The first couple of days were hard, I cannot tell a lie. I almost caved and let them watch just a little TV so that I could have some peace and quiet and get some work done. But I didn't. This is why no screens is easier for me to adhere to than attempting to limit the time. Owen whined a lot, but wanted to get out of the house more because he was bored. This was one of the desired results. However, Emmett only wanted to stay home and build with LEGOs all day. Literally, ALL. DAY. So it was difficult to try and please them both. I finally got them to agree on swimming at the Y one day to get out of the house a while. All in all I can say we survived, barely. Best quote of the week goes to Owen: "Mommy, you know what's my favorite part of this whole no screen thing? Going to sleep at night."
Thursday evening we headed out of town to my parents' house in VA, 2 hours away. For the first time since I can remember, the boys made the trip without their DVD player. They played with toys some and we all listened to music. It went surprisingly well and I was glad I decided to hold out. Owen actually fell asleep for the last hour of the trip, which he rarely ever does when watching movies.
Friday morning we headed up to Pennsylvania, a 6 hour drive. The boys wanted to ride in my parents' car, and we had already decided previously that this trip would be the one exception to screen rule. The boys were allowed to watch DVDs the entire way in the car, and you would have thought it was Christmas morning. I consider this a win, not a failure. One of my goals is to turn screen time into the exception instead of the rule for our household. In the past, surprising them with pizza and movie night used to be lack luster when they had already been watching TV as much as they wanted all day.
Throughout the weekend in PA there were just a few other times we allowed them to watch TV because we were in a rental house where the options for things to do were limited. The reason for our trip was my cousin's wedding, which was absolutely beautiful and took place on a gorgeous farm out in the country. They also had their cousins to play with and spent many hours running all over creation together, which allowed us some much needed adult time with family. I could not have been happier watching them wear themselves out on a farm without thought or mention of devices.
It did seem that the more screen time they had, the more we noticed some of the old disturbing behaviors that we almost didn't realize were gone until they returned. Whining when asked to turn off the TV and some overall grumpiness and unwillingness to cooperate at times. I am not sure if the moodiness was more a result of the screen time or more from the fact that they were outside of their usual routine and comfort zone. This is something we will have to investigate further as this experiment continues.
Upon returning home, it seems moods have improved significantly. Today was a successful screen-free day complete with slip and slide fun. Both boys worked up good appetites and ate extremely well at dinner, devouring grilled chicken, green beans, and roasted red potatoes. Oh and let's not forget homemade pudding pops for dessert! Some days are just wins.
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