Screen Free Saturdays

We've recently introduced "Screen Free Saturdays" in our home.  This means no TV, DVD, Wii, DS, Computer, internet, smartphones and more!  And this is a fairly big deal in our family.

Why did we do it?

We've always believed that our kids "screen time" should be limited.  We stopped just having the TV on all the time when they were babies as we didn't like what was on it entering their precious growing minds.  But TV crept in.  Videos and DVDs were a great entertainment and also a learning tool for our toddlers and later children.  The boys went through fazes of Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Play School and Teletubbies, then later Ben 10 and similar bigger boy shows.  They also now love to play on the Wii and on their DSs, and also hop on the computer from time to time.  They are given a portion of screen time in the morning and the afternoon (unless we're busy) and sometimes we watch something as a family.  It seems like a lot, but our TV goes off at other times, and the boys have to ask permission to use their computer games. 

What our children watch has also always been monitored, with movies and games rated above their age definitely being out, and when they watch TV, they are restricted to the children's programs on ABC or some of the commercial channels. We watch a small amount of other TV together (such as a bit of Better Homes and Gardens once a week).  We only have one TV (which also has the Wii attached) and one computer.  But both kids have DSs and we both have smartphones.

I've noticed that some people's children can ignore a screen in a room -  getting bored with the program or just not being interested.  Ours aren't like that.  If a TV or computer screen is on, they are transfixed, taking in all of the information being given out by the screen. Why they are like this, I don't know, but they are.

Compared to many households, screens are limited in our home, but we still see obvious effects of too much screen time.  No, no-one has developed square eyes, but attention spans, imaginative play and tempers are quite clearly altered by long spans of screen time - in all of us.

My small children are not likely to become obese from sitting watching TV frequently, but we wanted to show them that a day doesn't have to work around the screens in our lives, and encourage them to find alternative activities.  We figured that this wasn't a bad thing for us either, so as a family, we decided to introduce screen free Saturdays.  A day with no screens (with the exception being answering our mobiles) at all for any of us or anyone else in our home on the day.

What do we do instead?

It should be easy right?  Its not!  Again, I'd like to point out that we don't just sit and watch TV or spend all day on the computer, but when you are used to hopping on Facebook, googling a recipe, watching a movie in the evening or chilling with a computer game for a bit, the day suddenly stretches in front of you - long and screenless.  So we created a list of screen free alternatives that we could turn to when we ran out of ordinary screen free activities - kind of a kick start so we didn't sit twiddling our thumbs waiting for Sunday.  Many of the items are things we do anyway, but for some reason, might need reminding that they are good things to do.  Here they are:

• Write a letter
• Read a book or magazine
• Enter a magazine competition (the kids have magazine subscriptions)
• Play a board game
• Do a puzzle
• Work in the garden
• Cook something
• Go for a bike ride of a walk
• Draw/Paint/Sketch
• Make something - craft
• Play on the trampoline or in the cubby
• Put on music and dance
• Listen to audiobooks or the radio
• Play with the pets
• Play and explore in the garden
• Tidy your room (my addition - don't think anyone will be doing it voluntarily!)

• And when the kids go to bed - pour a glass of wine and sit enjoy each others company.

And here's some more ideas.

Its working for us and I hope we'll keep doing it - Saturdays feel like our time now, without the outside world screaming at us through various screens.