Turn It Off for a Week - The Challenge

This upcoming week is Screen-Free Week.  That means from April 18^th – 24^th, the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood is challenging families to turn off the screen whether it be TV, video games, Youtube, Hulu.com or wherever else you get your screen entertainment from and turn on something else; like your creative, Turn-It-On light bulbs. 

Find some fun, outdoor/indoor activities for the kids, take time to finish that novel that’s been sitting on your nightstand for months and take in more walks.  But also use this time to build in some Quiet Time.  You can practice together as a family or alone.  Try these steps out for starters:

• Give each day a new theme to focus on by explaining it first.  Make it like a mini lesson.  Then find a comfy corner to retreat to and digest that thought.  Set the time frame up in the beginning so it can be agreed upon how much time  of the day or evening you will carve out.
• Use pictures to illustrate the theme and/or provide short pieces of the written word like a poem or a quote to keep your mind in the present.
• If you have an easel, set it up with paints and crayons so your little one can follow their quiet, creative spirit.  You might hear them singing to themselves and that’s okay.  Their fresh minds work very differently from us bigger people.  But they benefit from the structure and calmness just as much; if not more.
• Create a beginning and ending to the process, like how one does warm-ups and cool-downs to transition into and out of a physical workout.  Perhaps to start off, have a snack time where you laugh and chat while making some tasty treats.  And have a full meal already prepared to sit down to for when the reflection time is over.   
• Talk about the process and how it made you feel at the end.  If you’re alone, turn on some music to take you out of the mode and continue with the rest of your daily or evening routine.

Who knows.  By the end of the week, you might end up pitching the TV altogether.  If anything, you're encouraging good critical thinking habits.  Or simply taking time out to get to understand the people you love a little bit better.  Whatever you get from it, I'm convinced it can only help stimulate healthy communication and decision making skills.

Good Luck!