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Electronics-Free Christmas


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I've decided that my kids all spend WAY too much time with their heads buried in some screen. Their first draft Christmas lists were all software and e-readers and video games and I decided....no way. I told them that we're having an electronics-free Christmas this year, and based on the fact that all three (I'm including the 8 year old step-daughter in the ban) were nearly apoplectic (not really, but I'm taking some dramatic license here), I know I made the right decision.

 

I almost got carried away today when I saw that the Kindle Fire is on sale for $129 and bought one for everyone! Then I came to my senses and didn't buy any.

 

Instead, I bought ONE Kindle Fire HD. For DH and me to share. :-) I'm such a mean mom.

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I have a very good friend who felt the same way last Christmas. She included herself and her husband in the assessment.

 

They had a family meeting and discussed how many screen hours they were all using, and they talked about all the things they were missing out on because everyone in the family had their faces plastered to a screen. They talked about all the things they could do as a family, such as board games, walks, crafts, reading aloud, etc. The parents also helped the kids select/realize meaningful hobbies.

 

The family took a voted and decided to give up all electronics, including TV/videos/movies for 3 months. When their time was up, none of them wentback to their old ways.. They ALL discovered other things they enjoyed more than Internet, TV, and video games. FAMILY time became a precious, sweet part of their daily lives.

 

I think going electronics free is a fine idea, but you and your dh should be prepared to lead by example. Otherwise the banning of electronics could lead to resentment if the grown ups get to stay plugged-in while everyone else in the family is left unplugged. KWIM? A group effort will likely go over better than a mandate.

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I think going electronics free is a fine idea, but you and your dh should be prepared to lead by example. Otherwise the banning of electronics could lead to resentment if the grown ups get to stay plugged-in while everyone else in the family is left unplugged. KWIM? A group effort will likely go over better than a mandate.

 

I think that's an excellent point.

 

Of course, I'm not one to talk about this, because we're going whole-hog on the electronics again this year. :blush:

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We did no electronics gifts last year... we needed to cut back and lessen the importance. We still allowed grandparents to buy DS a video game or two, but we didn't get him any.

 

This year, we're reversing the trend and almost everything is electronics or digital something or other. :tongue_smilie:

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I have a very good friend who felt the same way last Christmas. She included herself and her husband in the assessment.

 

They had a family meeting and discussed how many screen hours they were all using, and they talked about all the things they were missing out on because everyone in the family had their faces plastered to a screen. They talked about all the things they could do as a family, such as board games, walks, crafts, reading aloud, etc. The parents also helped the kids select/realize meaningful hobbies.

 

The family took a voted and decided to give up all electronics, including TV/videos/movies for 3 months. When their time was up, none of them wentback to their old ways.. They ALL discovered other things they enjoyed more than Internet, TV, and video games. FAMILY time became a precious, sweet part of their daily lives.

 

I think going electronics free is a fine idea, but you and your dh should be prepared to lead by example. Otherwise the banning of electronics could lead to resentment if the grown ups get to stay plugged-in while everyone else in the family is left unplugged. KWIM? A group effort will likely go over better than a mandate.

 

 

We're not going completely electronics-free, we're just not adding to what we already have (with the latest purchase excepted). We used to love playing board games, or watching movies together, or going to the park, or just hanging around. We still do, but we do a lot less of it. That's fine...families and tastes evolve. Just not to the exclusion of everything else.

 

For what it's worth, neither DH nor I spend an excessive amount of time on our computers anyway. He is almost never in front of one, and since I work in front of one all day mostly if I'm on the forum here or whatever it's during the day while on long, boring conference calls. We all watch too much TV. I'll completely cop to that. Most of us read at least as much as we watch TV, though, so I don't harp on it too much.

 

I suppose the point is to make all of us more available to one another by not continuing to add to our already digitized worlds, and the kids are definitely the worst offenders.

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We did no electronics gifts last year... we needed to cut back and lessen the importance. We still allowed grandparents to buy DS a video game or two, but we didn't get him any.

 

This year, we're reversing the trend and almost everything is electronics or digital something or other. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

This was what we did last year. I don't think it's all evil. I just need to do exactly what you did last year...cut back, and lessen the importance.

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