The TV debate

I like watching TV as much as the next person. Maybe more. I love sitting down on my comfy couch at the end of the day and flipping through the channels until I find something interesting to watch. I love cooking and home decorating shows; The Voice is one of my new favorites; I love finding movies to watch; and I am a little ashamed to admit that those women who claim to be "real housewives" often find themselves on my television screen. A little while back the TV broke. The lamp went out so you couldn't see the picture. I put a big "Out of Order" sign on the TV and for 3 days it didn't work. I have to admit at first I was a little bummed. I wondered what I was going to do when I needed to fold laundry or how I was going to stop the kids from fighting. But after the first day I was kind of liking no TV. And by the 3rd day I was ready to just pretend the television never existed. It was so nice not having the TV, not having the ease of just plopping on the couch and vegging out for a while. But we fixed it and went right back to watching it. But recently we had a conversation with some friends who decided to get rid of their cable. They have a 2 year old daughter and they mentioned all of the things they have been noticing on television that they daughter sees that they never realized before. And then I started thinking about the things my kids see that I probably don't really pay much attention to. I don't want to be one of those families who shelter our kids so that they never know what is going on in the outside world (no offense to those people, though) but I do want to be more responsible for what I let my kids see and how much time they spend in front of the screen. I want there to be less things they want to watch and more things they want to do. Dave and I decided that when we move we're getting rid of the cable. We'll still have televisions so we can watch the local channels and movies, but we are both hoping that by not having as many channels our kids won't be able to go into the family room at any given time during the day and find a cartoon to sit and watch. I know it will be an adjustment for the kids, but I know they'll do just fine. And I have a feeling that they won't really miss it as much as they think they will. And neither will I.