Ode To Silence

You know your kids are getting older when they are more than happy to play in their bedroom alone instead of hanging off of your pant legs. Gabe (2) and Vaeh (just shy of 7) have just left the dinner table to go play together in their room. Where does the time go? The nice thing about it is I have some much sought after quiet time. That's refreshing. I do know what has spurred this sudden desire to play together. We've been doing a lot of cutting back on unnecessary things. One of which, the television. I used to be really bad with the TV, watching it for hours upon hours a day and before I would know it, the whole day would be gone and I accomplished nothing but a butt-ache. That's a real thing you know. I always wanted to cut back on TV but I was raised in front of a TV and I honestly didn't know how to go about a day at home without it on. With all these lifestyle changes I've been making it's really caused a shift in my thinking and I just don't want the things that I used to want anymore. One day I woke up and just simply did not turn the TV on, and kept it off for the whole day. I was pretty impressed with myself, and notably impressed with my kids who didn't whine or complain once. Not that they do typically, but when a fixture like the TV goes off, kids tend to voice their opinions on that one. Now I have a bit of a routine set where I wake up in the morning, do my morning thing and then sit down on the couch with a cup of coffee and watch the news for about half an hour. At 9am I watch 100 Huntley Street and then occasionally I will watch CityLine at 10am. After that the TV goes off and I carry on with the rest of my day. Often times the TV won't come on at all. Sometimes we'll throw in a movie in the afternoon and curl up together to watch, but that's about it. I find myself to be much more focused after making this change.

It looks like I may have spoken too soon. The kids have returned to my sanctuary of silence and are racing toy cars around me and shrieking. I should put the TV on for them  I should entertain them with something. I think a nice, quiet craft is in order :)