Our computer is out of commision so I have not posted in quite a while since I don't have any pictures to put up. But I have been thinking a lot about television watching.
We do not have any television in our home it is a
choice. We do have a tv that has a DVD player that we can watch movies on but my kids get maybe an hour a week or every other week of movie watching. It is a very big treat if they get to watch a movie.
I have gotten quite hostile responses from other parents that we dont want our kids watching movies or playing computer or video games. I want them to play outside or with thier friends. My kids are happier, healthier kids because we do not have them sitting in front of the tv. I was told the stats of how much kids many hours a day kids are watching tv and it SHOCKED me!!!
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF):
two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch a screen an average of 2 hours a day
kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVDs
kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games
It really suprised me about the 8-18 year olds, 4 hours of tv + 2 hours of computer. I think kids still spend time with friends don't they? It does make me sad when I am out and about and I see some girls hanging out and they are all on their phones texting. PUT THE PHONES AWAY AND SOCIALIZE!! Anyways phones are a whole other story.
My parents let us watch tv growning up on Saturday mornings. That's it, except if we watched a family movie Friday night. My kids don't even know what Saturday morning cartoons are. Belive me there are some mornings I think why do my kids wake me up at 7 on the weekends and then remind my self that when I was little I was busy watching tv. I don't think I turned out bad for watching maybe 3 hours a week of television. I think I am okay. So why am I so admit that my kids do not partake of the dessert of tv watching? Honestly I really think my kids are happier and I never really have to deal with my kids asking to watch a movie. I suprise them or they have to get it as a reward to watch it. It is a gift not a privledge. So yes I am a little upity about it but I hope that it will make them stronger when they are older. They will not be exposed so much to sex, violence, crude and bad language as little kids.
Again I am not saying that watching movies or tv is bad it is just something we chose to do. My husband watch tv everyday after school and I think he turned out pretty darn good. It is just something that we do.
A while ago a quote was going around on facebook,
"When I was a kid I didn't have a Nintendo DS, XBox, or Wii. I played outside and had a curfew, it was the street lights! My toys were the outside world. If I didn't eat what my mom made me, I didn't eat. I didn't dare tell my parents "no" or dare to talk back. Life wasn't hard, it was life..and I survived. Re-post if you liked the way you were raised...and drank water out of the garden hose ."
Honestly, our kids can still have this life we just have to make it more attractive than zoning out in front of a television.
It is always hard to remember to take pictures on Sunday but here are a couple of pictures we have taken this summer.
It is hard to get the kids to all look at the camera and stand together when there is no adult in the picture.
Curtis and Canyon after school. The took a drive after church because I went home early feeling sick so they went to the river and took so pictures.
Canyon NOT happy about me putting her on the steps trying to get a picture of her. She was wanting to go out side.
We really enjoyed having Cantus live with us for a year. I think her biggest adjustment to our family was living with 4 kids. She has never been around little kids so it was a big change. And I do not have quite kids!!! She was very loved. Cassidy cried the day we took Cantus to the airport. She views Cantus as her big sister that needs to get a boyfriend:) Cassidy was very pushy about the boyfriend thing. We told Cantus it is best to wait to date!
I stayed in the car while Curtis and the kids helped Cantus with her luggage and to check in and get her tickets. We miss Cantus but we are excited for her to go to College in Ohio in August!!
Cayden gets a pretty good work out mowing this yard. It is small but the lawn mower isn't so just wait a couple of years and he will be able to push it with much more ease.
