Due to various reasons, I have decided we are going to pretend we don't have a television during the week. When the kids get done with their homework on Friday, the weekend starts.

There was some negative feedback yesterday when this went into effect, but nothing today. The kids played outside together. We ate dinner at the table together. They are doing homework now and will start reading soon.

At some point during the fireworks yesterday, I reflected on my own childhood. There were only three channels then--ABC, NBC, and CBS, so there wasn't much choice even on the best days. Additionally, we only had one tv, which my dad controlled when he was home. So if we didn't want to watch what he was watching (this was back when kids could actually watch some stuff on primetime), we went to our rooms and listened to the radio or read a book or wrote letters to friends.

Anyway, in some ways, I think I have really short changed them. I know they don't play as many video games or watch as much television as some kids, but even allowing them as much as they had was not healthy.

Here it is only 7:00. Dinner is finished. The dishes are done and all is quiet. Why didn't I think of this a long time ago?

When I was growing up we were only allowed 1 hour of tv until it was PBS, and my parents were very strict about it when I was younger. We spent a lot of evenings playing games together, which is a great way to spend family time. It also made us think about what we really wanted to watch and not just look to see what was on.

When I was a kid, I was encouraged to watch TV. ::sigh:: I rarely have time for it these days. And if I do, I try to keep on the move while watching something. I don't sit down for a movie, but march in place to it. If every show means you must exercise the full hour or two, you might voluntarily cut out shows. LOL

when i was growing up, my brother and i each had a small tv in our rooms. tv was ALWAYS on in our house. when i moved out on my own i pretty much stuck with that. i finally realized what a time-suck tv is-- when i moved in to my most recent apartment (2 yrs ago) i didn't get cable hooked up and i only have a few channels on a good day (dang reception). i've been offered cable (by the landlord, by the cable company when hooking up my internet) but i just know that i can't have it because it will suck my life away and i will just zombie in front of a vh1 'i love the 80's' marathon that i've already seen 1,000 times anyway. i still watch a little tv (a LOT of pbs and some other stupid law and csi whatever-type shows when i truly just want to sit and veg and turn off my brain) and i get netflix. i also sometimes miss cable LIKE MAD (especially the daily show and adult swim-- but that just gives me an excuse to go to my boyfriend's and snuggle on the couch) but i have so much more free time without the tv being on all the time. i get a lot more reading and knitting done and most of the things i was watching were just fluff anyway (i'm looking at you mtv. you too food network). i say good riddance.

Anything that's really worth watching can be tivoed for the weekend. I thought I really like Desperate Housewives. I haven't watched it in three weeks, and I don't really care.

It'll be nice for me, too, to foster some other interests besides the 24/7 city confidential/american justice/cold case file marathon I've been playing for the last 5 years.

Kateful, I think that's a great idea. Several years ago, we turned off cable and took a long break from tv. That lasted for a couple of years, then we caved in and turned it back on. I regret at times that we turned it back on, because it is such a waste of time.

My husband would never agree to this for himself. But he works late, so we can still make it work for the rest of us. I wish he would, but it's one of his only vices.

We gave up cable a few months ago and we don't regret it. We got a netflix subscription so that we can get tv shows we like as well as movies. We also got a good antennae which gives us about 10 channels. I don't ever plan to go back to cable.

Cable is free in our apartment complex. And we have Tivo. So while it is a time-suck it's also a lot faster w/o the commercials, and honestly some of the stupider parts of some shows we just fast forward through. We keep it mostly for the weekend, but TV does suck up a lot of our time.

Hubby would never agree to stop though. We don't have kids though, obviously if we did we wouldn't have as much time for that kind of thing. It is disturbing how a lot of people just park their kids in front of the TV or video games ... I know that's how it was in my house growing up.

People still smoked in the house and drank a beer in the car on the way home from work too... times have changed!

We're committed that we will never let the kids have televisions in their rooms. Although we don't currently have a video game system, we are considering getting one. We'd have to establish some non-negotiable rules for its use, though. The same as the tv rules.

Me and my DF have been without a TV since we were students (about 6 years ago) because we were too tight to buy a TV licence!

I cannot say that I miss it AT. ALL. I do like ER and the Simpsons, but they are always on someone else's TV if we visit my parents or his, and ER is in a box set on DVD if I really want to spend the money (which I don't, so I can't love it that much!!!)

