Forum

I was reading through old posts on Glennon's blog (love this site and all that G has to say!!) and I wanted to find out if Glennon still has a no tv policy... Just curious how things may have progressed from the August 2009 posts about getting rid of the tv.

I think it's a great idea but tough to commit to permanently. My toddler asks nearly every weekday to watch the one PBS kids show I DVR for her (dinosaur train), and I can see how she just loves to sit and watch. I held out till she was about 27 months old, and started letting her watch one show while I sat with her nursing my newborn... It was a way to get a little bit of calmness during one feeding session. However, in the long runnI have little intention of parking my kids in front of the tv, and will certainly encourage outdoor and creative playing.

My husband and I watch tv every single night after the kids are asleep. It's a nice way to unwind and veg out after long days, but I do feel like there are better things I could be doing with my seriously limited free time. Or that we could do together. At least I don't watch tv during the day when the kids are napping (or awake for that matter). I reserve that time for reading, paying bills, or computer time (the other screen that dominates our lives).

I'm just curious about how other families manage to limit or break free from tv watching.

When my kids were younger, we would watch a lot more tv together...in the background usually. Because let's face it, rebuilding that tower of blocks 50 times for a toddler to knock over is just NOT going to happen without a bit more stimulation going on for me behind the scenes. I used to worry about what our tv consumption might escalate to, but I fear no more. As soon as they got older (like kindergarten) there was no time or interest for tv. There are sports and activities and friends and homework and music lessons and helping to make dinner and chores and not enough hours in the day for anything meaningless. We have a NO TV policy for the whole family simply because its got nothin' on REAL life. The kids might occasionally watch something on a Saturday morning while I sleep in, or we might have a movie night, but that is it. I call the tv the "sparkly brain numbing box". It has its place for sickly quarantined children too.