TV habit out of hand.

We need to get a grip on our TV habits at our house (instead of the remote control). We have gotten very lax; we’re watching too much television. It’s always easy to find fault with my husband over his viewing because his program choice often doesn’t interest me. Since I share my daughter’s tastes in shows and video tapes, I easily justify watching them because we’re watching something together. Sounds good, but after reading the “Turn off TV” piece on this page, I’d like to measure up. The following is my response to those guidelines. Read it before you finish reading this.

Now, let’s have a look:

– The TVs in our house are most accessible. (I think making them not accessible is asking a bit too much.)

– We’re always reaching for the remote. (I just admitted recently that more than once we have said “Run that back. I want to see that again,” when we’re not even watching a tape; it’s something being broadcast at the time. This is not good.

– TVs in the children’s bedrooms? We’re guilty. My kids aren’t supposed to turn them on without permission, and they follow through on this very well, but the temptation is still there.

– TV during meals? I’m hanging my head in shame. We do this more often than not these days.

– TV time limits? We do choose certain programs to watch ahead of time and set limits but “1/2 hour a day”? We fail miserably.

– TV as a babysitter? We’re okay here, or are we? I guess there are times when I’m so anxious to get my own things done that I leave my girls with the television instead of steering them toward something productive.

– TV free days? We seldom do this (unless there is a Turn Off TV observance week).

– TV as a reward or punishment? We do this occasionally – both ways.

– Listening to music instead of TV? We do plenty of this, too.

My family fails on practically all points. I hope you do better. I’m going to try to set up a plan for us using these guidelines and take TV Turn Off Week seriously.

– Let’s hope the kids don’t stay bored for too long.

– I’ll have to try to do my exercise workouts from memory instead of watching a video. Maybe we’ll read all our library books this week instead of just some of them.

It’s time to move away from the “boob tube” and get those remotes “out of hand.”