Day 1 Recap:
Ummm.... well.....hmmmmm....Day 1 - Where do I begin exactly? -
The fact that my preschooler had a full on WWIII, 4-Alarm melt down that lasted about an hour when I told her, "The iPad was taking a vacation and we couldn't watch it/play a game and needed to find something else to do" made me really realize two things:
- This was going to be harder than I thought - A LOT HARDER - for both of us.
- My family NEEDS this week of no screen time more than I realized.
The day started off fine (in regards to no TV/iPad that is) because we were off and running early in the morning to take everyone to their little classes. My preschooler takes a class by herself at the nature center where she can be one with nature and all of the bugs. So no iPad there and no TV either. Ever. I've never even see one of the workers or volunteers there even holding a cell phone much less actually using one. It seems pretty taboo there. I like that.
My little guy and I take a mommy and me pre-preschool class together and I had signed up for snack so we had to leave extra early to set up, so no time in the morning for any of our shows. No big deal. We don't usually watch TV before school anyway. No TV in the morning. Check.
Went to a special lunch at a restaurant with Nana - no media devices there ever so no big deal. Check.
Went to grammy's to chill for a bit after and we decided to leave the TV off. That was good and it was no big deal. It did take my preschooler a little bit to settle in and find something to do that didn't involve media - but she didn't even ask for it. Finally when we were just about to get ready to leave she brought out all of these paints and started to paint. She usually takes a while to settle in anyway, so this was the norm. But it's not as noticeable when Micky Mouse Club House is on.
Drive home - no media devices in the car allowed ever unless we are in the car for several hours on a family road trip so that wasn't a big deal. Car drive with no iPad. Check.
Both kids drifted off for a nap in the car at like 3pm. Not fun for bed time btw. So waking up groggy from a late nap about 45 minutes later and then transitioning to being home when it's time to start winding down from the busy day - "but we just woke up from a nap! It's playtime!" - it's confusing and frustrating and they wanted to go off on another adventure and not come in and prep for dinner and bed time and do some chores. Understandable. During dinner prep is usually the time where they are allowed to play games on the iPad or watch something on Disney Junior like Jake and The Neverland Pirates, Doc Mc Stuffins, Little Einstein's, etc.. I don't have a problem with those shows, but for the sake of going Screen-Free for the week they were banned. So it was during this funky transition time where the monumental melt down occurred. I don't really blame them. Transitions are hard for kids under normal circumstances and old habits are even harder when you are expected to break them.
"Now what are we supposed to dooooooo?!"
I get it. I really do. Trust me, I too missed them being preoccupied during that time so I could cook dinner and not have to break up fights every few seconds because they were two very unhappy little creatures of habit wanting their shows. I've given up caffeine and chocolate before. Oh how I understand their anger.
When I told hubby we were going to try to go Screen-Free for the week his eyes got as big as saucers and he was in denial about the fact that he was a part of we.
SorryBabeLoveYou!
After the kids went to bed I settled on the couch to chill out and I read a book instead of searching through Netflix. When hubby came in to settle on the couch with me we decided to chat as opposed to surf the net on our phones or turn on the TV.
However, we do have a DVD that arrived and we do plan to watch it this week so we can send it back and get another one. But so far the progress has already been positive because the thought of "doing something other than the internet/TV" is now in our brains and there is an effort being made to turn them off.
Recap:
I'm figuring days 1, 2 and possibly part of 3 are going to be heavy duty detox days where we need to be a little easy on ourselves and ease into it for lack of a better word. We're going to try our best and do what we can. We were consuming A LOT of TV and iPad apparently. I knew this and there were times where I felt guilty about it because during some of those times the sun was shining and we should've been outside, but we were in the house watching Jake And The Neverland Pirates. "Arrr, it be a bad choice we made! Yar!"
A lot of our current media addictions stemmed from the several weeks at the beginning of the year where someone in our house had the stomach flu. I'm talking the bad, projectile barfing kind coupled with explosive diarrhea and we all had it at different times. So yes, we watched A LOT of movies and TV shows and various DVD's and games on the iPad as well as other things that don't involve electronics like coloring just to get through the days. The days where it was my turn to run into the bathroom every 22 minutes was the worst in regards of media consumption (and snacks for meals) because the kids felt pretty good and very well could've gone out to play but I was sick as a dog and didn't have the energy for anything that involved being a mother. Or a human for that matter. So all of those bad habits from our Typhoid Mary days need to be broken.
So that was Day 1 of our Screen-Free Week detox plan and we got through it. How did yours go?
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| Oh...and I sprayed this aromatherapy stuff yesterday...A LOT!! |
