Unplugged Again

A few years back we got rid of our t.v. We didn't actually get rid of the t.v. itself, we just got rid of basic cable (we had already dropped enhanced cable a few years before that). I wrote posts on the initial "unplugging" here, here and here.

We unplugged again a few weeks ago. The day we brought Isaac home from the hospital, Matt ordered Netflix live streaming. It was really nice to have. Then the kids got wind of how the whole process worked. It didn't take long until viewing episodes of Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show and every John Wayne move ever made became the afternoon activity of choice. After that, the little kids caught on to the fact that Super Why, Dora or Diego where only a click of the mouse away.

I got in the bad habit of putting the littles in front of the computer screen when I was busy helping the bigger kids with school work or I was involved in some sort of project. While our rules of no magic or witchcraft allowed were adhered to for the most part, I didn't watch every episode of every program my kids watched, so I was never completely sure the kids weren't viewing unacceptable material (and believe me, I don't think Dora and Diego are acceptable material). My own standards (and Matt's) of what was acceptable for the kids to watch were being compromised for the sake of convenience.

Matt, Grace and I began to notice behavior which we did not like in the kids. Less obedience, more bickering, complaining attitudes, less imaginative play. So Matt and I decided to get rid of the live streaming. I expected the first few weeks to be a major withdrawal time. I was certain I would hear, "How come we can't watch Diego?" a million times a day. I didn't.

Guess what I did hear? "Mommy, we're playing spaceship downstairs." (The kids sat in old car seats and pretended they were heading into outer space in a rocket ship.) "Mommy, we're playing firefighter." (The kids dressed up in firefighter hats and rubber boots and turned on the backyard hose to fight the fire on the swing set.) More puzzles have been worked and more board games have been played. The kids have even spiffed up their Snow Ball bush fort so they can play pioneers and school house.I've been borrowing audio books and audio dramas from the library. Adventures in Odyssey and Hank the Cowdog have been very popular with the kids. I once heard a woman give a lecture on teaching a child to read. She said that over the years (especially since the advent of t.v.) the American populace has become less and less literate. She said that the lack of literacy is largely due to the fact that people no longer get information from books which are read aloud, or from town criers or even from the radio. Listening requires your brain to use its memory in order to process what it's listening to. This is a skill that is needed in order to learn to read and to read well.

Anyway, our kids are being forced to use their imaginations in order to picture what is being portrayed in the audios to which they are listening. They don't just sit in front of a screen as their brain cells fry while they're eyes are bombarded with images.

We are still subscribed to the Netflix DVD service. I watch All Creatures Great and Small and Jaques Pepin while I'm walking on the the treadmill in the morning. We still have the occasional family snacky movie night and I don't think John Wayne will ever be off the "it" list in our home. We have seen great improvements in the kids behavior, which was the goal. Of course, there's always more work to be done in the behavior department, but I wouldn't want to be out of a job, now would I?

(Incidentally, I've been immersed in homeschool books & catalogs this past week as Matt and I will be planning our coming homeschool year on Saturday. I just read this & I thought it applied here: "A child's mind has a natural appetite for all knowledge, yet too often we satiate our children's intellectual appetites with nutritionless mental junk food that appeals only to their imarture childishness rather than to their developing maturity. With adults, 'you are what you eat;' with children, 'they become what you feed them.' Your children will pick up their appetites from what you value, not just from what you want them to value. If you want to cultivate their appetites to prefer the best foods for learning then you, too, must value them." Clay & Sally Clarkson, Educating the Whole-Hearted Child.)