I have been concerned for a while now about the amount of time we, as a family, spend watching TV and messing around on the computer.  Well, I recently picked up and finished (it has taken me a while to finish ... I do have a baby after all and that's my excuse!) Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson (***HIGHLY*** recommended by the way).  In the final chapters of the book Clarkson writes about protective discipline.  He walks about protecting against unhealthy appetites and unhealthy media.  In those chapters he wrote about a time when his wife, Sally Clarkson, sat down with their children and presented pictures similar to the following...

She then explained the difference between the two pictures in terms of life and how we spend our time.

So yesterday I decided to make the above picture and printed it out.  I then asked our daughter which one she liked better.  Of course, it's no surprise, she picked Renior's Irene Cahen d'Anvers over mom's stick figure.  I then proceeded to explain to her that the beautiful picture of the girl represents life spent playing outside, doing arts and crafts, reading books, listening to music and such.  The stick figure represents life spent on the computer and watching TV.  I explained that we want her life to richer, more beautiful, more colorful, more interesting ... like the painting of the girl.  She TOTALLY got it!    And I thought it was a great lesson for her.

So ... here's what we have done.  She had tickets that she earned ... up to 6 a day that were for 30 minutes of TV or computer time ... EEK!  I can't believe I was allowing her so much time!!  I changed the tickets to 15 minutes each and she can only earn 4 a day.  That is a total of one hour.  Much better! 

This week is National TV-Turnoff Week.  We haven't had the TV on all day!  It's been wonderful!  But why is it that I feel such a pull to turn it on and I have to stop myself?  I also decided that I am not allowed on the computer AT ALL during the day until after my daughter are in bed asleep for the night.  So today was my first day of not getting on the computer when I woke up.  AMAZING ... again ... the pull to come in here and sit down at the computer!  It's addictive!  I hate that!  My husband said that I either stick with this or the computer goes!  He loves me like that ... he knows what's best for me and our family. 

I posted the picture that I made above on my bulletin board next to my desk and computer.  It's a great reminder of how I want my life ... my family's life ... to be.

So signing off now ... see you later tomorrow night ...

~Heather