Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, March 25, 2008 11:26 am

First of all, thanks for all the kind comments wishing me well on the last post. I am not 100% right yet, but am definitely on the mend. Now my oldest has it. Ugh.

What a nice Spring Break we are having here in Albuquerque! At least we are staying at our house here and not in a hotel somewhere. It’s even less fun to be sick in a hotel.

Anyhow, today I will try to get back to business with a “real” post:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It’s hard to believe that my blog is over one year old now (the UPYK Blogiversary was back in February) and it has come a long, long way! There are even now actually a few people besides my sister and my best friend Wishy who seem to read my words from time to time. Amazing!!

Most of you probably weren’t around last spring to take part in, or even read about, my TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge. Well, April has been very sneaky this year and has arrived on quiet little mouse feet. I only just realized that it is almost here!

Since National TV Turn-Off Week is just around the corner (April 21-27, 2008), I’d better get going with the Unplug Your Kids TV Turn-Off Blog Challenge!

During TV Turn-Off Week, any interested bloggers, or non-bloggers can join the challenge. Can you turn it off for one whole week? If you have been lurking about here, considering the possibility of unplugging completely or partially, then now is a great time to give it a try. I am getting a lot of Google hits at the moment related to TV Turn-Off Week, so there must some interested people out there.

The way it works is this:

1) You and your family decide if you want to attempt to turn off the TV from April 21-27. Since we don’t have TV, my personal challenge will be to reduce time with that “other” screen and spend less time online (my addiction). I plan to be online just long enough to post a few times and keep the challenge going. So feel free to tailor your Turn-Off challenge to your family’s personal needs.

2) Next week, when I have returned to Arizona, I will put up a post containing a Mr. Linky, a repeat of the instructions, and a button.

2) Once you have decided to join in, write a post about the TV-Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge linking back to Unplug Your Kids. If you want, you can also copy the button and place it in your sidebar with a link back too. The idea is to spread the word so we have as many participants as possible. Once your post is up, put a link to it in Mr.Linky.

3) Turn it off from April 21-27! Try to stick to your plan, but don’t be frustrated or discouraged if things don’t work out perfectly. This is supposed to be a fun, learning experience, not a week of family torture and self-loathing!

4) After the week is over, I’ll put up a final post with a new Mr. Linky. Write a post about your week: how it went, the ups and downs, what you would try differently in the future, etc. That way, we can all learn from each other’s experiences. Link to your final post in Mr. Linky.

5) And if the worthy nature of this endeavor itself is not enough to convince you to try it, please take note that I will be offering the bribe prize of a $10 Amazon gift certificate to a randomly selected participant who completes the challenge and writes a final post.

6) Finally, if you are a blog reader but have no blog yourself, you can still join in via email. I had one person do this last year. I will post your plans beforehand, and then post your final summary at the end too (plus you will also be eligible for the bribe prize!).

So with this post, I have hopefully “planted the seed.” The next step is to think about it all and discuss it with your family. When I get the Mr. Linky post up next week then you can sign up and commit yourself to the challenge!

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, May 17, 2007 11:03 am

I just stumbled upon the story of another family who turned off the TV for a week and blogged about their experience. Valeri of For A Season and her family decided to turn it off for one week in May just as an experiment.

Among their interesting discoveries:

- How much they actually depend upon a computer for educational information instead of books.

- A need to update their board games to a more age-appropriate level.

- The house is calmer without the daily news.

- The family got a lot more sleep.

- They all read more.

- “Without noise and “stuff” to occupy our time, we were more reflective and talked more with each other.”

To read Valeri’s post, please click here: We’ve Been Unplugged!

If anyone else out there has a TV Turn-Off story to tell, or wants to give it a try for a week and report back, please let me know and I will link to you too. If you want to try it, but don’t have a blog of your own, please send me an email and I will post your results here!

Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, May 2, 2007 9:01 pm

The fifteen bloggers who participated in the TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge were not the only participants. The day before the beginning of the challenge I was contacted by a blog reader who was also interested in participating in TV Turn-Off Week. She told me her goals and promised an email update at the end of the week. She kindly gave me permission to share her TV Turn-Off story on my blog.

This reader was not concerned about turning off the TV, but worried about her ability to do without the computer, the “other screen.” Her goals for the week were the following:

“1) All computer time needs to be related either to the school carnival I am chairing or to family matters. Everything else will have to wait a week (that includes reading your blog)!

2) Try to re-focus on my New Year’s Resolution. I called it (notice the past tense) PPP. Pride (in my house), Patience (with my children) and Punctuality.

3) Read to my two younger children (ages 5 & 7) at least 20 minutes each day (we have fallen out of the habit). My son is struggling with reading so he reads to me daily. However, I need to read to him more, so he’ll be reminded about how fun books can be.

4) The kids need to be fed (with homework completed) before Dad comes home at 6:30. My dh is a great guy and he works really hard all day long. When he gets home I want him to be able to relax and have some fun with the kids.”

