I love TV... It is great to help me tune out. When work is bad or I don't have the strength to devote to making my marriage all that it should be, or when I am too lazy to deal with my child.. TV is just PERFECT (I am being sarcastic here by the way). It's the "easy" thing. It is so many things. A frontal lobotomy, a band-aid for a marriage ("we are so close we watch TV together"), a baby sitter. Yeah I know because I have been using the TV for ALL of these things because I thought it was the "easy" thing. I did it because I didn't know how to make things better. I didn't know how to make my marriage work, I didn't know how to be a good mom (I am getting passionate here). Now I know that it was the best that I could do at the time. I wasn't the parent or the partner I should have been because I didn't know what to do. Luckily I think I have found a key to doing both but tonight I just want to talk about being a better parent. So I'd like to welcome you to my own little TV Show... Momma Daria's Quick and Easy NO TV Time Projects (I think I need to work on the name.. it isn't QUITE There yet).
First a few thinks I think are true but I do not want to assume that you believe them too (I want them to be said). This is the foundation on which this commentary are based. If you DO NOT agree with the following statements then you should probably stop reading this until you do.
- We all do truly love our children.
- No one wants to hurt their kids... They just don't know what to do.
- We are all looking for answer and are willing to listen.
So let me share an hour of our day today. This was a "NO TV" project suggested by my very smart and talented Mother in Law (I am not being sarcastic). This took NO time and we were all "in the moment" together. EVEN ME. I love taking photos while doing activities but for this one I made sure I didn't so I could be involved too. It was AWESOME. So in order to make it easy I am sharing all the tips and tricks we discovered and some hint to change the activity to suit your family. This project was created to minimize mess because mess stresses out some people in our family and they would always want to clean up in the middle of projects. If you thrive in creative clutter then you won't need to follow my plan (and my guess is you are doing this already.)
The Setup: So Quick and Easy
- Put down a big sheet of paper (it should be scrap because you are going to throw it away).
- Sprinkles - Now for Lesley, who gets easily overwhelmed and excited, we limited it to 3 colors but if that isn't an issue then go NUTS!!!
- Muffin tins - 1 for each color.
- Refrigerated cookie dough - We used the break apart sugar cookies from the refrigerated section.
- "The Right Place" - This one you need to figure out. Maybe it is the floor, maybe it is a low picnic table, for us it was the counter which is Lesley's favorite place. The key to finding TRP is to make sure the kid's are comfortable NOT you. You will be having so much fun that you won't notice that your bottom has fallen asleep.
The Plan:
It was originally supposed to just be Mom and Lesley but she refused to let that happen. Todd was relaxing with some.... yeah you know it.... TV watching (because it is very hard to entertain a kid all day AND we are potty training Lesley now so our day had us wiped.. pun intended) and Lesley called Todd over to be with us. I was going to give you the step by step guide here but you don't need it. This is where you make the magic.... TURN OFF THE TV AND BE IN THE MOMENT WITH YOUR FAMILY (I am not yelling really... talking slowly and loud for emphasis).
Yes we did actually watch the cookies bake... It was an amazing 15 minutes. But you don't HAVE too.
Community Time:
Now it is your turn. Please leave a comment/suggestion for me and all the other people reading with your "quick and easy" NO TV Project. And if you don't have one that's ok. Pick a time when you want to bond with your family, try my project and let me know if it worked for you.
Preview of the Next Show (what is the official name for that section of a show):
My review of the Dollar section at Target.... And the best shopping trip ever with my friend Becks (of Harry, David, Becky, and Subir) and out strange Karma event. It prepare for this I think you all should go visit Target and check out the new Dollar Items. Becks, please leave a comment supporting me on how they really need to make sure they check it out.
Lots and lots and lots of love,
Momma Daria
3 comments:
That sounds like fun. I ripped into some people on the On Balance blog on WashingtonPost.com because they said basically "you aren't really on vacation if you bring your kids". You ever have one of those road trips with old friends where you crack each other up the whole way? Our family trips get like that sometimes. But we're also a quiet clan, and often all stare out the window thinking our own thoughts until we find one we want to share.
But it sounds like I don't need to explain, do I?
Oh, I do have a blogger.com blog at http://maxh42.blogspot.com/ ...which just tells you to go to my LiveJournal blog. I can't find how to list my friends on blogger.com. So far, I'm not impressed. I'm sticking with LJ. You and Todd really should try it. You can view all your friends' recent posts on one page, limit more personal posts to friends only, or even specific friends. Much nicer, IMNSHO. (Look it up, Ellen!)
what you describe sounds a lot like the times that I spend with my granddaughter. I have the time to focus 100% on her when we are together, so it I am very much in the moment. Last week we spent time creating a Christmas lamp out of a flashlight, construction paper, glitter paint and ribbon. I had a great time and she was proud of the result. May you have many more such moments with your family.
I don't own a TV (or a computer) so my three adn a half year old doesn't have it inher life. I actually don't do much with her, although we spend an hour every day, regardless of the weather walking our two huge dogs. She is very very good at self-entertaining, and she has very few toys. So our favorite no-TV activity would be wandering around outside, looking at sticks and stones, filling our birdfeeders, etc. On a recent trip to Maui I took almost no toys, and she ignored the few I packed. Instead, she gathered a coconut, a shell and some sticks, and gave them all names. The point of this is that their imaginations can make something out of anything. It is fantastic to see. In the interest of full disclosure, Todd, Meredith and his then-married parents were very very close freinds with my family. My dad and his went to high school together. I grew up going to the beach with them every summer, week-ends at their house in VA, etc. I check into his blog every now and then. We were very saddened to learn of your youngest daughter's death, and donated a set of the Carl books to the Fairfax Library. She died on my birhtday and so I'll think of her every year. i am sorry this his so long!! Back to the TV, the less you watch, the more you want to.
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