What do I do instead of TV? Well... I don't get home till late Mon, Tues, Thurs because I am out kickboxing, then I tend to read in bed and fall asleep. On Wednesday we tend to come home, have our meal then read and get a nice early night. If we fancy seeing a film, we'll go on a Wednesday since it's Orange Wednesday!!! Friday we're either out socialising, or we come home and eat and read. Saturday and Sunday we tend to go out places, explore, go for long long walks and just generally not lie around on the couch.

I've also recently found since we have been without TV for so long that whenever I see TV I get almost hypnotised by it. It's not a nice feeling, it's like you stop thinking and you are almost completely absorbed and almost can't focus on what's going on around you, this includes the whole chocolate bar that you just ate without tasting any of it.... The large beer you just drank without realising you finished it... KWIM?

And another thing about TV soaps etc, the scenes are about 10 seconds long, are we goldfish? Also they repeat things SO MUCH just in case you missed the last episode that nothing much new happens anyway!

I think if and when we have kids, we will still be without TV. I would consider it but NEVER cable/satellite. As for computer games... I grew up without stuff like that and I'm still... er... normal?

Frus,

One of our reasons for giving up cable was we realized we don't watch tv much anymore. Even though we don't have kids (and I doubt we will), DF and I have enough to keep us pre-occupied without the need of a tv. Some nights we don't even turn the tv on, other nights we watch a short show while eating dinner and some other nights we will make time for a movie. It just seems like there is so much to do and tv drains so much of your time, I think we are better able to focus on other things without tv being a major distraction.

Years ago , when the kids were pre-teen and teen-agers, they had a little scam going ~ when they heard my truck pull up they would jump up from the couches and start doing the chores they were SUPPOSED to have done before I got home. Especially the noisy ones like vacumn and piano practice. Since it was summertime they didn't have a good excuse not to be done by the time I got home from work. The only excuse they had was too much TV. well, one Thursday parked the truck a little done the street, walked up and WHAMMO! busted them watching TV and no chores finished. For punishment that night it was no TV. The madder I got I made it NO TV THURSDAYS for life! We truthfully did this for almost 3 years and had such a nice evening just visiting, doing homework, games, reading the paper, etc. I think I am the one that stopped it, there was just too many play-off games I was missing!!

As a family we don't watch much TV ~ I do! and so does my nephew and step daughter when she is here. Angie is more of a reader and her computer stuff, my son always has it tuned to a game he isn't watching! My daughter usually has more important things going on with graduate work.

We do have TV's in each of the 4 bedrooms, gym and livingroom along with a DVR recorder and DVD players on all the TV's except the one in the gym.

Just an all-american family

Growing up on TV, I used to watch it religiously, and my daughter got her first TV for her room when she was about 10. She also got a VCR for her own room. ::sigh:: Since I began working on changing my lifestyle though, I stay on the move too much now for TV, and I'm hoping to instill better values in my son.

I sometimes listen to the court shows in the afternoon while feeding the baby and cleaning up the kitchen, or packing for our upcoming move. But much of the time when I'm home, I turn on Billy Joel and dance around the kitchen. It entertains the baby and burns off calories.

Today, I only had one errand to run, so I've been home most of the day and I did listen to one of the Court shows at lunch time, and I watched an episode of Raymond and one of Friends earlier. I turn it off at nap time and try to nap with the baby. Then there's breakfast, lunch and dinner to be had, and the cleanup...boy is there the cleanup. LOL If I kept the TV on, I'd never accomplish anything.

We have lots of televisions. I like to listen to the morning news programs when I'm getting ready for work, so there's one in the bathroom. Since dh and I don't care for the same programs, there's one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Since dh likes to play on the computer and watch tv at the same time, there's one in the office space. When we move soon, there'll be one in the workout room and one upstairs in the bonus room. In fact, now that I think about it, the only places there won't be televisions is in the kids's rooms and their bathroom.

I know some people who had a 10 year old with full cable in his room. They said they knew he wouldn't watch anything inappropriate because he just wasn't the type. Innocence is fleeting. I'm trying to preserve it for as long as possible. The kids watch the little Disney sitcoms mostly. Sometimes Animal Planet, and Food Network has several programs we all enjoy. TIVO has a password feature we use to block anything above PG.

I'm sure that when Saturday gets here, they'll be glued to the thing. However, in the meantime, we've enjoyed some quiet evenings and they've gotten their reading done.