Friday, April 29, 2016

No T.V. Tuesday

    I have had it with screens, for the umpteenth time. This week has been a terrible week for screens in the Mitchell household. Monday my sweetheart was late taking our daughter to school because he got wrapped up in something on his phone. I have had to break up several fights over the 2 Nintendo DSs that we own. Things like "She's got my charger! He won't leave me alone. Mom she's breathing my same air" that kind of nonsense. My two year old thinks that we need the television on at all times. First thing in the morning he makes a beeline for the Xbox. He turns it on, turns the TV on and then hands me the controller expecting me to put on a show for him which I just won't do. I myself am not exempt from these screenaholic ways. My time on Facebook has increased like crazy since I moved. I don't really know anyone yet, nor do I have any place to really go at the moment
. In addition to that I'm afraid I have enough versions of candy crush on my phone I never have to wait to play.
I have often, and fondly, contemplated just taking all the technology in my house and chucking it straight out of the window, but then I rationalize to myself "but Rachel, you do need your phone. But Rachel, it is fun to watch movies. But Rachel, there are so many non entertainment things you do on the computer." and so I just fume and grumble to myself for a while.
 So I came up with the idea of No TV Tuesday. This Tuesday our family is going to leave all our gadgets off minus phones for phone calls and texts only.  I ran the idea by my sweetheart last night and he liked it so this morning we gave our kids an initial warning. I picked Tuesdays because it's my husband's day off, and I hope we can all catch up on the housework together, but this morning when I called it "No TV Tuesday" he got all excited. I guess presentation (and alliteration) make a difference.
Anyway I'm putting the word out there for anyone who would like to join us on our first ever "No TV Tuesday". From sun up to sun down no electronic devices except for basic needs. Lets get out there and look our families and the people we love in the eye instead of staring at our phones. Lets get our kids running and playing outside in the sunshine, breathing the fresh air and being creative. Lets open ourselves up to living our own lives instead of watching others live theirs on Facebook.