My kids love their electronics. If they were given a choice it would be video games 24/7. For a parent, this is extremely irritating. Imagine a house that is topsy turvy, stuff everywhere, and four kids glued to a monitor somewhere, oblivious to the mess that surrounds them. Sound familiar?
I have tried all kinds of rules, time limits, coupons, you name it. And they all do work, as long as I am ready to monitor it and be the “electronics police”. Somedays, I just don’t want this job.
We always have had a no electronics on the weekdays policy which works well, but then the weekends turn into a techno free for all. This past weekend was extremely busy for us and I did not want to fill the few hours of down time with video games and tv. It is always so hard to pull the kids away when their time is up.
So I did something shocking – I said no to electronics for the weekend. And a funny thing happened – my kids played the old fashioned way! They made up stories, they took out the art supplies and created beautiful art projects, they read books, and generally got along with each other.
The house became even more disorganized – there were newspapers spread across the family room floor as the children glued and painted and tried not to get any on the carpet. But it was so much better than being plugged in, that I really didn’t mind.
I will definitely do this more often!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
this is a heartwarming post. my mom used to emphasize art, writing and other skills more than video games too. we drew on the walls though.
What a great idea! Our kids are too little to be too much into electronics but the older one does like to watch TV (still Noggin and Disney) and go online to Playhouse Disney. It’s hard saying ‘no’ all the time.
I think as parents we find it easier if they aren’t in our space/way when we are doing stuff so it becomes easier to let them play video games sometimes.
Sometimes it’s easier for the parent to let the kids have their electronics – it’s quiet, don’t have to fight them, and no mess. But glad you showed your kids there are better ways to have fun.