The Intervention

When Brian and I got married almost 10 years ago, there was one thing we decided not to do when we got married. This came highly recommended from a friend of his who had been married for a long time. He told Brian that he shouldn't put a t.v. in the master bedroom. I remember when Brian first told me about the conversation he had with his friend I thought he was nuts. My whole single life I always had a t.v. in my room and I just assumed when you got married you carried on with that tradition. I have to be honest, I wasn't totally sold on the idea, but I went along with it to be a good wife.

Can I tell you it was probably one of the best decisions we have ever made in our marriage. I don't miss it at all. We're able to talk and pray together before falling asleep instead of letting the t.v. put us to sleep. We also decided that we would never let the kids have a t.v. in their rooms either, so it shocked me when Sydney, who is just 3, came up and asked me if she could have a t.v. in her room. Over my dead body I told her. You may disagree with me on my stance here with children having t.v.'s in their room and that's ok, but I just don't think it's healthy for a child to have a t.v. in their room, period. I believe we are raising a generation of young people who would sit in front of a t.v. all day long if we let them. I'm speaking from experience here and it's not something I am proud of. Gone are the days that kids went outside and played until the street lights came on. Do you remember those days? I do and they were wonderful and I want my girls to have that same experience.

I have come to the conclusion, over the last month or so, that Sydney is addicted to television. She needed an intervention. The child could sit there all day and watch it if I let her. I have to say that over the last couple of months since losing Jonathan, the girls have watched more t.v. than I would have liked, but there were some days I just couldn't get out of bed and so unfortunately the t.v. became the babysitter. I'm sure most moms can relate to that. It's not something I beat myself up over, but it was the truth, and something needed to be done about it.

On Friday night I told Brian what I wanted to do and he supported me all the way. Saturday morning we took the big flatscreen out of our playroom upstairs. Sydney went ballistic. I knew she would, but I was not prepared for the major tantrum she was going to throw. It broke my heart. Not because she was crying, but because of the fact she loved t.v. so much. She carried on for about 20 minutes until daddy took her downstairs. She just kept saying, "Don't take my t.v.. Please don't take my t.v. away". It reassured me I was doing the right thing.

Now the upstairs hang out has become a place where we can read books and play games as a family and I love it. It is so peaceful coming up the stairs and not seeing that big box staring back at me. I'm going one step further and posting the t.v. on Craig's List tonight. I want it gone. I don't want any temptation for putting it back. We've also decided to drop our cable to the very basic channels. Now that's a really big step for us, but one I feel our family needs to take. Sydney wasn't the only one addicted. I too was addicted. I'm a person that would have it on even if no one was home just for the noise. Anyone else do that? I guess I just wanted some company. Since our loss, I have turned off the t.v. and turned on the praise music. It is something that has helped in my healing process. I can't tell you what a comfort it is to my soul.

Here's what I have realized. Life is so short and I don't want to regret the hours I spent in front of the t.v. when I could have been making memories with my children. I want my children to remember the fun and active things we did as a family and not the movies they watched.

I would love to hear from you if you have taken this step in your family. Maybe you have removed the t.v. from your home all together. I would love to get to that point (we still have 2 t.v.'s left in the house). I think I'm just looking for some moral support because I know this is not going to be easy.

Well off to post on Craig's list. If you are in the Nashville area and would like to buy a 52 inch flatscreen let me know. Ha. :)

6 comments:

Kimba said...

Love your post! I totally agree! We have one TV in the family and I try to limit it to about 30 mins. a day for the kids. We just have the basic channels so we usually only watch channel 8. Caden and Kyler could both become very addicted to it so I have to purposely limit it to 30 mins. They often drive me nuts asking if they would watch something, but they usually watch while I in the shower. I love reading your blog!! Thanks for sharing! Let's hang out again sometime. I really enjoyed at dinner at Chick-fil-a!

habecker said...

we too made a decision to not have a tv. We now do have a tv screen, yet no channels (make sense?). we use it to hook up the laptop to watch a movie with or a show from online. which therein lies another battle. that i can still find mindless stuff to watch via the internet, so i have recently been convicted to scale back on my time online. also, there will be no tv (again, yes the screen, no to the channels/service) in our house. period. not for us and definitely not for our children in their rooms. nor will they have their own private computers. i am a bit passionate about this.

Natalie said...

Good for you guys! I have no doubt that your family will be all the better for it! @We're not big TV watchers or gamers...there are so many other awesome things to feel life with. I think of you often :)

Sara said...

Hi Krista, It's Sara from the office, is the TV already sold? if not what price you asking for it? I am in the need of TV, my old one is antique, really, one of those inside the wooden box!! i and i am not kidding :) just let me know

Anonymous said...

I think it's great that you got rid of the TV in the kids' playroom. We limit our oldest (8) to 30 minutes of TV each day, but sadly I've let my youngest (almost 3) watch more for sanity sake (and getting things done). I just recently closed my facebook account for the same reason of a time-waster and I have a feeling I'm going to scale back on the kids' TV time too. God is really making it clear to me that TV, internet, facebook...those aren't my life. He is the center of my life and I need to keep it that way. Kudos to you for following God's leading. I love your blog. It's neat to "know" someone else in Nashvegas too!

God bless!

The Five Fares said...

I'm curious to know how it all works out! I would like to do the same in our kids playroom - I just can't ever make myself do it! I enjoy reading about your family!

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