships and eat away at time which could be better spent actually doing things.. i think how your meal times and the sharing of chores became is very telling....
i do hope you can persuade them to try another month.
with love ginny x
What a great thing to try!
I bet you could persuade the family to do a couple of television free months a year.
I don't watch much television, but hte things I do watch I would find very hard to give up (Ugly Betty and Strictly Come Dancing basically!)
I know a couple who agreed not to have a tele for the first year of their married life, and eleven years on they still haven't got one.
I'm with you on the keeping it away, but I think it's terrific that your family was willing to go without for a month! And, maybe they will be willing to do it again sometime.
Hey, just think, atleast you only have one TV right? And it's in an area where you can always see what everone is watching.
My husband watches it constantly, more so for (thank goodness) educational stuff like PBS, History Channel, Discovery, etc. but I told him before we got married that there was only one rule- there will never ever be TV in the bedroom. :)
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