Unplugged - Day 1

When I approached our oldest, Will, with the idea of turning off the tv, I approached it from the positive stand point of, "Do you know what we get to do when the tv is off? Have special family time together!" His eyes lit up! "Does that mean we get to play trains together?" I told him, that yes, sometimes we will play trains. I was also quick on my feet enough to throw a few other suggestions at him (coloring, reading, etc). I also explained that we will all still have chores to do; however, the faster the chores are done the more special family time we'll have. He seemed pretty ok with that.

We've always had a family tradition of piling into the master bed in the morning. Jeff is usually able to leave for work around 7:45-ish so one by one boys are added to our bed. 6:45 Nathan 6:58 Witt 7:03 Will. Jeff and I drink coffee the two older boys get hot chocolate milk and we have conversation. (Will likes this word "conversation".)

As the time approaches for Jeff to start getting ready we all head to the living room (usually to turn cartoons on). Instead, the first thing out of Will's mouth is, "Want to have some special family time playing trains with me?" Sweet, yes. Practical, no. We do have to eat breakfast, get dressed brush our teeth, and put dirty laundry in the laundry room (Will's Thursday morning chore).

Jeff leaves for work after a round of kisses for everyone (again a regular family tradition at our house.) The rest of us eat breakfast at the table (not in front of PBS). Will brushes his teeth and then gets dressed with a little reminding from me. Looking at the clock, I realize his ride for school will be here shortly and decide to let him slide this morning on the laundry. We need to have that special family time I promised. So we all head to Will's room for some train time! We had at least 15 - 20 minutes together. It was nice.

Nathan at some point during the morning signs "sign" because he wants to watch "Signing Time". I tell him no, that the tv doesn't work today. Then he says "Blah". Blah is the name his has given a little lizard on one of his Baby Einstein videos that sticks out its tongue and says "Blah!". Again, no the tv doesn't work. He seems a bit confused, but I help him find some colors and a book. We had this conversation about 3 times this morning.

As for me, I am disgusted with the number of times I wanted to check my email and thought about turning on the tv. I've changed my game plan a bit in that I will be using one of my "checks" during the time I have both boys down for a nap. That way I am always available to them when they are awake. Makes better sense.

The true test of this will be this afternoon when Will returns and I have to cook supper. I think it will be fine though. I'll let you know tomorrow...