There I have said it, I own it. Though I consider myself a recovering addict there are still times when the old tendancies rise up, like when I or one of the children is sick or late at night when I don’t want to go to bed and am too exhausted to even talk to my husband. I am not sure how it all began, boredom maybe way back some 25 years ago when I first discovered TV and found it was way better then actually using my imagination or thinking.

I normally did more than one thing though, reading in the commercials, knitting while watching movies, etc. But now I am raising children and my tendencies are passing on. We have good times, when TV is limited, we have plenty of quality time, the kids are using their imaginations and playing well together and a lot is accomplished around the house.

Then there are days when I go to bed thinking, I can’t believe I let it happen again!

I am still working on it. As with any addiction I may struggle with it for the rest of my life, unable to do the things normal people do because it is far too easy to slip back into the old habits.

And what of the children? Two is already showing signs of too much interest in TV. It is a really really good day if he watches less then 4 hours of TV (this is a confession here). The girls luckily are not so interested in TV. Normally as soon as Two is up in the morning he wants the TV on. I am trying a new tactic. Limiting the types of shows to only the highest quality shows. I should have been doing this all along but it is so easy to get distracted and lazy. If he chooses not to watch those shows he can play. This morning he chose playing. Bringing his box of dinosaurs to bed to play with his sisters.

I had to smile. Even in the midst of the day to day struggles with children in your life there is always something to be happy about. We were even able to have worship before I got out of bed. A good thing since morning sickness has really been messing up my mornings for going on 5 weeks now.

Mavis especially loves it when her siblings give up the TV and pay attention to her.