You are probably thinking, “Well, they took limiting screentime a bit too far.” It wasn’t by choice we disconnected our television and yet, we wouldn’t change it.
You see, our youngest has energy for miles. In the summer, he plays between two and four hours of sports daily and continues to go until his head hits the pillow. Often, he is the first one up, playing quietly in his room until everyone else wakes.
When we started Occupational Therapy with him, the OT said his mind runs at a much faster clip than many and any screen time at all triggers his motor. She said:
I know it is hard, but I cannot suggest enough to eliminate ALL screentime.”
That day, we told him no more iPad, TV or phones. It helped to soften the blow by heading to Target to buy him his first set of Beyblades.
Our daughter had to go along with the plan, as well as the rest of us. We equated it to if he had a medical issue like diabetes, we would not sit in front of him eating sugar and candy. There are times, especially with social media and news, it is hard to limit our screentime and yet we must. We do cave if it is for homework, a documentary or a very seldom treat of a movie.
One day, I unplugged our television and moved it into an unused room. Board games replaced all the DVDs in the cabinets and the tv room became a game room. We hung a Ninja Course rope outside and created a garden. We planted seeds together and the kids made games up as they weeded. When fruit went on sale at Kroger, we made homemade fruit leathers and smoothies. And we played games.
We discovered gems like Sagrada, Prime Climb, Gobblet and The Scrambled States of America. Old games found new light, like Monopoly, Old Maid, Battleship and Life. We went to the coffee shops and played the games laid out. The kids started asking to go back to play the games again.
We are over a month into summer and our TV is gathering dust in the other room. What isn’t are our bikes, skates, and swimsuits. Our picnic baskets are being used for the first time in forever and we are making real memories as a family. My children’s tolerance of each other is quite a bit higher than the previous summers and camps are going increasingly well.
This wasn’t the plan. The plan was “we will limit screen time” but when our son’s OT told us that screentime caused a light switch moment for him, that was it. If you visit us, the kids will be outside playing, somedays they help cook, and they still whine about chores… but they do them now. We will probably have a fire going while we’re hanging out, chatting and laughing, while the kids bond and work out real-life situations. You know, the things we all did as kids.
We now believe the hype about limiting screentime. For the first time in forever, it feels like our family is finding its true rhythm… perhaps because we are actually connected to each other and not a device.
