Our Journey With No TV

There's really no better way to top off a good, long weekend than ANOTHER day off! That's what we have today.  We would have had tomorrow off as well, but we're making it up because of snow.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our weekend.

Thursday night, we had warmer weather, so we broke out Emma's telescope and looked at the stars.  Olivia rode her bike and declared it the best day of her life!

Warmer weather after a looooong cold spell brings out the 'happy' in all of us, doesn't it?

Friday, Eric took the day off to be with us.  The girls had 2 requests ... to go to the library and the park.  We did both.

We spent hours at the park and enjoyed some beautiful weather with temps in the 70s.  So fun!

From there, we went to the library and loaded up on books.  Emma has already read 3 of hers! - mainly because she wants to replinish her money (remember we pay her 2 cents a page to read).  She loves to read and doesn't necessarily need to be paid any longer, but it's really the only way she gets an allowance, so I guess we'll stick with it :)

I can only attribute our extra 'reading time' to one thing.  After months (okay, maybe years) of discussing it, debating it, talking ourselves out of it and finally yielding to the Holy Spirit's leading, we have cut out TV in our home.

I will confidently say that is a HUGE way Eric and I are loving our family.

To explain our decision, I would have to take you back to a time even pre-children when Eric and I would discuss how TV was a useless distraction.  We often felt like it robbed us of our time together.  After having Emma, we grew more and more concerned with it being a more stumblingblock than a distraction.

I could tell you of many times over the past 9 years when I felt the Holy Spirit leading me in this direction, but I would shrug it off, thinking I couldn't do such a radical thing.  Here's the weird part, I don't even watch that much television.  Eric and I record Surviv*r when it's on and watch it when the kids are in bed.  I used to watch HGTV, but now don't seem to do that either.  Eric watches cooking shows and sports.  The majority of the time it was on, it was turned to the Di$ney Channel or a local kids station.  We also watched Extreme H*me Makeover together.  I can't tell you the last time I've watched the news (possibly when I was trying to learn what the forecasted weather was?) Also, I have always known I use television as a babysitter of sorts.  When I want a few minutes to myself, I encourage my kids to watch a program or two.  Hard to admit, but true.

A few things have happened over the last few weeks - nothing major, just conversations between my girls and myself that left me feeling like something wasn't quite right.  Words said or thoughts voiced that made me think 'where did that come from?' The more I talked about it with Eric, the more we seemed to be on the same page. 

Here's the thing, to make a decision like this, Eric and I had to be united (and equally convicted) or we knew it would never work.  Over the years, when I would be convicted about it, he would resist.  When he would nudge us in that direction, I would talk him out of it.  We could just never get on the same page. 

But, God is persistent.  When His Spirit convicts us of something, He won't let up until we're obedient.

And, that's where we found ourselves last week.

I began to ask God for confirmation in His Word and/or through His people (sermons, etc.) That's what we got.  I have to tell you, once we prayed and made a decision together, I was so relieved to finally be stepping in the direction towards obedience to God.

Now, we had to tell the girls.

Here's what we came up with ....

** No TV, period, on weekdays.
** The girls will be able to record a program (that we approve) to watch on the weekends.
** Even on weekends, they can only watch 1 hour of television.
** Whatever we ask of the girls, we are committed to do ourselves - so same rules apply.
** Movies are different.  The girls can watch a movie, but still that's only on weekends and preferably, we watch as a family.

We told the girls over dinner one night.  Surprisingly, Olivia was the one that said, "I'm fine with it.  Satan gets in my head through the TV".  Ha! This made us laugh, and like I say, shocked me. She watches the most :) Emma's reaction was more dramatic.  She cried, but mainly because she didn't understand at first we were letting her record a show to watch on weekends.  She was completely satisfied with an hour.

Results so far ...

** Friday night, we were all in different corners reading.  The sight of it made me happy.
** No one has asked to turn the TV on once (not even this weekend!).
** Friday morning, Eric and I found the girls at the kitchen table coloring.  When I asked if they missed the TV, they both said, "No!". 
** I felt a little weird last night.  We have a Sunday night tradition.  We usually come home from church and watch Extreme H*me Makeover together.  Eric started to turn on the TV and caught himself.  We all had to think twice about it, actually.  That felt a little weird.  But, we didn't cave, thank goodness.

I'm praying we can stick with it.  It really feels/seems like we're on the right track with what God would have for our family.  Like anything, it will require prayer and obedience to do something 'abnormal' or so extreme.  Only God can equip us to stick it out ...