TV

There was a tragedy that occured in our household. It involved a TV and a MAJOR malfunction. A lifeless screen hung from the wall for days as the kids complained and I became increasingly frustrated with their bickering and whining....but the TV didn't care what it had deprived our family of or what chaos it had caused. It just stared at us with its pathetic blank screen.

Thank God Almighty that we made it through the World Cup. I cannot imagine the disappointment of my middle son, being that soccer seems to be his life these days. But we did miss a few days of the Tour de France and a couple "important" episodes of Man VS Food and WipeOut. Hubby and I didn't have our usual 2-3 episodes of Criminal Minds, to which we watch together to relax....if serial killers aren't super relaxing, I don't know what is?

They say that going through times of difficulty make you a stronger person. Well, if this wasn't a time of difficulty. Last week was an energy-sucking week that left me lifeless and moody by the weekend. Mostly because I didn't have my TV. Not that I allow my kids to sit and watch all day, but it is nice to be able to cook dinner and have them quiet and ingrossed in some form of animated edu-tainment. It is also a luxury to be able to sleep in until 7:30 AM (ok, 9:00) because the kiddos can enjoy some early morning cartoons. Yeah, remember, that was the week when the sun came up, like, at 4:00 AM and the kids rose with it....

So, I think I may have received a little less sympathy from my husband when I told him about how difficult life was without the TV. I may have gotten a little upset that he chuckled and thought that I was a little silly. He tried to give me advice when I just wanted to vent about my horrible week sans HD visual stimulation. I was a little stupid to think that it was the TV's fault.

I did learn a few things without TV. I learned that my kids do have imaginations, even if my oldest reminds me that he doesn't have one. If they can't watch WipeOut on TV, they can surely play it in the living room. Radio is a pretty cool thing to listen to even when you are not in a mini-van. They can read books and "clean" their rooms for hours-on-end.

The boys did get hungry more often, but I gladly fed them. Two of them even wanted to help me prepare the food in the kitchen. We had lunch together and had longer conversations because no one was rushing to get back to see if MythBusters blew up anything cool.

I never would have imagined that TV would have such a geat impact on my life, but after this last week, I think that I have put too much faith in my rectangular friend. Sure, there is a time for TV. When Mom needs a nap because she spent all day keeping her kids entertained and away from the TV, that would be an appropriate time. My youngest has received reinforcement on sounding out letters and combining letter sounds to make words from TV. He sings old folk songs (lost treasures from history, I believe) that he's learned from a "tune hound". As long as our family learns to keep it to that instead of filling our minds with hours of "smut", I think that we will thrive and avoid remote-control thumb arthritis.