My four year old son is great at inventing his own activities. He saw an Arthur video where a bunch of kids managed to make it through a whole week without TV or computers. A few days later he wanted to do it himself.
He got our day care worker to help him make a poster showing all the activities he and his two-year old brother could do instead of watching TV or playing on the computer; it also places to count down the days left until the TV/computer-free week would be over.
My dw and I didn't expect it to last more than a day -- especially considering how stubborn the two-year old is about getting in his turn on the computer. But they both did great, and would actually wake up reminding each other that it was another TV/computer-free day.
They made it to about Day 5 when they found out that the kid's library at our church had a new video they had been waiting for. The four-year old caved first and decided he had to watch it right away. The two-year old went downstairs --- we assumed it was to make a beeline for the computer. No, he played with other toys until he heard the closing credits and then he peeked around the corner to make sure the video was really over. (It's nice to see his stubborn streak has a silver lining.)
I was quite impressed by the way they took the initiative, encouraged each other -- and made it to day 5! Next time we'll suggest they aim for a more realistic target (like 5 days) and we'll pick a time when the church library will be closed.
-- Steve
He got our day care worker to help him make a poster showing all the activities he and his two-year old brother could do instead of watching TV or playing on the computer; it also places to count down the days left until the TV/computer-free week would be over.
My dw and I didn't expect it to last more than a day -- especially considering how stubborn the two-year old is about getting in his turn on the computer. But they both did great, and would actually wake up reminding each other that it was another TV/computer-free day.
They made it to about Day 5 when they found out that the kid's library at our church had a new video they had been waiting for. The four-year old caved first and decided he had to watch it right away. The two-year old went downstairs --- we assumed it was to make a beeline for the computer. No, he played with other toys until he heard the closing credits and then he peeked around the corner to make sure the video was really over. (It's nice to see his stubborn streak has a silver lining.)
I was quite impressed by the way they took the initiative, encouraged each other -- and made it to day 5! Next time we'll suggest they aim for a more realistic target (like 5 days) and we'll pick a time when the church library will be closed.
-- Steve
Comment