I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
TV Free July
Moderation is not one of my strong points. Blame it on my addicitive personality, but no matter how much I swear I’ll “only do a little” sooner or later I’m up to my ears and barely holding on. So I knew that when Dearest decided to turn back on the TV it was going to be a fight to keep it turned off. And it’s a fight I’ve been losing lately.
I can tell when the TV has taken over. The kids’ behavior diminishes, they are more loud and disruptive than usual. But the big thing is that meal times take a flying leap off a cliff. They’re too antsy to get back to the next episode of Mickey Mouse to bother eating the bowl of cereal they begged for. When it becomes a daily war I’ve got to put a stop to it.
So I’m instigating a TV-Free July. Goodbye cartoons, goodbye movies, goodbye mindless entertainment. And for me *gulp* goodbye news, TLC, and cooking shows. If I leave any stone unturned we’re quickly slip back into staring blankly at the screen when we should be doing other things. And frankly, this summer is going by too fast to miss out.
The only exception I’m allowing is sports. Dearest would morph into the Incredible Hulk if I even suggested not watching each and every baseball game being broadcast. He’s generally less than enthusiastic about some of my ideas, especially ones that require making any kind of change. He sort of lives in the “I did XYZ and I’m just fine” mode, despite clearly being not fine in that area at all. But it’s not a war I want to have, so his precious sports stay on. I’ll just make sure to get the kids out of the house when he’s watching his sports.
I’ve got a few bookmarks full of ideas and encouragement to keep me strong. It’s hard when the temps reach triple digits not to just reach for the remote and an ice cream to keep cool. But I’ve got to stay strong.
July will be over before I know it, and then it will become just one more summer wasted on the boob tube. Gods knows I have plenty of those summers in my own life. Hopefully I can break my TV addiction and curb it’s growth in my kids.
I can do it. Who else is with me?
Our TV died in November and we haven’t replaced it. So I’ve been without TV since then. I do occasionally watch shows on the internet, but now that it’s summer I’m not even really doing that anymore.
It actually surprised me how easy it was to give up TV. I was a total addict and I thought there was no way I could go without it. But I have.
But nobody had better come and take my computer, because that’s my lifeline. We all have our vices.
Amber\´s last blog post..When I Was Young and Childless
Yeah, I could easily go without TV. But the internet? That’s another story.
It’s too bad “Dearest” isn’t with you on this one. How do you explain that to your kids? (”But how come Dad gets to watch TV?”)
I like this post. I am living without TV since last one and half year. But I can’t live without Internet for a single day.