24 Hours
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Is JBJ watching my household? Yikes. This is a perfect topic, especially this week! Here’s why:On Saturday I was interviewed (via phone) by the Census Bureau (kid you not). They wanted a detailed account of the past 24 hours as a family: 4am Sat to 4am Sun, to see where time was spent personally and professionally. I smugly obliged thinking 'Cool! I would love a random set of ears to listen about my family!'. I mean c'mon,…we have waffles with syrup for breakfast and train for triathlon races! How cute is that? Yeah, bring it on Census Lady!
Um, yeah, well... here’s a nutshell of the first few hours
4:00 asleep
6:30- we all wake up and and snuggle in bed (aw, aren't we cute?)
7:00 breakfast w/waffles and syrup (still so cute!)
7:30 parents on computer/kids watch some TV
8:30 kids play/parents clean house
9:30 I’m on bike ride/dad on computer and kids watch some TV (hm. really?)
10:00 kids play/dad computer-house stuff
Okay…so the kids have watched ~1.5 hrs of TV. Not too bad for an entire day right? And here’s the afternoon:
11:30 kids/mom eat lunch together, dad on bike ride (okay, feel better… aren’t we cute?)
12:00 kids and mom play together
1:00 mom computer/cleaning house, and kids watch TV (ouch, really again?)
2:00 go visit friends
4:00 I go swim/Dad house stuff/ kids watch TV (OMG, did I just say that again!?)
5:00 we all eat dinner together (kinda cute?)
6:00 kid pj’s, m/dad computer and kids watch some more TV (No! wow. WOW! really???)
7:15 kids in bed
That’s 3 more hours of TV! At this point I haven’t registered the daily total, but I feel my cheeks flush as I quietly muffle ‘and kids watched some TV’ to Census Lady for the umpteenth time. ugh.
Honestly, the interview was a 'TV' colon cleansing for me. seriously. I’m ALL for ‘a little TV here and there’...but ~5 hours?
People use 'food journals' to change eating habits, right? Well, I highly recommend keeping a 'TV' journal of the PAST 24 hrs, if you're curious how much TV happens in your house (and you can't find a Census Lady to interview you) :)
Comments
I actually found that my son could watch tv/play wii ALL DAY if allowed and so to get a handle on behavior problems and help me be more mindful, we made a program where he had to "earn" minutes (4 stars=30 minutes etc). It has worked really well in behavior management for both of us!