Barely getting this one in under the wire today, but I can bet you can guess what my motivation for this story was. Last week, we did “all TV/games, all the time” and this week, we did “no screens.” The Things actually did really well, with minimal whining or complaining, so I really have to give it to them for going all-in. They played well together, we did some fun things (like tye-dye and making our own ice cream!), and they did great coming up with things to do together. I’m really proud of them! I think I actually struggled with it more than they did, though it did give me a chance to get away from our default routines and establish ground rules both for them (and for me) when it comes to screen time. Right now, we’re making three big rule changes: 1) their bedroom has to be vacuum-able, 2) they have to have taken 1000/500 steps respectively, and 3) they have to have done 20 minutes of reading/math. After that, they can watch TV or play Switch, but they only get an hour for solo-play on the Switch (otherwise we get into fights about who’s turn it is), but they can play longer if they play together. I personally love the social aspect of multi-player games, and that’s something I really missed this week. I do want them to have a dumb, lazy summer doing whatever they want, but I think this will help guide us from getting too lazy. And of course, the rules may change. We’re still trialing this.
Anyway, all that aside to make today’s flash!