As promised, the day after the challenge ended she emailed me with her result:

“The good news? I was able to stick to my challenge for 4 days.

The bad (discouraging) news? See above.

I will most likely do my version of the challenge at a later date (I’ll keep you posted). I am always up for a challenge. BTW - did read with the kids more last week and we all enjoyed it. And I was more conscious of PPP (Pride, Patience and Punctuality).”

I think she should be proud of herself for having been recreationally computer-free for four days! As I learned last week, that can be very difficult. I don’t know if I could have had it off, except for strict business matters, for four days.

I like her PPP New Year’s Resolution. I think I need to work on that too, especially the “Punctuality” part! It seems that when we turn off our TVs and/or computers (whatever “screen” occupies our time), we do instantly have more time and “mental energy” for focusing on positive things like this reader’s PPP.

I had a similar personal revelation today. Today I took care of a friend’s one year-old, so I was caring for two one year-olds (only three months apart in age!). Dueling babies. It was rather like having twins I suppose. I had decided ahead of time that I would simply have to stay offline. I did check email and comments once during their nap, but otherwise I really was not online.

Since I had already decided that I would not have time for the computer today, I was able to deal with the very mobile, busy babies with mindfulness. My mind was not on what might be happening online. As a consequence, the day went quite smoothly and actually seemed almost easier than some days when it is just me and my one year-old…and my computer!

It all went better for me than during the Blog Challenge where my mind was always half on my computer even as I tried to do other things. It seems to me that FOCUS is the key to success. My reader seemed to have this experience also. Whether it is a “PPP New Year’s Resolution,” or caring for extra babies, the ability to not just turn it off, but forget it, not even expect it, is the key to success.

Thanks so much to this reader who took the time to do the challenge with us, report back, and agree to let me share her story!

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, April 30, 2007 11:08 pm

Congratulations to cloudscome, of A Wrung Sponge for winning the $10 Amazon gift certificate in my random drawing! Please visit her blog and read her TV Turn-Off Challenge posts.

Thanks again to all who so bravely undertook this challenge. I hope you will join us again next time!

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, April 30, 2007 10:48 pm

This was quite an interesting week for me. As I have already mentioned multiple times, we have not had TV for 5 1/2 years, so my challenge to myself was to limit my time online. It was SO HARD!! I think I am definitely addicted.

I planned on trying to limit my online time to an hour a day. You may or may not have noticed that my posts have been far less verbose this past week, which is probably a very good thing! However, my big “problem” seems to be email. If the computer is on (unfortunately it is in the kitchen, where I am most of the time), then I want to “just quickly check” my email every time I walk by it. The pathetic thing is, that more often then not, I get this obnoxious “DING!!!” (which is computer-speak for “you loser, nobody loves you, there is no email for you, ha ha!”). Usually I can just ignore the snub and move on. But this week, I felt so guilty every time I checked my email, that every “ding” felt like being rapped on the knuckles for bad behavior!

After Tuesday, I ended up turning the computer off during the day time. I would check in the morning, and at lunch, and then again at dinner. After the kids were in bed I would do a post. The hardest time was while I was making dinner. The baby was in bed, the kids were playing elsewhere, and I was standing watching the stove with nothing else to do…and my computer would call out to me.

My kids had a great week. They didn’t notice a thing. I had planned on forbidding videos if they asked, but they never did. Among other things, they made a pretend store that sold “potry” (their spelling) - “pottery” made out of construction paper, built a fairy house in the vacant treed lot adjoining ours, built houses out of two huge boxes, read books, made birthday cards, had a Kids Cook Night, and my oldest worked on her school project about piranhas.

I was overly optimistic as to my personal goals which were as follows:

• A maximum of one hour per day online - Hard!! I averaged 1 hour 30 mins per day, which wasn’t my goal, but was less than usual.
• I will order my roses from David Austin - Didn’t do it.
• I will begin watering and weeding my garden - Nope, but most of the week was cold and windy.
• By the end of the week I will have my front porch looking planted and pretty again for spring - Sorry…cold and windy!
• I will try to read an extra book, do a craft, or play a game with my kids after school every day - Yes, we did do something extra after school every day.
• We shall have TWO Kids Cook Nights next week instead of one - Only one.
• I will buy and actually READ the book for my next book club - I bought the book and have read one-third of it.
• I will take at least one long evening bath - Never did it, I just wanted to go to sleep. Sleep or bath, I chose sleep.

But, instead of gardening I did accomplish a big goal that was not on my list, but that was in the back of my mind. I completed a large writing project that I actually never really thought I would do at all. I probably would not have done it if I had not been trying to limit my time online (and if the weather had been nicer).

This week made me far more aware of my time online. I also noticed that the days when I was more successful at avoiding the computer, really seemed more relaxed. I have found, both this week and at other times, that when I spend more time with my kids playing, reading, or just co-existing, we are all more happy and even-tempered.