Home is where you start from: tv land

Friday, February 22, 2008

tv land

We are taking the jump, it seems. We've been t.v. -less for a little more than 5 years, and we just got cable again. When I say t.v.-less, I should probably explain...we do have a small t.v. unit for our son's wii (and for the Bible school boys to play wii on) and we play dvd's and videos on it from the library for the kids. It's one of those little, portable sets, nothing exciting. We can also watch dvd's on my computer, which we do once in a great while- hubby and I are just too busy mostly to sit down and watch anything.

So, hubby discovered if we purchase one of those cable bundles...internet, phone and cable- we'd only spend $10 more a month then we were already spending on phone and internet. And, we'd get animal planet- which my kids adore. And, hubby wouldn't have to stalk the homes of relatives and friends for a place to watch superbowl-like he has had to do in the past.

It was installed Wednesday evening. We have it hooked up to my computer monitor, which is really nice and hd and all that. It was off all day until Thursday evening after dinner when Sky turned on Animal Planet.

I'm thinking I didn't like the result. At the time we had Meg and Josie sitting at the big table working on memory work. Amie was busily drawing and coloring with bird stencils. Demi-Sky was in his room playing the wii. As soon as Animal Planet came on, there was a rush from all parts of the house, and then 4 kids sitting around the monitor- big eyed and silent- watching.

Sky and I had a discussion after witnessing this...and decided it would only be on at the end of the week as a reward for getting through our schoolwork. One good thing is the dvr thingy...we can forward through commercials (in the past we would turn it off, now we can just forward thru.)

I am actually excited to have the History channel now. (and I'll admit to my internet friends that I've always been curious to see a super nanny show-or whatever you call it...shhh!!!)

big changes happening here.

Labels: family

posted at 9:51 AM
6 comments

6 Comments:

At 11:00 AM, momto5minnies said...: WOw, 5 years without TV! I do know some people who only have an antenna for the basic tv channels ... they essentially watch the news and PBS.

We "try" not to watch that much during the week. The TV is off all day, but sometimes comes on at the dinner prep time. Then it is off (for the girls) and my husband and I will watch after 9pm (usually recorded stuff that we can bypass commercials). I sometimes wish that I could convince my husband to dump television. He usually feeds me the line of internet and TV time for him and I.

That TV stare is something I have seen and it drives me nuts. I feel like their brains are just being sucked out ... especially when they watch "certain Disney" shows.
At 11:52 AM, Urban Mom said...: You are going to loooove the DVR. We got one, and I've already told my husband that I can never go back now. Never! The kids rarely watch TV too. The husband and I watch a little to unwind at night. So we never see something when it's actually on. Hence, the love of the DVR. It can be a real timesuck, though. I really admire you going five years without TV at all!
At 10:49 PM, Hen Jen said...: momto5minnies,

I am looking forward to pbs again...Disney has pretty much been banned here, except maybe an occasional movie, and maybe except for Stanley- the cartoon for preschoolers, that was Disney, wasn't it? (it's been years since we've seen it). -you know, the boy with the great big book of everything?? Our library has only ever had two dvd's of that show, I'm hoping to find more now.

Urban mom,

yes, I think I am going to love the dvr thingy...now we can actually watch Monk during the current season!!!
At 9:07 AM, Susanne said...: You guys did awesome going 5 years without. That is really amazing.

I love the the dvr (pvr here in Canada). You can pause, rewind, fast forward, and record to watch the program when you want to watch it. And ff through commercials is priceless.
At 1:42 PM, Cyndi said...: I've about decided I want to either give up TV altogether or just take the plunge and get dvr so we can watch it *completely* on our terms (just choosing ahead of time what we want to record and be able to skip the commercials.)

My son is reading Fahrenheit 451, and I'm thinking Bradbury wasn't too far off with his wall-sized TV's, and people thinking of the characters as their "families." Spooky.

I have to admit, I do like Super Nanny, LOL.
At 9:21 AM, Redefining Paradise- Rachel said...: We are an unfortunate tv-junkie family.......although DVR has really improved our watching habits....skipping all those commercials and icky parts of a show or movie really make things nice. We also have moved to watching more educational shows together...our family loves Food Network. Hopefully the novelty will wear off for the kids and you can find a happy middle ground

This Page

6 Comments: