We have been a t.v. free household for some years now. But don’t worry, I am not about to start condemning the television. I know that the t.v. serves many families well, ours just isn’t one of those. While I know that not all children are like this, I have more than one child who would spend his life in front of a television if allowed to do so. Something about wanting to watch videos on the television eliminated all other possible activities from the minds of my boys, back when video watching was an option. When we had a t.v. set up for watching videos (Jonny and I have never had cable) I listened to movie requests throughout the day, every day, and it drove me batty. One day it occurred to me that if we eliminated the television altogether, those requests would have to end, so we did. The first few days were tough, but then everyone adjusted and discovered that there truly are lots of other great ways to spend one’s time, such as reading or looking at books (of course playing outdoors is still number one for most of my kids.) For the longest time our old boxy t.v. and vcr lived out in our shop “just in case” there was a t.v. emergency and we needed to bring it in, but recently we tossed it altogether. Maybe once or twice a month we allow the kids a movie night, and use the computer for that. This t.v. free existence is working well for us, and I feel so good every time I walk in a room to discover my little ones with books in hand especially since I can remember a time when things weren’t this way. While still very much a work in progress (Gabe for instance still needs encouragement to spend independent time with books, understandably so), this is my technique for creating bookworms: eliminate the t.v., surround them with good books, and read to them everyday-lots!
p.s. One of our evening read alouds lately has been Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected For Boys and Girls. Every night we play the “just one more” poem game over and over. I think that of all the poetry books for children that we own, this is my favorite, right now.
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