Maybe TV Really IS The Enemy

I gave up watching TV a while ago for myself and I must admit that I love it.  I’ll watch a movie every now and then, but sitting down and watching a show with all of the commercials just makes me cranky.  Not to mention the fact that I can totally get sucked into some of those things and then realized that I just wasted a couple of hours in a day with absolutely nothing to show for it.  I’ve always been a book worm so I would much rather read a book.  That and with 2 boys running around the house, there constantly seems to be something to put back together.

So while I have virtually eliminated my TV time, we do let the boys watch a fair amount and have started really using it as a crutch. Whenever they get fussy, or I fee like I need to respond to  quick email we put them in front of the TV and inevitably one show turns into three and we recently realized that they are watching more TV that we thought.  Not only that, but both Alex and Ryan have been really cranky lately and not getting along.  The last straw was when Alex started complaining that he couldn’t ‘play’ because he didn’t have anything to play with!  They BOTH have rooms over flowing with toys of every shape and color.  So the TV is on vacation.  They watch one half hour show a day and that is it.  And you know what?  The change was instant and dramatic!  They are having a great time playing and running around the house and they are having fun playing together.

It’s amazing what a difference it has made and funny how something that you use as a crutch because you think it is helping is actually making the problem worse.  Hmm… I’m sure there is a deeper meaning in there for all of us about how we each do this with something somewhere in our lives, but I must admit I can’t be bothered to dig for mine right now, but let me know what you find.