Week One, Done!

This first week went by pretty quickly, but it was lived somewhat differently.
One of our rules we set for ourselves was No Television.  There are a few special exceptions (family movie nights) but 99.9% of the time, it's off.  I KNEW this would be a big change for Branson, because we tend to have the TV on during the majority of the day.  He isn't generally glued to it, but he wanders back and forth between playing and watching.  We have already noticed He doesn't stick to a task very long and have heard that excessive television watching at young ages leads to kids that aren't able to respond well, problem solve, etc.  That said, the idea of turning the TV off entirely for me, as a mom, has been very intimidating because in all reality, Branson watching a show= Me getting something accomplished.  To my complete surprise, the first day we had the TV off, he did not even ask to watch it once!?!  It's so funny how as a parent I hyped this up to be such a HUGE deal...  Halfway through Day 2 went something like this:

Branson:  "Mommy, can I watch a Movie?"
Me: "No, we aren't watching the TV this year."
Branson: "Oh, Because it's Broken?  Daddy will fix it when he gets home."
Me:  "No, it's not broken, we just unplugged it."
Branson: "oh, it's not broken, we just aren't watching it and it's not plugged in.

Then he ran off and played with some toys.  HMMMM.  I seriously expected a BREAKDOWN. Followed by a year of whining paired with many more breakdowns....

Instead, in a matter of days I have noticed Branson and Asher playing together more, and playing with things longer.  I am excited to see the boys interacting more together and being more imaginative.  I'm so glad we have made this decision.  If I sat back from this situation that is life, I would tell you that, as a mom, I desired to be creative, engage the kids, play often, and have the television on rarely-if-ever.  But then, somehow living just gets in the way and all my good intentions are put off for tomorrow and today I am busy getting everything else done.  I know this whole NO TV thing is a little extreme, but I think it is going to push me to do the things I actually desire instead of letting life pass me by.  That is really the desire behind shutting the TV off, and so far, it seems like we are heading in a better direction.