U: Unplugged

We tried something this weekend that we've never done before. We went "Unplugged" from Saturday morning to Monday morning. That meant NO computer, NO television, and NO video games. I've been toying with this idea for a while now since this is my most common sight of my children around the house:

So with "U" coming up, now seemed like a good time to try it.

As I anticipated, my idea met with some resistance. Wait, let me rephrase that. There was a major freak-out on Saturday morning! The weeping and wailing, and gnashing really didn't do much to help their cause. It kinda made us think we should have done this long ago and more often. But as the day progressed and they began to understand that we weren't going to budge they realized that there is life away from the screen.

We took a small road trip, painted Easter eggs, visited friends, and read a book. We also weeded the flower beds, played cards, made crepes and went to grandma's house. The road trip had me worried, without a DS or DVD player to keep Matt and me sane. And I'm not sure the kids avoided the TV at Grandma's house completely. But when the weekend was over, it really felt good. At dinner on Saturday, Paige said, "This is the best Saturday ever!!" You better believe Matt and I didn't let that go without a few "We told you so's!!".

In the weeks leading up to this I had these grand visions of something amazing happening due to our self-imposed denial. Perhaps by Sunday evening the kids would all be serving one another, finding fulfillment in being together, and the lion would lie down with the lamb. But it really was just another weekend. It was very nice not to have to deal with kids fighting over the computer or the DS, but that doesn't mean they didn't fight. I myself had a few moments where I looked at the computer and gauged my chances at being able to check my email and be done before they came back in the room. But I held strong.

This morning on the way to school I told Nicole that I really liked going unplugged and thought we should do it again. I won't go into detail but I really don't think she shares my view. At least there was no teeth gnashing!