Parents and Kids Insider

It’s another benefit to TV Turn Off week. I’m actually reading books that don’t have to do with raising a preschooler or toddler. Instead I’m a couple of chapters into a novel and I’m also reading - in an effort to maintain a theme - “The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid” by Ellen Currey-Wilson.

I was expecting a sort of guide - some alternatives to watching TV - but its a first-person account of a semi-neurotic mom who keeps her son away from TV. She can’t keep herself from it though. She goes as far as to facing her infant son away from the TV so she can watch it.

The story gets more interesting as her son ages. She struggles with her decision - especially when she senses that her son feels left out when classmates are talking about Pokeman. She makes her house “play date central” doing her best to show kids that things can be fun without TV. All the while, she keeps to herself about her television beliefs for fear of judgement or misunderstanding. I’m glad she got over that enough to actually write a book on it.

Did she motivate me to continue going? In a way, yes. It shows me it can be done. To be honest, I thought this week was going to be harder. I thought my kids would be screaming and I’d be going insane. I don’t miss it. I feel more connected to my family. Now my next plan is to figure out how to bring TV back in a controlled way.

Heather Kempskie, 26 April 2007

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