Screen-free week was officially over as of Sunday morning. Okay, it was a day short of a week but we figured that 6 days in a row was pretty good!
The rest of the week went pretty well. Wednesday after school and swimming Jake was so tired he napped in the car on the way to pick up our eggs and go home. Nothing I could do about that. Thursday in the afternoon he was obviously tired, and ended up napping during a car ride. It made me wonder how much more energy he was using by doing things all day long instead of watching a movie or playing on the computer. But what was neat to see was that he was getting better at finding ways to entertain himself. Of course, the "new" cookset toys sure helped!
Friday went well, and we just barely made it to a friend's house before he fell asleep, but then he had lots of fun playing and didn't fall asleep on the ride home. Saturday there were errands, yardwork, and fun playing with random things as Mike and I cleaned out the office. I have also almost memorized the library books.
During the week I noted that it does take more energy for him to do things all day instead of having some resting time in front of a screen. It takes more energy for the parents, too!
Sunday morning he watched a movie. When it was over he started whining to watch more. Mike and I couldn't believe how quickly that came back and we worked with him to divert to another activity. The rest of the day he was great about not asking to spend time on the TV or computer. We're definitely going to keep this up, and with the warmer weather coming it will be even easier. We also brought one of those kitchen/egg timers so Jake can have more of a visual on how much time he can have in front of a screen.
All in all the week was a success in changing some habits, both for Jake and his mom and dad!
1 comment:
Nick usually watches movies and I watch some shows on hulu.com when the kids are sleeping so we don't watch TV. However, we had a small TV that was hooked up with the VP and Loch figured out how to turn it on (antenna). It became a huge fight everyday regarding TV time so we took it down and put it away. He eventually forgot about it. As for movies, he is only allowed to watch them on weekends, just one or two at the most.
Last Christmas I got the iTouch iPod and let Loch play some games. UGH. It became a HUGE fight everyday to use it. I set time limits but when the timer went off, he would not give it back right away. He would cry and scream about it. It got so bad that I got fed up and put iPod away, told him we were taking a break for a week from it. At first he asked for it constantly, said the week was over (when it wasn't), etc. But as of the past two days, he hasn't mentioned it again. I don't use it in the house anymore so that Loch doesn't get reminded of it. It has been SO much easier to remove these addictive devices from Loch! =P He is fully capable of finding something else to do. =)
Post a Comment