Unplugged

As you probably saw on Facebook, because, lets face it, I've got four readers and we're all Facebook friends (except Kelly-- Hey FlightyGirl!), we've decided to cut out the TV in our house.

Breathe, Anne, just keep breathing.

I called Dish Network and a rather condescending man informed me that Jon had to call to do the deed because his name was on the accout. I know, I get it, but still. So Jon called, told them we were finished fighting the kids on this, and its off! Once "the box" shows up in the mail, we'll box up the satelite box and remote, and we're el finito! As of right now, the kids are still able to access things on the DVR, which makes sense, but I'm done not having a tight reign on what they are watching.

'Cause I'm a control freak like that.

Seriously, though, I've had it up. to. here. with the TV lately.

So, here are my Top Ten Reasons Why We Got Rid of the TV:

1. The fighting. The kids would ask to watch a movie, I'd say yes, and I'd tell them that they'd have to agree on the movie. I'd come back an hour later, and though they were all sitting there transfixed, one would always complain that they had to watch what they didn't want to watch.

2. The fighting. Every. Single. Time we turned off the tv, the kids would go bezerk. They'd yell at me, because it was too soon, they'd yell at each other for picking a movie they didn't want, they'd yell at the furniture they'd trip over as they stormed out the room.... you get the picture.

3. The fighting. You see where I'm going with this? I tried having a "leader of the day" and still, they'd pick something that the others would hate and I wouldn't hear the end of it.

4. The commercials. They've gotten into a few shows on Nickelodian and the Disney Channel. I really don't want to barraged with "Mommycanweget...." every single time they turn on the tv.

5. The commericals. Back to Disney. I don't want the "teeny-bopper" influence on my kids. Period.

6. The sneaking. The rule in our house was that you have to ask permission to turn on the tv. That rule seemed to go by the wayside these past few weeks. Of course, the consequence for this was that the tv was immediatley turned off. Then, well, see #2.

7. I haven't been able to control what they watch very easily. If I put on a movie to take a shower, they'd change it. If they were told they could watch one thing, they'd sneak a second. It was too easy for me to use it as a babysitter, and I don't want to do that to them.

8. Their morning coffee. Every. Single. Morning. I wake up to, "can I watch a movie?" Then, the fighting would ensue.

9. The crazy stuff they'd see. This was my tipping point yesterday. James came to me and told me that after Mythbusters was over, some show came on with two kids who couldn't wake up thier grandparents, went to the police to get help, and when they came back, the grandparents were melting. Nope. My 8 and 6 year olds will not be watching this crap.

10. I'm keeping this one open. I'm sure I'll think of something later today.

Maybe I should have titled that, "Top Ten Beefs I Have With Television Right Now." In all honesty, there are so many good reasons to turn it off. Now they have time to do other things-- read, play, art projects, get outside, ...... honestly, there are a million things that we can do. And the time for their little heads to make the transition from "tv world" to "real world" was wasted time.

And this isn't just for them, either. Now Jon and I can't just turn on the TV to veg. We'll read, we'll talk (egads!), play more games as a family.... I'm actually getting excited about this!

Also, we're not completley media free. We're keeping the VCR, DVD player and Netflix subscription. We'll watch shows when we want to, not just because its convenient and "something's got to be on", but with more purpose than that. Heck, we've still got the Wii, so there's sure to be some sort of fighting in the future! However, its one less thing. I don't want to go crazy, but just scale back. It like that whole idea of living simply-- I'm not going to go Ghandi and get rid of everythng in my house, but I don't want a million things that I might get around to using someday.

I'll keep you updated on the great experiment. As for now, so far, so good! Jon called yesterday, and Alex snuck into the house when we were outside playing to watch TV. The DVR still worked, so he watched a recorded Mythbusters. Normally, I'm fine with that show, and we can still get it online, but when I found out that they were testing a myth about a woman who was buried alive... well, I got a little skeeved out. This is exactly what I don't want. Katie asked to watch a movie when she woke up and I just said no and changed the subject. They don't even know that we turned off the satelite. They'll find out soon enough, though. See, Katie just asked for another movie.

Withdrawl will be tough. But in the end, I think it will be worth it.