TV/Video Gaming Rule

About two years ago, I was reading an excellent book called, The Educated Child: A Parents Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade. This is not a book on homeschooling. It is just a brilliant book about a parent being in control of their child's education regardless of where they choose to school them.

Something that really jumped off of the page and grabbed my attention was the idea that children don't need to be watching T.V. everyday. In fact, they recommended that you save that only for the weekends. So, we set off in our courageous endeavor to go against the flow of humanity and close the doors of our entertainment center from Monday mornings until Friday nights. This meant no play station, videos or T.V.

I spent about 4 days listening to complaining and then the value was firmly implanted in our kids. No more asking, whining and most of all, no more distraction. It was excellent! I felt empowered to truly be their only teacher or be the one to decide who is teaching them. I was able to control how our day fit on a schedule. I was able to avoid distraction. This also greatly enhanced our family time. We played games frequently together at night and read books to each other and alone. Next, we decided to say no computer as well until school was finished for everyone. This was also a huge change for the structure of our day. No longer was Dahalo crying at the computer because he couldn't do something while he waited on Embu to come and help him and no longer was I getting frustrated that every time I turned around, Embu was interrupting her school to help her brother. (Don't get me wrong, I love that she was learning to put others first in this, but it wasn't the way I wanted her to learn that valuable concept.)

We did this for about a year and a half. When Luo was old enough to enjoy cartoons and sit at least 30 minutes at a time without needing me or wandering off in distraction, TV became the new babysitter for me to focus on the kids school without him tugging at me every other minute. I felt myself becoming more and more disappointed at the slipping of my standards, but what else was I to do? Also, a problem was that Luo wasn't getting any school. He can talk your ear off, but he can't decipher his ABC's or work puzzles very well. By 2 and a half, all of my other kids were able to recognize their letters and numbers and even put together a puzzle of the 50 states. One of my daughters was spelling and reading 3 letter words by three...Luo is not on target for that at all! I attribute this to my lack of judgment and I regret that.

Finally, I have regained the passion to have control of my schooling and of my children's daily schedule. Ameru was complaining about never having any playtime because they did school, cleaned and spent two hours in the car most days just driving to and from my work and she felt she wasn't getting any alone time or play time. She was shocked to find that she did have time in the day for that, but every time she walked in the den, she was lured into watching whatever baby show or movie was on the TV at a time. She even requested we go back to the no T.V. rule. I tended to just leave PBS on even after the show he wanted to watch was over because the next 3 shows were good too and somewhat educational, so I just gave in to what was easier for me and in turn caused my children to not have any fluidity to their day.Turning back to our old way of life seemed a bit difficult anticipating the tears of my 2 year old when he finds out that Dinosaur Train will not be on T.V. again. However, I knew it would pass.

The next morning we began our old standard of living and found everyone to welcome it. Luo only asked once for cartoons and I told him no. He accepted it with an, "Awww!" and moved on to something else. My kid's schooling goes relatively smoothly now and I enjoy a less stressful day because I have the full attention of my children. It is GREAT! I highly recommend this.

How do you manage your distractions?