Family. Unplugged.

A few Saturday's ago I saw a little blurb that reporter, Bill Ward wrote in the Variety section. He shared that it was "National TV Turn Off Week."

Hmmmmm. I thought, this would be a good experiment. With our recent added day of day care expenses, we were looking to cut our budget. The first thing that we thought to trim was our cable bill. I knew we could do it, but I had been the one dragging my feet. No Dora the Explorer at my beck and call whenever I needed her to entertain the kids while I was getting dinner ready. What about some late night Mad Men, or Anthony Bourdain eating exotic food?

To be fair, If we were eliminating the kids screen time, I had to limit my own. No checking work e-mail, no internet surfing, no blogging, no Facebook (okay, at least, not while the kids were up).

I guess we should have re-named it "No Glowing Screen Week."

Could we survive? Read on.

Monday: Went and played in the back yard. We turned logs over, watched the metropolis of bugs below. It was riveting (seriously). The next morning VIvian said she dreamt about "A cricket and roly poly bugs"

Tuesday: Stopped and played at a new playground that we had driven by many times. A new playground is kind of like going to Valleyfair for kids. Everything is a new adventure. Different swings, slides and climby things.

Thursday: Went to the Y to workout. Okay, I was able to watch TV while running on the treadmill - is that cheating? Nah. You can't help it. There are glowing screens everywhere.

Friday: Played ball in the house. A rousing game of Nerf basketball. Followed by - get this, the kids cleaned their rooms. It was prompted by a play date the next day. They wanted to show off their rooms to their friends. I heard a clamor in Ben's room and poked my head in. "What are you doing?" "Sorting my toys. Trains in here, cars in here, and Legos go here." I shook my head in disbelief "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong address." and closed the door.

Saturday: Play date - great distraction. Friends are better than any Saturday morning cartoons. Later Ben rigged up a pulley system/zipline in his bedroom He used yarn, a leftover Easter basket and his stuffed dog named "Pup." I went in to his room and whoosh - Pup flew by my head in the makeshift gondola Easter basket. How did he learn about pulleys and ziplines? TV, of course. From Sid the Science Kid and Diego. Maybe he's been sneaking in some MacGyver too? Later we made a fire in the fireplace. Sat down and watched it. Good chilly evening for a fire.

Sunday : Rainy day. I'll be honest. Call me weak. I caved in. We had a great six days, but the point had been made, realizations were clear. We can live without it. But enjoy in moderation. Bring on Dora and Zooboomafoo! When I finally turned the tv on it was a treat not an expectation. And it was turned off the minute the kids started playing with other toys - which was after one 23 minute Dora. They were done.

Observations on NO TV WEEK No TV Six Days : Time goes by much slower and calmer when the television is off. A good thing, when we only have a few hours together each night.