We've watched our lovely firstborn for some time now grow an attitude to rival anyone double her age and tonight we have FINALLY decided to knock it on the head. How? Beats me. If you have idea's we welcome them with open arms.
However, the first one is banning Sky Channel 40 from our home. It's her favourite tv shows such as Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, Shake it up, Zach & Cody etc... and some of it can be quite funny. But when you actually watch it for a while you can see how full they are of kids who defy their parents, go behind their backs, talk back to them, say whatever they want without consequence and all you hear in the background is the fake audience laughter. That is NOT the kind of person we want her to be.
She doesn't know this yet, I'm sure it'll go down a charm when we tell her. I even rang Sky to see if I could turn it off, but unless we upgrade to My Sky that is not an option, so we'll just have to tell her the new rule and see if she obeys.
So, if my kids come to your house we would prefer no channel 40 if possible please. We're also going to limit their TV to Saturday mornings till 10am only plus a church DVD on Sunday's. Nothing during the week. Our Ammon is addicted to TV, but that's because I turn it on for him and do not alot else with him. If he's entertained then he is fine. This is where I have to change me. Oh boy.
I threatened withholding her extra curricular activities but that's not realistic as she participates in teams with required numbers. Basketball they have no spare people, Dancing their routines are already set and jumpjam is a certain number too. So to punish her with those punishes the other kids in her teams and that's not fair. However she did get chosen for an afternoon basketball camp with the NZ Breakers team, so we can pull the plug on that one if need be. She's so keen to go too.
Our Apple is in the shop, we thought our bluetooth connection was faulty but the service people say it's working fine, so we now have to send in the keyboard and mouse for them to test with it. I still don't like Apple's. I'm almost hoping it's not fixable and I can get a refund and go back to a PC. Oh I wish. Probably won't happen though.
Nathan no longer works for himself, he is an employee of Vodafone again. He's happy. Same job, less stress and niggly problems. He likes that.
My work is plodding along. I spend too much money there though. Bought me some Ugg Australia slippers the other week - LOVE THEM!!
I also got my hair done on Saturday. Wasn't that happy so had them fix it up today and now I am. I am probably one of the few females who actually has grey highlights put IN her hair, but I've stopped fighting with my white-lock and am trying to blend it in now. It's a change (shrug).
Caleb is 14 months old now. He's starting to say Look, HooHoo (for an animal) and Gone Gone. Says Mum, Dada and Nan. Calls Papa Dada too. He pulls you where he wants to go, or points if you're holding him. Loves bikes, being outside, the pet shop, water and eating soap.
Ammon is still at odds whether he likes kindy or not - depends on the day. Rides his white bike really well now, loves playdates, his telescope (or looking scope as he calls it) teddy and sleeping like Little Bill on TV - who only wears pyjama pants to bed, no top. Ah... yeah... it's apparently not winter in our house at all!
Leah is still mega slow in the mornings, likes to swim and would happily play with her brothers rather than her friends. She likes school and does well enough at it.
Alright here's to our new lifestyle. Give me strength.
9 comments:
Good on you with the TV restrictions. I did the same with my kids (though for slightly different reasons) and have only had positive results. Our week goes something like this:
Monday/Tuesday - Homework. Friends can come over Tues if homework is done.
Wednesday - computer time. Learning sites first, then fun sites (Mum approved).
Thursday - Homemaking with Brooke, or free time with friends.
Friday - Free time with friends or they can watch TV for a bit.
Saturday - TV till Mum and Dad get up (if they want).
Once I told them the schedule, they were happy as. Didn't ask for TV during the week at all. Their attitudes improved, and their imaginations increased. Brooke even asked if her friend could come play here, instead of Brooke going there, because "all we did last time was watch their TV. I'd rather play with our toys here." Woohoo!
I do notice once they start using their imaginations they take off, they are just rusty. Good schedule.
Yep, my girls were rusty to start with too. "I'm bored, what shall I do?" and I'd say "Not my problem. You have toys, books and each other. Figure it out." And they did.
Nowadays we go through a LOT of sidewalk chalk, and they use the toy library toys a lot more too.
I'm going to restrict the tv too. Not sure what the schedule will be though. Logan is thoroughly into channel 40 too (although over here its 629 or something like that). He is fast friends with Danyon next door and prefers to play with him, but when Dans not home on goes the tv. I'm a bit lazy too.......
Without TV they have to learn to entertain themselves most of the time. You can't spend all your time entertaining them but it is very good to play games with them often.TV has allowed most adults to get lazy! I so admire those families that can or have thrown their tvs out altogether. Don't think I would.
Can't you use the parental lock on the Sky remote to block any channel you want?
No Dad, it only locks ratings, and unfortunately that channel is a G rating. But we are doing good. Even have Ammon down to about 30 mins a day when the girls are at school.
Good on you! I was wondering how it was working out.
I see the difference already. Just a start, but still.... their imaginations are starting to come back.
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