Last week we all gave up screen. My screen fast was limited due to my dependence on email for communication, work and so forth. But I did swear off TV, Facebook, and online Scrabble. The kids, on the other hand, went 100% screen free. Most of the time.
Monday - Sunny. The kids played outside, Jonah saw a robin's nest, they turned the train table into a ping-pong table and played until bedtime. After I sank into a warm, well-deserved bubble bath, the kids got out of bed, and played some more. There was screaming, yelling, and jumping about. And somehow, a Lego X-Wing Fighter cockpit roof filled with at least a tablespoon of spit.
Tuesday - Rainy. Train table ping-pong reprise, this time with friends. Ethan enforces dictatorship-like rule over who gets to play whom. Surprise: he plays almost all the games.
Wednesday - Snowy. I cheat and get on Facebook. The kids are suspicious. Isaac complains of boredom, but then, in an unexpected twist, takes my advice and actually reads a book.
Thursday - Snow, sun, rain, etc. The full-sized, real ping-pong table is set up in the garage. Games continue. Ethan asks if we can move it indoors, up to the playroom. Permanently. I tell him I'll think about it. I have not had to pick up a Wii remote or turn a computer off for four whole days and am loving it. I cheat on Facebook again. Ethan remembers at 10pm he has a math test the next day and requires several YouTube videos from Khan Academy.
Friday - Sun, rain. Garage ping-pong before school and after school. I can hear the fighting, the yelling, the screaming and crying all the way upstairs in my bedroom. I log into Facebook and leave the following status update: The screaming and yelling coming from the garage has convinced me that the ping pong table will never, ever, not in a million years be moved inside to the playroom.
Saturday - Rain. Now my only goal is to not let the kids see me on Facebook. They beg for a six-day No Screen Week based on the fact they are pretty sure I've been on Facebook multiple times. I don't give in, despite my guilt. Jonah attempts to set up the 600 pound, giant ping-pong table himself so that he doesn't have to play under Ethan's inflexible rule. The table breaks. Ethan freaks out--his kingdom overthrown.
Sunday - Sun. The boys take a walk after church and come home with handfuls of colorful, plastic pellets from air soft guns which they transfer to zip lock bags. There is an attempt to play Risk. A fort is built. Backyard hoops are shot. Chocolate peanut butter chip cookies are made. I want No Screen Week to become No Screen Month (with my sneaky Facebook looking to continue on the down low, of course), but I've already pushed my luck far enough. The boys are already charging their DS's so they'll be ready to go first thing Monday morning.
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