Reasons to Be a No TV Family

Up until I was around forty, we were a typical American family with more than one television in our house. I imagined I was being a really good mother because I didn't allow our children to have a television in their rooms, but that was pretty much as far as it went. I reasoned that my children were mature, smart and able to handle much of what was on television. This was also more than ten years ago, so anything with a lot of violence or blatant sexuality was always aired after ten o'clock.

But as time went on, and my oldest children grew up, it was clear that TV had had a bad influence, not only on the children, but on me, too. I was addicted to soap operas. I loved series like Knott's Landing and Dallas. My children watched and loved "Three's Company" and other shows like that. It was soon apparent that those shows had an influence on our outlook on life.

As I saw these things happening, and I had more children, I tried to limit our television watching. By the time child number five and six were born, we had pretty much limited it to cartoons and old movies. As our minds grew purer, however, I began to see that the cartoons were not good things to watch, either. The kids seemed to always be smarter than their parents. They always seems to have smart mouths. They did things I wouldn't allow my children to do. I remember being very convicted one day, watching a cartoon character belch out a song. Yes, it was very funny, but how was I supposed to teach my child that burping was rude, when we laughed at a cartoon character for doing it?

And the commercials that were aired during the cartoons were awful. I remember the turning point for me was when they kept airing "Married With Children" commercials during my child's favorite cartoon. The commercials were sexy and profane, and I had to quit letting my children watch that channel, just to avoid the adult commercials.

Another thing was that when we were watching TV, we were not interacting with each other. Once the TV was gone, for one thing, I had to get up earlier on Saturday mornings because the TV was no longer there to babysit for me. That was good for me, although it felt like pain at the time. When we had the TV, we were always shushing the toddlers, telling the little ones to sit down, move, be quiet, wait for the commercial. I am very glad we don't do that anymore.

Now that I no longer have a TV to babysit for me, I have to teach my children how to entertain themselves when I am busy. And even better, I sometimes invite them to come learn how to help me..

Child care experts are now saying that children should not watch TV before the age of three. I know that because we don't have a TV, I have had to be creative giving my children other things to do. Since we are a homeschooling family, I try and make most of their toys and books learning and character building things. I think that has really worked to their advantage. They don't 'veg' out in front of a TV, they are always playing and interacting with each other.

I also recently cared for a foster child who was born to drug addicted parents. She came our home at the age of six months with a host of health and sensory problems. I loved her and worked with her until I had to return her to her biological family, a great aunt and great grandmother got custody of her when she was twenty six months old. Because they worked, she had to go to day care for the first time in her life. The day care put her in a class with other children her age, but soon had to move her to a classroom with older children because she was so smart and mature. I believe that was partly because she had spent twenty months in a no television home, especially based on the findings of experts.

And one more thing, it's been good for me not to watch television. My mind is no longer filled with the fantasy world of television programs. I don't watch reality shows. I don't see commercials - which helps me keep my 'want' list down, and stay within my budget. I only see the real, true world I put before my eyes, a world with real people I can reach out and touch. All those hours I used to devote to TV are now devoted to living. Life is much better!!