I'm just gonna say this post is not going to be nearly as good as the original one I had all typed up and then somehow magically deleted with my fat fingers 2 seconds before it auto saved. :) You're just gonna have to deal. LOL
I think I might have mentioned last week that we were shutting our cable off. We were waiting for the Super Bowl to do it, though. So, after the Super Bowl on Sunday( and the commercials that reinforced our decision to cut the cable off), we shut the TV off and it wasn't turned on again until Thursday night when we watched a movie on Netflix through the Wii. My husband finally got a break in his schedule and was able to call and cancel it totally on Friday. However, a quick check on Saturday showed we were still getting cable channels, so another call is going to be made this week.
I know that some of you may not understand our choice to turn off the cable. I mean we're still watching shows and movies on Netflix or renting movies from the Redbox machine. I know the hubby has found some way to get his Glenn Beck fix. What is the big deal with the cable, you ask. Well, it's the content. We just were tired of being bombarded by inappropriate content. Now, we didn't watch a whole lot of inappropriate shows. No Glee, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, etc. Nothing super violent or twisted like Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, CSI, Law & Order, etc. However, even with what we were watching ( NCIS, Glenn Beck, Discovery Channel programs, History Channel programs, etc) we were still getting bombarded with in appropriate content from the commercials. It was insane. We would be watching a home renovation show. Safe for the kids. The boys aren't getting hit with sexuality, the language is acceptable, no moral dilemmas we'd have to explain, then WHAM!!! Viagra commercials or some other sexually inappropriate commercial. It was just way too much mess. We're watching a hot rod show. That's safe. Then BOOM!! We've got half nekkid ladies selling brakes and other auto parts. Not good. When you are the parents to 3 boys you really have to guard them against the constant sexual bombardment they get from this world. It's everywhere all the time and they don't need that issue to deal with. Life is hard enough, society is skewed enough, and the whole girl thing is hard enough, without adding to it. The lessons we want our boys to learn about women and sexuality are so far from what is out there in TV land, it is unbelievable.
Now, I am not saying that if you watch any of the shows I mentioned as unacceptable for our family, that you are some horrid person with issues. You may not have issues with the commercials. You may be just fine with watching whatever shows you wanna watch and whatever commericals pop up. I'm good with that. I am in no way judging you for being different than we are. I say have at it. Those shows and things just don't work for our family and they don't fit in with our lifestyle. That is just where we are right now. You might think we're weird or odd. That's fine. You do what works for you and your people and we'll do what works for our people. I'll still like you, I promise. :)
Anyway, we thought the kids would have a harder time with the switch. With the exception of our oldest who experienced no TV the first year we were stationed in England ( He was around 8 at the time and he'll be 20 in May, so that tells ya how long ago that was.) the boys have always had TV and it's been on a lot. We used it as background noise, as a time filler, as a boredom fighter, as well....whatever. It was on A LOT. So far everything has gone smoothly. Medium Boy did ask what they were supposed to do with no TV, but they figured it out. The Small and Medium Boys have been reading more, which is great. Small Boy just got some books from the book fair at school and they have both been reading those. They are actually playing outside together. Usually Small Boy ( who is 9) is outside and Medium Boy ( who is 12 and can't be bothered with his little brother) is inside watching TV. It has been an adjustment, but they are doing fine.
Things have also been a lot more calm around here. Without the constant noise of the TV, there is just not as much stress. Now, I'm a noise sensitive person. Some noises I can block out, but other just annoy me to no end, and if there are a whole lot of noises at once I just can't handle it. Having the TV off has personally made me less edgy. No more super loud TV blaring in the front living room over the sound of the 3 dogs playing along with another TV with a different show on blaring from the back living room, people yelling at each other from one room to the other because they can't be bothered to get up and miss part of their show to actually talk to someone. The silence, well as silent as it gets around here, has been nice.
So, what are we doing with all that extra time? For now we are using this time to re-connect as a family. We're eating dinner together at the table, like I mentioned before. We're playing games, watching movies, talking to each other, cleaning the kitchen and doing other chores together. Medium Boy is spending more time practicing his violin and flute. Small Boy is reading more. Large Boy is spending more time with this brothers. I am actually studying for my microbiology class, getting Sunday School homework done, and doing my bible study stuff before bible study. My husband is doing...well, whatever it is he does when he's not working. LOL I'm not exactly sure. I've never asked and he looks busy. LOL Oh, and we're all getting much more sleep. :)
When we were deciding on wether or not to keep the cable my husband said something that was so true. He said "In 10 years from now we're not gonna remember what shows we watched or what was on the tv. We're gonna remember the stuff we did as a family. If we don't do things now, our kids will be out of the house before we know it and we won't have anything to look back on." He's right. That time is quickly coming for us. Who knows where we will be in 10 years. I do know that by getting rid of the distraction of tv, we will have plenty of time to make plenty of memories during those years. To foster a sense of family in our children. To teach them how to look out for each other. To foster compassion and caring in them. To help them reach their goals and to dream big. To encourage them and build them up.To grow them up to be the men God created them to be. All of those things are more important than anything on tv. Those things are the things that make up life. Those things make a family.
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