The TV/video game challenge.

One of the recommendations of the Robinson Curriculum is that you take your kids off all TV/Computer and video games to give their brains a chance to fully develop and to help them learn to think better for themselves.  I figured it was worth a try, but what a daunting task.  Pierce was pretty much addicted to his hour a day of video games and they both would watch as much TV as they could get away with.

So after some discussion - Brad and I figured that cold turkey was a bad idea and would probably cause some massive rebellion so we went for restriction instead.  We gave the kids 30 minutes a day each of media time.  This time included all TV/Computer and Video games.  Music and reading are unlimited.  Then we told them they could either use their minutes each day or save them up and use them as an hour at a time as they liked.  I put up a small whiteboard in my office with the days of the week on it to track the accumulation and usage.  We do have family TV or movie night from time to time and this is free for them because we are all there spending time together.

The first 3 days they used up every one of their minutes.  We had a rough couple of days with them coming in and telling me how bored they were etc, but I would give them suggestions and send them on their way.  Then an amazing thing happened, they just stopped caring about TV or video games and found other stuff to do.  This was GREAT until they started accumulating 300+ minutes at a time that they could not really use because 60 minutes a day was the max.  So then we decided that since they didn't have allowances (they couldn't keep up their end of the chore bargain to earn one) that we would allow them to turn in their minutes for money to buy things they wanted when we were at the store. 

We had some ground rules, it had to be educational, outdoor, crafty or otherwise useful stuff, no garbage or collectible toys or junk.  Then we settled on giving them 5 cents for every minute (which works well for us, anyone else trying this might need a higher or lower per minute price - the system is very adaptable).  We noticed right away that each day they counted the minutes as money and they would find things they wanted (Pierce wanted a reading pillow that cost $20 he saved up his "minutes" and we bought it for him, Willow wanted some yarn for her knitting machine and she got to choose all her own colors and textures).  We also scheduled outings to JoAnn fabrics or Michaels or bed Bath and Beyond or wherever for a week or two in advance so they had time to save up. 

Along the way I also discovered that taking away their "minutes" was a wonderful consequence for certain infractions, such as being mean to each other or someone else, talking back, refusing to do chores or school work etc. 

Pierce's behavior has improved so much I feel like I have a new kid. It has also let me experiment on what his tolerance level is and long he can play video games until he turns into "nasty tempered back talk boy".  With anything other than the moving wii games its about 30 minutes.  The moving games he has to participate in Wii sports and such he is fine after an hour and he never gets more than that anyway.   TV doesn't seem to affect him this way but he watches very little of it now unless it is with Brad and I.  Willow has spent her time doing all kinds of crafty things, making cards, writing, reading more than she used to.  They both prefer to save their minutes and not "waste" them on TV (I know it's great!! LOL).

It has been the best thing to come out of this curriculum so far and even in the school free month of August it has made a HUGE change in our day to day lives.  The kids are nicer, happier and busier and are much more able to entertain themselves with games, crafts, legos, reading etc (gee all the things we used to do when we were kids LOL).  Coincidentally Pierce reads an average of 1-3 hours a day... for fun.  Ahh a boy after my own heart!  Willow reads occasionally but she prefers to be busy making and doing stuff.  They both spend a lot of time outdoors playing with friends and riding their bikes around.  I am not too worried about the rest of the year since they will be pretty busy with school stuff to replace a lot of the outdoor summer play time.

Coming next blog... RC recommendation number 2...