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By Mom Unplugged, April 18, 2009 8:50 pm

April 20th through the 26th is Turnoff Week (formerly TV Turnoff Week, but now it applies to all “screens”).  As I mentioned previously, I will once again be hosting a Blog Challenge for those who dare to give the no screen (or reduced screen) thing a try for a week.  A few intrepid souls have already expressed an interest in giving it a try.  Thank you!

I am very late in posting the instructions.  Usually I start a few weeks ahead of time!  However this year, I have been really busy with other, “real life” obligations.

Finally though – for those who have already indicated that they want to give it a go, and anyone else who wants to attempt it, here is how the 3rd Annual Turnoff Week Blog Challenge will work:

Phase 1 –

1) Write a post about the challenge that sets forth your goals, reasons for joining in, etc. The more people we can reach and get to join in, the more fun and educational it will be!  Remember, it is not just about giving up TV, what about the “other screens” in your life? The computer is my personal downfall so I will be concentrating on reducing that.

2) Link to your post in Mr. Linky below (leave a comment too in case Mr. Linky goes haywire, as occasionally happens, and I have to take him off).

3) Steal the Blog Challenge badge and put it in your sidebar, linking to Unplug Your Kids. Let me know if you need help with this step.

Two sizes:

Phase 2 –

Do your best to meet your goals from April 20-26. If you aren’t successful, it’s OK. What is important is to try, and to learn something from the experience.

Phase 3 -

1) After Turnoff Week ends (April 26th is the last day), write a post about how it went: the good, the bad, and the ugly! Sharing experiences helps everyone.

2) I will also write a “How it Went” post and I will put up a new Mr. Linky. Put the link to your “How it Went” post in the new Mr. Linky (plus comment just in case).

3) On Wednesday, May 6th I will draw a random name from among those who completed the challenge by putting up their final post (remember, whether you met your goals or not, completion just means blogging about it!).  If you don’t put up your final post and enter it in the Linky before that date, then I can’t enter you in the contest.  A random person will win a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Finally, I have to apologize to a few of you who asked me questions that I have not answered yet.  I have just been SO busy this past week, that I haven’t had a chance to think about the blog, or email, or anything much.  I do appreciate your questions, and I will try and send you an email tomorrow (Sunday).

Here is the first Mr. Linky.  Anyone who wants to enter the 3rd Annual Turnoff Week Blog Challenge should write a post about their intentions and link to it here.  Even if you indicated in the comments to my last post about this that you wanted  to join, please be sure to link to your goal-setting post here, to make it “official!”

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, April 10, 2009 8:44 pm

I am finally posting about the 3rd Annual Turnoff Week blog challenge.

This year’s National Turnoff Week begins April 20th and runs through April 26th. I plan on hosting another Turnoff Week Blog Challenge for those who want to take the plunge and give the TV-free life a try!

Can you turn off your TV for one week? Can you turn off your computer for one week? Can you at least reduce your family and personal screen time for one week?

These are things to think about. The idea is not to feel guilt about doing it or not, “succeeding” or not, but simply to gain awareness of the amount of time that we all spend in front of screens these days.

Even without TV, I have my own “screen-issue.” The computer is my downfall. I will try to reduce my computer time that week.

Think about it. Discuss it with your family. Perhaps this would be a good time to try reducing your screen time if you have been considering it.

I’ll post more later about how to join in the Blog Challenge (as always, there will be a small bribe prize for a random participant!!), but I just wanted to plant the seed in your thoughts today.

So, is anyone interested in giving it a try?

Comments (102)

By Mom Unplugged, October 25, 2008 8:07 am

I was very excited to receive an email the other day from Courtney at Bright October asking if I would be interested in hosting a giveaway.

Well, yes!!  Bright October is one of my favorite Unplugged Toystores so I knew that whatever Courtney wanted to give away to a reader would be wonderful.

At mom-run Bright October, there are no mass market, licensed character toys.  All the toys they offer are excellent quality, safe, open-ended, and simply beautiful.

In addition to popular, high-quality brands such as Haba, Selecta, and Kathe Kruse, you’ll also discover some that are less well-known (here in the U.S. anyway): Blabla (Peru), Sevi (Italy), and Vilac (France) for example.  I personally love the totally cute organic stuffed animals!

Courtney is very generously offering a $50 Bright October gift certificate to a randomly selected Unplug Your Kids reader, as well as a 10% discount for ALL Unplug Your Kids readers.

To enter, all you have to do is:

1)  Visit Bright October to pick what you might want to buy with your gift certificate (this is hypothetical, if you win you can still change your mind and pick something else).

2)  Leave a comment here on this post saying what you picked.  To enter, leave your comment here at Unplug Your Kids (not at Bright October).

3)  That’s it!

I’ll leave comments open until next Saturday, November 1st at 8PM Pacific Time.  After all comments are in, I’ll pick a random winner and announce it here on Sunday morning, November 2nd.  (I wish I could enter too, but I guess that wouldn’t be very fair!)

Even if you don’t win, you can still take advantage of the 10% off coupon.  Just enter unplug at checkout to get your discount.  The code will be valid until the end of the year, December 31st, 2008 so you can do a little Christmas shopping with it.

Thank you Courtney and good luck to all!

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, May 11, 2008 5:18 pm

I don’t usually get too excited about giveaways, but dkMommy Spot is hosting one that I would actually really enjoy winning! So would most of you I think, especially if you like hanging around my Unplugged Toystores page while dreaming of a little online shopping.

If you stop by her site you can comment for a chance at winning a $35 gift certificate from Wild Dill, a wonderful store featuring organic, fair-trade and natural children’s clothing, toys, bedding, and various other accessories. I liked the look of Wild Dill so much that I felt moved to add it to both my Unplugged Toystores page and my Unplugged Eco Shopping page.

You can also subscribe to the dkMommyspot blog and/or write your own post about the giveaway for additional chances to win.

I probably won’t win since I rarely win anything, but hopefully one of you will. Good luck and I hope you enjoy checking out Wild Dill!

Oh…and the giveaway ends on Tuesday, May 13th so hurry up and enter right now if you are interested.

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, May 6, 2008 8:02 pm

I promised prizes to two random participants who completed the 2nd Annual TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge. The prizes are the following:

• A $10 Amazon Gift Certificate
• A complete CD set of the Adventures of Billy Brown children’s audio plays (thanks very much to Jens Hewerer of Giddio.com for offering this one!)

I threw the names of all the participants (who completed the challenge by writing and linking to their final post) into a bowl. My two oldest children each drew a name. The results?

Congratulations to:

Learning Umbrella who wins the Amazon Gift Certificate (please send me the email you would like to use to receive the certificate);

and to…

MatschMomma who wins the Billy Brown Audio Play Collection (please send me your name and address)!

Thank you all for joining in. I wish I had a prize for everyone!

Hopefully you are not completely sick of this by now, because I am planning one last post summarizing what I learned from your experiences.

Enjoy your evening!