Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Instead of TV


After moving and sickness, I've declared a ban on daytime TV at our house. Well, technically we don't have TV, but the kids have grown very dependent on movies. I don't want "entertainment" to become their default mode.

Yesterday they helped me make a list of things to do instead. Here it is. What would you add?

Read

Sew

Board games

Play dough

Bead

Blocks

Paint

Draw

Dress up

Play outside

Cook

Tea party

Make music

Puzzles

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Our children have not watched TV (at home) since a year ago when they were 2 & 4! It is bliss. :) Now, we do watch TV in the evenings after bedtime, for now. Eventually, perhaps that will go.

Charity Grace said...

We are enjoying it too!

Jen said...

We gave up TV entirely for Lent last year and the Lord spoke so clearly to us about so many things. Our kids loved doing it, I think partly because they knew it wasn't permanent. We still do Sesame Street on occasion or TV after bedtime.

How about having the kids act out Bible stories and make their own entertainment. My kids love to "put on shows" with our bay window as the stage and Mommy and Daddy as the audience.

Mo said...

read a book to a younger sister or brother

swing

play with the dog

clean something mom can't reach

fix your pajama drawer

play 'cowboy on the trail' sitting on a chair backwards........you will need a jumprope for the reins

look at seed catalogs

design and color a quilt on graph paper

watch mom do the laundry

get a nice dusting rag and do a shelf for mom

(I know some of these aren't fun, but it would keep a kid busy if they complained about NO tv!)

I don't like television either.....and videos can surely be abused. Even if they're good, they shouldn't be watched over and over again.

nannykim said...

I would add something my kids always loved doing: the kids would tell stories on a tape recorder making their own sound effects. They spent hours doing this!! I think they may still have some copies. My daughter would sometimes write and illustrate stories too.

nannykim said...

oh, yes and puppet shows.