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 2005-02-03 9:51 AM |
molto veloce mama  9311   |  Subject: TVtplauche - 2005-02-03 7:42 AM autumn - 2005-02-02 5:38 PMshe doesn't get to watch tv at all and movies only selectively. Sorry if this is thread hijacking, but this TV absence is a wonderful thing. Our children don't watch Television either and our movie selection is severely filtered and what a difference it makes. In order to watch TV (like the state of the union last night) I have to dislodge the TV from it's cabinet, carry it to the bedroom and attach the cable, then go outside to the cable line and reconnect it. We have access to TV but you have to really want to see something to go thru the effort to see it. It is amazing how much time television wastes and how quickly things disintegrate when it's a presence in our home. Anyways, good for you! thought i would start a new thread for this one. i totally agree on the tv thing. growing up, we had very limited tv time, and the tvs we had were these tiny little things hidden away in cabinets. when my husband and bought our first home, we didn't want a tv to be the focal point of our home. so, my husband's old tv ended up in the basement, unplugged. there it has stayed. over the last 5 years, it has been taken out for things like the olympics and the tour. after 9/11 we borrowed a small tv to hide in the bedroom so that we could watch the news coverage at night. listening to public radio was, i thought, leaving too much to the imagination. little did i know that it was worse than i ever could have thought. i digress...we now have the tv plugged in in the basement, so that we can watch videos while we ride on the trainer. can't wait to get back on the road. its been nice to catch up on the news, but all the ads are making me twitch. if i'm lucky, pbs will have something interesting on when i get on the trainer on saturday. i can see how easy it would be for parents to use the tv as a babysitter. my kids become so relaxed and zoned out when they watch tv. even though i know its not great for kids, i can't fault some parents for doing this. in this day and age, many parents don't have a 'village' of family or friends to help on the hard days, so tv is it. i know many great parents who do this and don't feel great about it, but if they are at the breaking point, its better than screaming at their kids or worse. that said, i've been lucky to find other things we all enjoy to do when i'm feeling stressed. training has been very helpful (one of the reasons i'm always on the look out for other moms to recruit into the sport). i can pop the girls in the burley or the jogging stroller (when its warm enough) and go for a ride or run. i'm healthier and less stressed for it, and the girls get to either nap, or watch the ducks on the pond, the trees changing through the seasons, other people running or biking, etc. they both love these adventures. we're also library addicts. walking there and back is an adventure in itself, and the girls can pick out books that look interesting to them. in the winter months, we watch more dvds on the computer than i would like (then again, we pick them out, no ads, etc...so not so awful). we've also been listening to stories on cd. actually, ella is listening to one right now. she can sit and draw and listen to stories for as long as i'll let her! anyway, glad to know there is another parent on the same wavelength. it'll be interesting to see if this starts any kind of discussion. |
| 2005-02-03 10:44 AM in reply to: #112018 |
Extreme Veteran 508  Kennesaw, GA | Subject: RE: TV Thanks for picking this up as a thread. When I got married (9 years ago) we only had a rabbit ear T.V. antenna for our old hand me down television set and on our meager income didn't think cable was worth it. We only got a few channels so we rarely watched T.V. We were able to spend a good bit of time together and it greatly helped us in starting our marriage on the right way. Then we moved to a townhome where the reception was non-existant, but the cable worked. We tried to get the cable company to turn it off many times because we thought it was stealing, but they never would. We then started watching regularly and after a while noticed we just didn't have time and our days were so busy. The children started with their favorite shows and we noticed that they were saying they were "soooo bored" and they were getting testy. So we unplugged the cable and our lives began to get much richer and fuller. Then I built our current home (side note- I personally on nights & weekends physically built my own home from the ground up) and after some discusion we got cable just for a month to make sure everything worked like it needed to. A year later we still had it and the children and our time reverted back to testy time constrained days. Then one weeked I was building a fence and the post hole cut the cable line. I pulled the cable out of the ground slightly and left it. It has been cut and exposed for a few years. I have to take a short piece of copper wire and twist the two pieces together to get a signal in the house. You (Autumn) mentioned the activities that you do as a family and ours is very similar. We spend time doing things together and the quality of our lives is much better than it would be with the TV. Even on the weekends when we let the children watch videos I see a difference in the way we interact. On a similar note our dishwasher broke about 3 weeks ago. We were going to buy a new one that weekend, but have enjoyed doing dishes together with the children every evening that I just havn't thought myself wise to buy the thing yet. |
| 2005-02-03 11:22 AM in reply to: #112018 |
Pro 5153 Helena, MT | Subject: RE: TV You know. I really wish I was TV-less again. My old roommate and I had a TV, but we put a decorative cover over it and put knick-knacks on the top. We'd uncover it to watch a movie about once a week, but other than that, it was never on. That was probably the best two years of my life intellectually. I read stuff and studied alot. Revolutionary! I really don't think I could rip my boyfriend away from The Simpsons, though. So I guess the TV stays. :-( |
| 2005-02-03 12:40 PM in reply to: #112018 |
