From Media to Make Believe
I am going to try to persuade you to do something radical. Are you ready?
It’s called a Media Fast. And our family has benefitted greatly from it.
Media Fast is simply shutting off all media for one week: tv, video games, music, and social media. For the first day, it seems as though there is nothing to do. The kids are walking around shell shocked, and a little mopey. The second day, the old survival instinct kicks in and they start fighting back against the boredom. By the end of the week, you are not quite sure you’ll have time for tv ever again. 🙂
What happens when you have a media fast?
Your kids interact with each other more. They talk and play games with each other. They tune in to the world around them. They’ll suggest you go out and visit grandma or a friend.
Your kids will read. Reading will replace stories on the tv. Take a tote bag to the library and fill up!
Your kids become creative. My kids tell more stories, make their own music, paint, craft and write letters.*
Your kids will use their imagination. They’ll be forced to! And imagination is a rare and beautiful thing to have in days like ours. My younger two make soups of mud, sticks and flowers. They play store under the picnic table. They terrorize the geese- okay, just saying that you do need to supervise their fun. 🙂
Your kids will be bored. Why is this not a bad thing? Because when you are bored, you are forced to entertain yourself. Although boredom sometimes leads to whining**, it can also lead to daydreaming, thinking and other quiet pursuits. My father is one of the smartest, “common sense” people I know, and I attribute it to long hours of time spent outdoors, alone with his thoughts while working on his cranberry bog.
What else would you do if you had no media?
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*My second child, Emily, has always told animal stories to Holly and Hope at bedtime. She has an ongoing story about Wendy and Peter Pan, who my youngest girls recently found out were not the Wendy and Peter Pan from the movie, but were actually a gluttonous hedgehog and a turtle with rude manners. This made the story that much more funny.
**Want to know a sure cure for whining? When your child whiiiiiiiines that he is bored, be quick to suggest two things: a chore or a game. I swear by this method. 🙂
We gave away our tv two years ago and haven’t looked back. But we haven’t done a full-on media fast for more than a weekend! It makes me shudder to think of a week without my computer. (Maybe that means I could use a week off, huh?)
I know, Anne. Me too! It was really hard even for me! We even took a break from music and radio. Talk about being “alone” with your thoughts, but I actually was amazed at what my thoughts really were like when all was “quiet.” I found that even good things, like music, masked a lot and the quiet forced me to face my own thoughts. Some of them were quite negative! :/
Great time to start this too, as the children are out of school. The things they can do are limitless! Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely pass this challenge on to many mothers that I know.
Love this idea!