What if we didn't watch TV?

I don't watch that much tv. I rarely turn it on during the day and if I do only for about an hour while I eat lunch. I am really into 2 tv shows on Monday night. The rest of the time I just turn on the tv because it is there and my brain doesn't know what else to do. Not that there aren't other or better things to do but I watch tv. And more than once I have spent HOURS watching nothing. Just flipping from channel to channel waiting for something I am interested in to come on.

Isabelle on the other hand watches alot of tv. Not as much as Jake did, I don't feel I rely on tv as much with Isabelle as I did with Jake, but still too much. Often when she is underfoot and I am trying to do something I suggest a video. I know when her favorite shows are on so that I can suggest them when she comes to me. It is sad. Can I come up with nothing else for her to entertain herself? She has toys, we have craft supplies, maybe it is time to get them out.

I like to romanticize things. Here is how I would romantasize a tv free life. Each day I would rise before the rest of the family for my early morning run and time with God. I would come home and make breakfast for the family to have before they went off to work and school. Isabelle and I would clean up and head to work where we would make a difference in children's lives for a couple hours before coming home. Once home we would sit down together for a heathly lunch and then spend some time on our homemaking chores. I would feel great about teaching Isabelle homemaking skills that she can take with her into adulthood. Then we would spend the afternoon reading together, making crafts and doing some simple pre-school curriculum. Isabelle would then go off and play by herself engaging in imaginative play for a couple hours while I caught up on desk work, phone calls, helped John manage a small business, chaired 2 different fundraising events and the vestry. We would then make dinner for John and Jake who would both be home promptly at 5:30. We would sit down at the table and discuss our days and practice the family memory verse we are working on for the week. After dinner we would all clean up and then spend some time working on homework or crafts. John and Isabelle would have relaxing father/daughter time before she went to bed. John, Jake and I would close the evening by sitting down for a family game time or maybe read outloud from a piece of classic literature. See how I would become a different person if I didn't watch TV?

You know, it is difficult to reconcile the person you want to be or think you are supposed to be with the person you are. I know that I am doing pretty good in my life and shouldn't feel bad, and I really don't. But I just know I could do better, I know where I am failing. I know that God created me to do more but sadly I live in a fallen world where my desire to live my life fully for God every moment and my sinful desire to live my life only for myself collide into something not bad but far from perfect.

So what do you think? Can Isabelle and I do it? How about just during the day while we are home together? OK I am going for it. A one week trial. Let's say only during the day since I don't have the rest of the family on board yet. The first test will come bright and early tomorrow morning when Isabelle doesn't get to roll out of bed and turn on the tv. I better prepare my husband. He might want to go to work early tomorrow. :)