Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Are You Participating in Screen Free Week?

Are you participating in screen free week this week? Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I think screen free week is great! However, I tend to lead a more traditional lifestyle. For instance:

1. I believe that children should play outside as much as possible. Not the most popular idea in the world of on-line games that you can play with kids you've never met face to face. Or with social media that allows school friends to talk without talking!?! Also not so popular since you can get your exercise by playing your wii (nothing against those guys, just an observation) rather than being
outside.

courtesy of Google Images
2. I believe in books with PAGES to touch and turn. I love electronic readers, I do. They are convenient, a space saver and impressive when you're sitting in a lobby or waiting area with nothing to do. You know that right? It looks super cool to thumb an electronic device in public. With all of that said, my 7 and 4 year olds have no need to read their books on my electronic device. I do want them to know how to operate it. I believe that in their generation, I'd be doing them a disservice to keep them away from the new fangled gadgets of their time. However, they read 99.9% of their books without an electronic device.

3. I believe in conversations at the dinner table. We don't eat together every night but whether there are adults at the table or not, there are no phones, dsi's, leapsters, readers or laptops allowed.

4. I believe in creativity. Granted, my girls don't enjoy coloring as much I did as a kid (or as much as I do now) but on road trips and at home, along with the dvd players and handheld games, we bring/have books, crayons, markers, coloring books, word search, word scrambles, decoding messages activities and notebooks for entertainment; screen time is still limited. We sing car karoake (thanks to my Mother-in-law who gave this to us as a Christmas present 4 years ago) and we play games on the road, like try to get the truck driver to honk. They love it!

5. I believe in limited t.v. time EVERYDAY. Thanks to Roku streamers and Netflix packages, our kids, who love watching t.v. are not as distracted by it. When we had cable it was all too easy for me to allow them to watch everyday and sometimes it felt like ALL day. It was just too easy. Now  though, with streaming t.v., it takes more than just a tap of the remote control to watch a program and you know what, the kids were not the problem, it was daddy and me. ::shhh:: They rarely ask to watch t.v. It's only when they "feel" they have nothing else to do that they even ask. Usually, like right this instant, they are outside playing, homeschooling or cleaning their room which is an on-going project.

So, will we be participating in screen free week? We actually live a life of minimal screen time.

What about you? Are you be participating? How? What ways do you minimize your family's screen time in general? Leave a comment and feel free to leave a link to your blog!

Thanks for reading and linking this post up here.

Stephanie

6 comments:

  1. I am standing and giving you a round of applause. You just can't see me!
    I believe in all of the above for many of the same reasons.

    I will be 50 this year, and I just didn't grow up in a sit on your patoot and watch TV or come in my house and text your siblings instead of talking to them society.

    Do I think Kindle and Nook are neat - sure. But I love a book - a real, hard covered, book that smells like - A BOOK!

    I believe in Libraries. Imagination. Playing outside daily unless it is too hot, too cold or lightening. I believe in writing letters. Oh yes, this mama is applauding you!

    Em

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  2. Thanks Em! This was a fun post to do. My husband and I were raised a certain way and we just believe in these things.

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  3. I agree. I posted about it today on my family blog. I mentioned you. Just FYI

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  4. I love this and agree with you. We also do limited tv every day and it just helps with the flow of our day. SometimesI just need a breather!! I would love it if you shared this on my link up! http://teachingmama.org

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  5. This is the first I heard about this! Maybe I will join in next time!

    Thanks for linking up with Tender Moments with Toddlers & Preschoolers!

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    Replies
    1. It was my first year also...now that I'm blogging, I will probably NEED to participate in it next year! :) Thank you for stopping by.

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