“I Forgot to Tell You – It’s No Screen Week”

Muddling through twitter today, I came upon yet another mom blog that I found particularly inspiring. Cafemama is almost intimidating in her passion for getting down to the simple, important things. This post in particular says what I daydream life could be. Homemade bread and honey, a shared mattress on the floor for the kids, an acceptance of a child’s needs and wants…I say it is intimidating because I despair at even trying to achieve it. But today I tried in one way – I refused to turn on the TV.

It was sick how quickly I was ready to turn it on. As soon as we walked into the house after bringing Maddy home from school, I sat down on the floor and folded laundry. I waited for Maddy to ask for a show. She NEVER did. I think Alice only mentioned “Spongebob bob” at one point because I said “spongebob” instead of Mr. Potatohead. It wasn’t as difficult as I imagined. The girls played in the playroom for a while, playing instruments, then Maddy requested her piggy bank so she could sort her huge stash of coinage, which led to me having to shut Alice out of that room because Maddy began shouting. That was when Mr. Potatohead came in.

When I started making dinner, I mentioned to Maddy that she could watch ONE show tonight. Did she want to watch now or later? Well, apparently the week is “turn off your tv” week, which she learned about in school, so she shouldn’t watch any, should she? I got a little shrill when I then told her that they would have to leave the kitchen while I made dinner. All she wanted to do was go outside. So, I sent both of them into the backyard.

After dinner, Alice took a bath, we read a bunch (Maddy actually read to both Alice and me separately), then I pulled out the Taro Gomi Doodles book for Maddy while Alice scribbled. That’s when Shane came in, me on the couch with a glass of wine and the girls happily at the table.

Maddy isn’t in bed quite yet, but I don’t think she will beg to watch anything in the next 45 minutes.

Next addiction I need to work on: staring at my laptop without anything to show for it.