Mean Old Mom

I haven't been too popular around the house lately. I've even been described as a killjoy by some of the residents here. The funny thing is, I don't really care because my evil plot is working. Okay, so its not really evil, except in the minds of the kids. After observing the addictive habits of my three favorite people, I realized there was WAY too much screen time going on at our house. Maybe I'm a bit guilty as welll.......but just a bit........ Dang you pinterest! I don't watch TV and haven't for about 5 years so I feel like I can justify my nightly pinterest perusing ; ) Any how, after reading a couple of articles in the Ensign and New Era I decided I needed to institute some kind of parameters. We call them 'Tech Tickets'. Each Sunday each kid is issued 14 tech tickets that are worth 30 minutes of screen time. They can cash them in as they see fit. When they are out, they are OUT. The only way to get more is to read for that amount of time.

It was funny to see how things went down this first week. As expected, Reg started blowing his right away. I think he used four the first day. Marin, my prudent and responsible saver didn't even use one until 3 days had passed. Cooper was fairly judicious as well, only using one or two a day. Right now Reg is completely cashed out and it will be interesting to see what he will do with his time come Saturday. The kids have been quite creative with their away-from-the-screen activities. Last night they spent and hour and a half constructing paper airplanes from a design book Reggie had, and then flying them outside. When it got dark they found some glow sticks in the closet, cut them open, and painted their planes with the goo inside so they could continue to see them fly across the front lawn.

After 6 days of this I have observed:

-more creative play
-less fighting
-more reading
-more board game playing
-increased general happiness
-cleaner rooms (they can't cash in until it is clean)

It does take a bit of policing but I think it is going to be worth it. I hope I have the stamina to keep it going. The kids are labeling me as kind of a hypocrite since I haven't made any tech tickets for me, and I guess maybe I should. Nah.