Tuesday, September 30

our days, our days...

This week, we're on a TV fast. The TV watching had gotten out of control for all of us, basically due to our life changes, sickness, and exhaustion, so we decided (AFTER watching the Amazing Race on Sunday night) that there would be no more TV until this weekend.** Day 2 of this fast and I'm realizing how necessary it was to say "NO MORE!"

Because. I. am. in. withdrawl.

From PBS.

It's so easy to park Aaron in front of the TV for a 1/2 hour a couple times a day without even realizing it. Now, I'm forced to be more creative, like locking him in his high chair with a coloring page and some stickers so he's not whining at me to hold him while I'm making dinner. I'm learning how to play catch while I'm nursing. And that is interesting. And hopefully soon he'll quit asking if he can "watch TV?" because it's so, so tempting to cave in. But I can do this. I really can.

It's not as hard to resist the temptation to watch TV at night - last night we worked on cleaning out the deep freezer and then read over some study materials for our Wednesday night program at church. I think the evenings will DEFINITELY be more profitable.

Have any of you gone on a TV fast recently? How did it work out for you?

**With the exception of my Walk Away the Pounds video, which I am ashamed to say kicked my haven't-exerted-myself-in-six-weeks patootie this morning!!!***

7 comments:

Rosemary said...

No great loss, with the current tv programming. Even PBS is all reruns. I watch very little and Dale watches the 'snewz' in the evening (ie, the news which literally puts him to sleep!) My grandkids don't have TV, (their dad can't afford the cable and their townhouse has really bad antenna receiption). They do watch DVDs sometimes, but have been reading ALOT since they haven't had TV. Those kids all read 2-4 grade levels about their current grade in school.
You might just like your 'TV fast' so much, that you put the TV away for good! ENJOY!!

Carrie said...

We did a TV-free month in August (for us that means no movies since we don't get any channels here). It was a bit rough at first, mainly because I had also gotten used to putting on a DVD for the kids when I needed them to just sit for a while so I could hear myself think! :) But I'm really glad we did it. I think the kids got pretty used to it by the time the month ended. We are letting them watch some again now, but not too much. I think we will probably try and do a TV-free month each summer; it's just really good to take some time away from it and make our own family fun. :)

I was wondering which Walk Away the Pounds video you have? I just dug out my "Walk the Walk" video (which is also Leslie Sansone) and am trying to do the one mile workout each day. And hopefully before too long I'll work up to the 2 mile. I have to try SOMETHING (in addition to changing my eating habits :)) to help drop the baby weight!! It had been a long time since I'd done the video, and I found I'm really liking it so far.

Tricia said...

That's pretty much par for the course for us. We do an occasional video night where we watch something with the kids or let them watch a DVD while we play a game. Other than that we have just cut it out completely ...and don't miss it AT ALL!

Kelly Glupker said...

We watch about 2 hours of TV a month. Before long, you won't miss it.

Rosemary said...

Just curious, why the "TV fast"?

ruth said...

I had a TV fast for a week a few months ago. It was really good for me. I really do watch too much TV, so I needed to step back and re-evaluate what I was watching, why I was watching it and how I could better use my time. I also realized I hadn't been reading as much as I used to, and that bothered me. It's just too easy to come home from work, collapse and just check out mentally in front of the TV. My TV fast really helped me gain some perspective on all those things. In fact, maybe I should do it again! Good luck with yours!

Jenny said...

Carrie, I have the 1-mile and the 2-mile workout. It was the 1-mile that had me sweating yesterday. Oh, brother.