Well, I'll be damned.

[shadesong]

It worked.

I told Elayna when she got back here from Camp Grandpa that, during the school year, she will be limited to half an hour of TV per day on weekdays and a hour a day on weekends (not counting Movie Night). She bitched and whined a little bit to start with, and negotiated a little more time provided that it was educational TV (Discovery channel or Animal Planet). And then settled down and accepted it.

So today, she'd used up all of her time and wanted more. So I reminded her of an option that I'd set forth: if she reads for half an hour, she can watch half an hour more of TV.

And she did it.

She sat down and read the first two chapters of Superfudge by Judy Blume. And I'd have let her read longer than half an hour, but she has good time sense and asked if it was time yet at like 28 minutes. But yeah. She read, she watched TV, and I just now told her that it was time to turn the TV off, and she did. No argument. Cool.

Off to play checkers with her again; one more round.

Comments

[skylion.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to you. That sounds like a great plan. We had similar ones in place for awhile, but always fell back into the old TV habit, when we got too busy. Keep it up. Very proud of both of you.

[azurelunatic]

It helps when the adults in the household are unfond of TV.

Re:

[skylion.livejournal.com]

Not that we really liked TV, it was just so simple to get swamped with every detail, it was so darn easy to put in a video and distract them. Shame on us for doing it.

[azurelunatic]

We've been gradually phasing that out. We started saying, "Why don't you play with [X interesting toy] instead?" and then, if a fuss was made, sending the fusser to either the corner or bed, depending on the type and volume of fuss.

Weekends are still filled with all sorts of dragon-smacking loudness, though... I don't mind the anime in the mornings half as much as the gods-forsaken Drakan.

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

Go you! SuperMommy! :)

*giggle* Not an issue I ever had to deal with, during my mommy-years, since we didn't (and Mark *still* doesn't) have a TV.

[azurelunatic]

I've never been on the kids' side of it, being that we didn't have one either while I was growing up. Before I got too hooked, I had the fortune to get to know BJ's household, where the damned thing was on all day, unless no one was in the house. BJ's father was King of the Remote, and would aggressively channel-surf if the program bored him. He enjoyed the worse of the religious channels, and I was very glad to avoid Family Time at that household.

[stronae.livejournal.com]

Hehe! Al (roommate) and I flipped channels to find Christian Dogma (the fat guy with the beady eyes and the small glasses at the pulput) on ch. 14, and Joseph Campbell on ch. 15. Going back and forth in short time intervals was *really* entertaining. "I feel the Word coming forth, glowing and invigorating my --flip-- penis that was used in this culture to signify a particular myth that --flip-- God reigns supreme after all." Good fun. :)

[azurelunatic]

For extra-tasty fun and amusement, try testing the two VCR setup with Barney's Circus Adventure in one machine, and the tape of Dubya's September 11 address to the nation in the other machine... that's also surreal.

[stronae.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sounds brutal. I take it you're speaking from personal experience?

[azurelunatic]

Oh yes. We were trying to get the VCRs set up to copy tapes, and somehow we wound up switching between one and the other being displayed, with the two expendable tapes...

Re:

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

My parents never cared how much TV we watched, as long as we got all our homework done. At least I don't *remember* ever being told I was watching too much TV...but then, I was the tomboy in the family. I was outside a LOT. But I remember watching a lot of TV, too.

My parents were really big on the, "as long as you fulfill your responsibilities, the rest of your life is up to you." Now, I remember getting told I couldn't watch TV until my room was clean. But they *had* to bribe me to do that.

[azurelunatic]

Locally, Nephew's TV/Playstation use is an hour schooldays, or a movie (the whole movie through is kosher); weekend TV/Playstation use is limited only by our patience.

I'm hoping, eventually, for more intelligent uses of time than hack & slash games, though...

[amai-unmei.livejournal.com]

Judy Blume started my love of reading! "Superfudge" is the penultimate children's book. Love it!

You're such a good mom!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

So what's the ultimate children's book? :)


C

[grittynoir.livejournal.com]

Nice going, ubermom!

Don't forget the Roald Dahl to go along with the Judy Blume. :)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

She's already read "The BFG". :)




[nukewolf.livejournal.com]

Discover Channel kicks ass, good choice. Discovery and History are easily half of the TV I watch.

Reading

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I'm glad that worked and that she acceded to the compromise. It just goes to show that you're doing a really good job at raising her.

Have you heard Spider Robinson's compromise? The children had to turn their lights out at a specific time. Unless they were reading; they could read for an hour longer...