We have not watched TV for more than six months, not out of a statement against society or any overt religious injunction, but a simple desire to have a more meaningful marriage and family in the face of a busy life. M is frustrated with the poor programs, violence and commercialism. I simply quit watching because of lack of time. I can’t fold clothes or wash the dishes or cook while the TV is on. If I love a program, I have to sit and watch it until it ends, no interruptions — and my life is all about interruptions at home.
M came from a home literally saturated with TV for most of his childhood and adult life. The first time I went to his folks’ house to ‘meet the parents’, I was shocked at how they eat dinner without looking or talking to each other, instead, all eyes were fixed in their television set near the dining table. Everyone would occassionally fight for the remote control. I was left out and appalingly disgusted with that way of life.
When I was growing up, TV time is limited to Friday evenings and Saturdays. Weekday TV viewing ends once the 6 o’clock news is over in an hour. That was at least until my father got more lenient with the house rules and just ‘let go’. The endpoint, children born during that ‘dark times without TV’ are more directed to reading books and saving on appliance budget. I and two younger brothers can live without TV, one brother independently living in Tokyo do not own a TV set.
Before M and I decided to turn it completely off, I was debating the fact that as a pre-schooler, the time Pristine spends watching Sesame Street, Thomas the Train and Barney was helping her learning process. But at what point do we cross the line of offering our children an alternative learning opportunity to using the ‘idiot box’ as an electronic baby sitter? Using TV as a device with which parents are abnegating their duty to interact one-to-one with their child is not uncommon. Many parents admit to using the children’s love of television to their advantage. It keeps children busy, it helps parents stay longer in bed on weekends. I plead guilty and promised we’ll do something about it last year.
Would you believe American children and adolescents spend 22-28 hours per week viewing television? That’s three to four hours a day! Don’t you think children should be passing this time interacting in other healthier activities?
Our family is faring well without the television. I admit, I missed watching dramas and the Olympics but religiously followed the events by reading the newspaper. I see no problem with news video feeds, too.
Our three year old is at home now for two weeks until Summer term starts on the 22nd. There is a lot of free time where a variety of recreational activities we planned for her last week by M and me. Reading is at the top of the list, going to the nearest park, doing fantasy play, drawing, sketching, taking pictures (she is very adept with the digital camera), playing I-Spy, regular taking care of our pet rabbits and some simple chores (she loves to wash her own unbreakable plates after eating!).
A TV free home means our full attention to our daughter as she relies on us for company all throughout the day. At first, the idea frightened me. How am I going to keep her entertained all by myself? It was not an easy job. She had withdrawal symptoms as she is used to watching her early morning Japanese version of Sesame-street like shows everyday when she wakes up. I tried to shorten the viewing time to 5 minutes per day for a week. Then replaced tv viewing with taking a stroll around the neighborhood, collecting dried autum leaves, picking up peculiar stones or just simply going out to see the cloud formations for the day. It eventually worked and she looked forward to the morning walks and the storytelling every night.
It was hard having to say no to every turn-on-the-TV request at our previous home, with the TV sitting in its mighty glory in the living room. Gladly, relocation paved way for a much easier task of doing away the set completely. Though we are currently buying furnitures to fill our flat, the agenda of buying TV is never there.
So, one obvious question to be raised would be if parents who choose a TV-free home do not feel that their children are missing out on something without the boob tube — The vast majority of responses by parents who turned it off is NO, TV watching families are the ones who are missing out…on life.
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aha! first to comment! A first!
Yes, I also just heard of the news yesterday regarding American kids watching TV 5 hours a day on average. On average, meaning to get the average, others are watching way more than 5 hours!
I get scary because I could sit in front of the cursed box for a whole day! I am terrible.
So I also surround myself with books and audio interviews by Jack Canfield, Robert Kiyosaki and the likes to counteract my soiled TV mind. I hope it works!
Keep entries coming!
Amen to the article… it’s so true that commercialism abounds on tv- primetime or otherwise. I want danielle to grow up not relying on television. Although I let her watch educational videos ( and I planned on buying more brainy babies and barneys)- I promise to keep it at bay. Just enough for her to learn with the rest of her time interacting with me.
Kudos to the way you raise pristine- I really really like the idea of letting danielle learn household chores at an early age. Imagine, pristine is washing her own dishes at three!
I would also copy your reading her bedtime stories. I read to danielle too even if she doesn’t understand yet. She would “read” and stare at the pages of her story booklets, even turn to the next page by pushing the pages- but after 5 minutes, she would begin eating the pages. Yes, literally!
TO pristine, she’s lucky to have you as a mom. Let’s raise well-rounded kids!
I give you credit. I don’t think our family could last one day without the television. Well, maybe one day but definitely not two.
nice parenting tip.
thanks!
Good for you. I limit the amount of TV my kids watch. They are not allowed kids TV at all during the week. They may watch sport or animal programs although they mostly only do that over weekends. It’s not easy to put that TV off completely…my husband would never survive lol
Very nice indeed! I was also raised the way you and your siblings were brought up. TV time during weekdays are limited to just about an hour after doing homeworks. Definitely no TV after dinner. When our old one broke down, my father refused to buy a new one for years.
this one’s a nice point. well-said!
Hi—interesting post! Many parents I am friendly with do use the TV as a “baby sitter” while they take a break from the kids.
My 3 1/2 y.o. daughter watches 1/2 hour of TV a week. We never started the TV as “teaching” tool, so she doesn’t look to it for learning something. She would rather read to herself.
For me, the violence as entertainment and the insistent marketing of so many unneccessary things, gives me reason to limit it at this stage.
Thanks for the thoughtful post!
I could easily live without the TV, however, my hubby and children could not. Sometimes I just want to throw the thing out! Sometimes I think that the TV is the curse of our generation! So what we do is try to limit the viewing, but sometimes it’s just hard to do….
I have a personal perrogative about the tv – a hideously, unnecessary appliance that is anti-social and noisy. I hardly watch programmes on the tv and my daughter hardly watches the tv (but when the dad is with her, he sometimes let her watch for at most half an hour). I personally find programmes tend to be violent and we are not sure what is going to be shown next that will corrupt or scare the young mind. When I was teaching, I met a most lovely boy who can’t read or write or focus for too long because his parents admit that he was placed in front of the tv all the time to be entertained from young. A lot of time and hard work was put into helping him to learn the skills which was lost to tv. I agree that too much time on tv = missing out on life! Thanks for sharing!
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