Elite 3972 Reno | Subject: RE: TV Good testimonials, guys. TV, or rather the way it is used as it IS just an object, is about 95% evil! It makes us numb to real events, accustoms us to totally passive mediocre entertainment, isolates us from each other, and encourages unhealthy live styles. That said, there are some good programs out there, and sometimes one needs some down time. It is like a car, or a hunting rifle, or any other object that requires responsibility in owning and using it. I did not own a tv until I was 33 - yes, I grew up with one, but never had one as an adult on my own until then.... I still wonder why I broke down. Until recently, I kept it in a closet (where it was hooked up), and I still do not have cable. Last year I removed the couch from the room it is in as part of my own getting off the couch program - if you want to watch something bad enough, sit on the office chair. Now we have made a change that is both good and bad. My husband and I really like movies (netflix rules - see below) and, being newly weds, wanted to watch them from the room with a couch so we could snuggle. However, I would die of embarassment to have a TV in the great room permanently like we worship it. I wonder if the worst we could do to each other happened, we all perish in the nuclear fallout, and archeologists from another planet come and see that every home is centralized around a shrine to the almighty TV! So, I bought a cart (actually an industrial shop cart) to move it back and forth - I just wish it fit in the closet, but it does tuck behind a door OK.... New Netflix addicts! you can get national geographic specials and foriegn movies - and they are so efficient! Netflix executives need to take over our governent agencies - especially the INS! I don't think we have watched evening TV since we signed up for it because we always have a movie. I would hate it when I was ready to relax and be entertained and all there was was "reality TV" or really bad sitcoms that all looked alike. When I want to be entertained, I want it to be by professionals enacting their Art - not by a bunch yahoos chosed because of willingness to go topless or whatever..... |
| 2005-02-03 12:48 PM in reply to: #112104 |
Pro 5153 Helena, MT | Subject: RE: TV Hmmmm, if Netflix ran the INS..... Orchards in Western CO could order 3 migrant workers at a time and when they got tired, they'd get sent back and three more would be sent. Interesting..... ;-) |
| 2005-02-03 12:55 PM in reply to: #112106 |
Elite 3972 Reno | Subject: RE: TV kimj81 - 2005-02-03 12:48 PM Hmmmm, if Netflix ran the INS..... Orchards in Western CO could order 3 migrant workers at a time and when they got tired, they'd get sent back and three more would be sent. Interesting..... ;-) hehe! Not quite what I was thinking, but that might be something they would explore... I just want some efficiency! We had to wait a month for an appointment to get fingerprints. After being married 3 1/2 months, my husband still cannot work legally and the CO DMV will not give him a driver's license. |
| 2005-02-03 12:56 PM in reply to: #112018 |
Extreme Veteran 404 Chicago, Il | Subject: RE: TV When my sweetheart and I were having a hard time a while back, we realized how habitual it had become to eat dinner in front of the TV and not really talk. So we shut off the set and found each other again in the dining room (really have to get more comfortable chairs in there ...). Now that we're aware of the danger, we can regulate better, and when it has been a really tough day, we let ourselves watch Jeopardy while we munch away. I have a couple friends who grew up without TV, and they are so appreciative now of that fact. There are a couple shows I do like to watch, but mostly we use it for movies or when we're too mentally tired to read or play rummy or work on a puzzle or play the piano or or or ... (oh, and since I own netflix stock, I hope everyone on the site signs up!) amanda |
| 2005-02-03 12:59 PM in reply to: #112108 |
Pro 5153 Helena, MT | Subject: RE: TV Oh Mary, I see. You want to be able to send your hubby back and get a new one. ;-) I knew what you were talking about and I actually have another friend who had similar difficulties when her German husband came to live with her in the U.S. I think most of her problems are straightened out now. I can put you two in contact if you like... |
| 2005-02-03 1:09 PM in reply to: #112115 |
Elite 3972 Reno | Subject: RE: TV kimj81 - 2005-02-03 12:59 PM Oh Mary, I see. You want to be able to send your hubby back and get a new one. ;-) LMAO We still have enough variety going..... but maybe that would start a new thing for the 7 year itch! It is just proceedures and time - we have legal advice and a number of friends at some point in the stream themselves. The INS requires new things and do not have enough personnel to keep up with demand in a timely fashion. It is hard to remain patient, but I think we are closing in on at least the next step. |
| 2005-02-03 1:11 PM in reply to: #112018 |
Extreme Veteran 386 Fort Worth, TX | Subject: RE: TV When I was 7, and an ABSOLUTE tv addict, my family moved to Germany. Dad was stationed at a NATO base, so we didn't have the usual US base amenities. Therefore we lived out in the country instead of an American enclave in the middle of Europe. For the first year we lived there we didn't have ANY tv. NONE. ZERO. ZIP!! AND we lived on a street full of German kids, who I couldn't talk to because of the language barrier. This made *2* things happen in my life that I am profoundly grateful for. 1) Learned the joy of books in my life. I be came a voracious reader. I sped through all the books I found. In fact, by age 10 I was reading the Thorn Birds & John Jakes novels. To this day I alway have reading material with me nor can I sleep until I've read at least a page in my book.2) I quickly became very proficient in the German language. We did get a tv after the first year, but the only thing we could do is watch movies, and German tv shows. Every once in a while people in the states would tape shows and send them over. The only thing I ever really missed was Sat morning cartoons (and Dukes of Hazzard) so instead I watched The Parents Trap EVERY Sat morning. I could recite that entire movie from memory  Kristen |
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