Last summer, I made a major decision. I banned the TV from the Spawn. He was, of course, upset by it. He would find ways to sneak in even just a few seconds of Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. Although I unplugged the TV in his room and tied up the cable, he would plug in right back in and even go as far as stacking up objects in his room in order to reach the cable, untie it, and plug it back into his TV. Resourceful little child, but this proved to me even more that he could put his ingenuity to better use.
I removed the TV from his room entirely and after a few weeks, I extended the ban to include DVDs, and computer games because he was beginning to substitute one glass screen for another and it was defeating he whole purpose of my ban in the first place.
Part of the reason why I decided to do this was because it was summer time and I didn’t want him to spend the entire 3 months stuck in front of a TV screen. I had just resigned from my job as a graphic designer for a small printing company, so I had the time to spend quality time with him instead of letting the electronic babysitter do my job.
It’s almost been many months now and the TV is nothing more than a a square stone sculpture. I have cut the cable subscription and neither of us has noticed any difference.
What has he been doing instead of sitting in front of the TV? He has been reading a lot of books, which I am all too glad to collect with him. He had been occupying his time by creating his own paper toys and foldabots and other boy-appealing crafts and DIY projects. For a time he was attending Futsal classes, Art-Science Camp, Guitar lessons, and now he attends Bikram yoga classes with me!
On my end, instead of watching the news on TV, I read it online or in good old fashioned newspapers.
The TV is not missed one bit and I am even considering selling the two larger ones we have and keeping only a small TV with “rabbit ears” for emergency purposes (like if we need to watch an emergency broadcast for news and things like that).
Now, watching the boob tube is at treat for both of us as we have “family movie nights.” We choose a movie to watch on the DVD player, put in a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and watch it together. The TV has become a way for us to bond, rather than something to distance us from each other.
Ban the TV. It’s one of the best decisions I ever made.
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