computers and kids

My kids had been spending too much time on the computer lately. I knew it and was already trying to get computer time scaled back when thigs conspired to help me out: one of the laptops we have at home died (or at least lost the ability to get online wirelessly) and one of the children lost schoolnight computer privileges until grades come up a bit.

Voila! We suddenly have far less computering going on at home than we did a few weeks ago. My middle schooler had become almost unhealthily obsessed with the whole IM/e-mail thing. It was all she was wanting to do every night.

And the impact of the lessened computer time was immediate. More reading. More talking. Unprompted cleaning of rooms. More playing with other toys. Less isolating of selves in bedrooms.

I am very sensitive to my kids having too much electronics play and always have been. We do not have cable TV. We have very few computer games (and my kids have never been hugely into them anyway). I try to mostly stay off the computer at night and on weekends when the children are around unless I have absolutely unavoidable work I have to do. We do enjoy watching rented movies, but we still just don't spend that much time hooked up to electronics while at home.

I would much rather see my kids go play in the kudzu or creek behind our house, play guitar, hacksack, throw a ball for the dogs, or read a book or talk with their siblings, cousins or parents than spend all their time glued to a screen.

And now that i am two chapters into THIS BOOK, I am even more convinced that they should be spending more time outdoors. We are lucky in that, even though we live near downtown, we live on a huge, overgrown lot that backs up to a creek and a big public park. We have turtles and herons and snakes. And because my daughter rides horses, J and E in particular spend a lot of time playing on a farm over the course of a month...

So I am really glad computer time is down around Casa Granju-Hickman and I intend to improve on this state of affairs even more.