I'm going to make an embarrassing admission. We are television junkies in this house. Introvert Dad has the TV on all the time, he even finds it comforting to fall asleep with the TV on in the background. With the kids, it's often used as a crutch because they will watch happily for hours. Or sometimes they won't even be watching it and it will just be on as background noise while they play something else. They also love playing on my iPad, on the computer, the Nintendo DS, and the LeapPad. And I love farting around on the computer, whether it's reading, Twitter, Facebook, or my current game addiction, Cnady Crush. There's no lack of screens in this house, that's for sure. When my oldest was a baby, I would plunk her in the high chair with a Baby Einstein video playing and she was absolutely enthralled. I was under no delusions that those videos would make her smarter, it was just a way to get things done around the house, or eat a meal in peace while she was occupied. Again I'll admit, we used it too much. I regret it and feel pretty awful when I think back, but I did better with the other two and haven't really used them (incidentally, the other two weren't interested in those videos as babies).
Now that everyone's home for the summer, I started really thinking about just how much TV they watch. I started to feel a bit sick and realized how much time we were all wasting. I admire any family that goes completely TV-free, but there's no way Introvert Dad would go for that since it's his preferred method of relaxing. So instead, I decided to limit screen time to one hour a day for each kid. That might still be a lot to some, but for us, the TV was literally on all day, so this is a big adjustment for the kids. That one hour includes any screen time, so not just the television.
There is some flexibility in there, since I'm not a complete ogre control freak. If we want to have a family movie night on a Friday, of course we'll do that. Or if it's a rainy day and the kids want to play a Mario Party game board, that takes longer than 30 minutes, I'll let them. I love listening to the two older kids play together and come up with ways to keep themselves entertained. I'm still learning how to keep them busy when boredom hits, and thought I'd offer some tips of what can be done instead of TV-watching.
1. Colouring. I keep a stack of colouring books on the dining room table with markers, crayons, and pencil crayons. Right now this is the kids' preferred activity when they wake up in the morning. They'll sit quietly and colour while I nurse the baby, have a coffee, and get breakfast started.
2. Tub Time. For some reason this is an excellent boredom buster in this house. My oldest is getting to the point where soon she won't want to bathe with her younger brother, but for now it works for us. They will literally play in there for an hour and I can sit on the toilet and read a book. I let them take baths in our big soaker tub in the master bathroom since I can fold laundry on my bed and still have my eyes on them. We also have these great Animal Planet toys that look very realistic - sharks, a killer whale, sperm whale, nd a few little other sea animals. I don't think they're actually marketed as bath toys, but my son absolutely adores them. I'll let my older daughter bring Littlest Pet Shop figurines in the tub and she enjoys that very much.
3. Board Games. Some of our favourites are Life on Earth Bingo, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, CandyLand, Hungry Hungry Hippos (not recommended when the baby's sleeping), any sort of "pop" game where you pop the dice in a dome (we have a Dora Pop game), and Memory.
4. Play outside. This could be just playing in the backyard - we have a playhouse and a climber out there - or going out for a walk. We have a duck pond that's only about a ten minute walk from our house. I love going there with the kids because we see all sorts of neat things. We saw a mama duck with her babies, we've caught frogs and froglets and turtles (we release them after watching them for a bit), butterflies, and other bugs. We even found a "secret place" off the beaten path with a makeshift bridge across a shallow stream, big rocks, climbing trees, and a section of tall swishy grass. I love letting them explore nature.
5. Bike rides. I can't do this with the baby since she's too small to wear a helmet in our bike trailer, but it's fun for the older two. We're still working on getting rid of the training wheels for both of the big kids.
6. Head out to the park. We have some nice parks in our neighbourhood so we try to check them all out and find our favourites. If it's a far walk, I'll put the baby and the four year old in the double stroller and let my oldest ride her scooter to the park. There are many bike paths in our neighbourhood which makes getting around with kids on wheels easier.
7. Read books. We'll take a stack of books into the living room and just read together. Sunshine and I read Charlotte's Web together last month, which was a good introduction to chapter books.
8. Just playing. I don't even have to intervene and the kids will find their own fun. Boredom's great for the imagination. They'll play house, school, vet clinic, and camping. They'll invent scenarios for their My Little Ponies and toy cars to interact with each other. I love eavesdropping on their games sometimes since the plots can become pretty elaborate.
9. Dance Party. This one's pretty straighforward and doesn't normally last very long in this house since I can only take so much. But the kids love a good "dance break" a la Octonauts.
10. Baking and crafts. I love to bake and can be a bit of a control freak, but I'm learning to let go a bit and let the kids help out. Sunshine is currently obsessed with a Dora & Diego cookbook she received as a gift awhile ago. So we've tried a few recipes. Unfortunately, I have a huge weakness for bakes goods so I end up eating too much. I'm trying to lose weight so I use up a lot of willpower resisting treats. Crafts take a bit more planning and I used to be really anal about the kids using up "nice" craft supplies. But again, I've learned to let go and allow them to be creative. You'd be amazed at how easily you can amuse a four year old with Play-doh, toothpicks, and craft feathers.
11. Go on an Outing. We found a cool self-serve frozen yogurt place not far from our place and the kids love going there. They get to choose their flavour and operate the machine, add fruit, candy, and sauce. You pay by weight so I only let them fill the bowls about half full, which is plenty for school-aged kids. We've made it our mission this summer to find the best splash pad in the city, so if the weather's nice, we pack a picnic and go check one out. We found a really neat one yesterday that was unusual compared to most of the others. It was constructed out of wood with a trough system, a pirate ship, and a slide. The kids pump the water to make it flow through wheels and troughs. I'm sure they would've stayed all day if I let them.
12. Chores. Surprisingly, my kids are truly excited over doing chores. I found this excellent list of age-appropriate chores for kids on Pinterest. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon enough, but for now I'll enjoy it while I can. My oldest is becoming a real pro at unloading the dishwasher and my son loves choosing which napkins to put on the table for dinner. I like seeing them take pride in our home and I feel like they're learning good life skills.
I'm hoping that we'll keep up the limits on screen time once the school year starts up again. Surprisingly, the kids have adjusted to the change really well and they've become much more thoughtful of what they choose to watch or what they choose to play on the computer. Do you limit screen time in your home? What are some of the things you do to keep your kids occupied?
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