change in our days

well i am happy to say, thanks to my change in our routine, that my kids are not spending hours and hours every day on the computer. something that i was really feeling was a problem. over time, i managed to gradually wean them from that and now they are at the point that they MIGHT get an hour on the computer (IF they do their chores), and some days they just don’t get any. and they are finding lots of other things to play.

i’ve also managed to, for the most part, get us off SO MUCH tv watching. this also took months to get it down to where its at now…and there are still days that they watch more than others. but for the most part, its just not on so much. and when it is on…99.9% of the time (100% for the kids) its on PBS. none of us watch network tv anymore….at least the kids not at all (unless i happen to go check something out quickly, which is rare), and me and adam very rarely. i only watch a couple shows online and haven’t had to deal with commercials at all in so long, and i just realized how refreshing that is!

now that’s not to say that things won’t ever change again…i’m starting to get the hang of how these things go…someone gets sick or have a bad day and the tv or computer can easily be used to help solve a situation. but now that they are not getting much of either, i really don’t feel too bad about that. its not like they are in front of either all day and then i put them in front of one of them again. 🙂

so i’m feeling pretty damn good about this. and i have to pat myself on the back when stuff like this happens that i feel i actually did RIGHT, since i feel so much every day that i think i’m doing WRONG. and there’s still so much to work on. but i am feeling good right now so i had to blog about it.

oh and they do watch dvds, but we are careful picking those out and even when we watching something that is, say, disney (something we really try not to do a lot of….but we do watch a few)…we are able to fast forward the parts that we don’t like for our kids to see, or that scare them. we’ve learned our lesson that the movie theater is just not a place for our kids as they got freaked out by “cloudy w/a chance of meatballs” at the end with all the drama in stereo sound blasting at them…so dvds at home are safe and we can fast forward or turn down the sound if it gets too dramatic for either of them. seems to work for us.

anyway, i’m just feeling good about all this and wanted to toot my horn. i know i’ve mentioned some of this before, but i just wanted to toot again, cuz after the horrid emotions of yesterday, i needed something to feel good about. 🙂

right now, i should mention, PBS is on and we are watching/listening (mostly listening) to some fabulous classical music. makes me remember that i want to get us to the fresno phil so my kids (at least maeven, tyr may be too young still) can experience live music. that’s on my list of things to do this year…get out to see things live. the learning village can make it happen, and in a group setting, so i’m ON it!!

anyway, mama points for me! i am doing something right, for a change! 🙂