Ahhhh, Silence.
I am treasuring the silence today.
Today and tomorrow: the last two days of school. The last two days that my mornings will be quiet, peaceful, silent. No cartoons, no computer games, no arguing and fighting.
I think I'm going to promote quiet this summer. When I think of our summer mornings, I think of cartoons. Whoever invented Cartoon Network should be prosecuted. Yes, I share some of the responsibility. I purchase cable. I allow my children to tune in. It's sheer laziness. Remind me if I slip: I will limit the TV this summer!
Mom, if you're reading: Thank you for hiding the TV every summer when I was a kid! That was genius. When I was a kid, my mom and dad took the TV and put it in their closet, up high, out of reach. That was back in the day when families had one TV. All our little friends thought we were freaks. "No TV?" What kind of family has NO TV? Sure, we would go over to the neighbor's house and watch TV from time to time. But when I think back to the summers of my childhood, I do not think of television. I think of open windows with curtains blowing in the breeze. I think of playing long, extended games of imagination in the back yard. I think of hide & seek. I think of the pool. I remember ice cream and swing sets. Walking to the library all by myself and coming home with armloads of books. Paper dolls. Listening to the cicadas.
Sometimes I declare "silent reading time" for the kids. I don't know where this came from. Maybe they do it in school. Anyway, for some reason, they freakin' LOVE silent reading time. All I have to do is say: "Kids, it's silent reading time" and they all scramble for a book and read. Even the youngest. I don't know if they think they're getting extra credit from me, or what. But it works.
Silent...Reading...Time. Just the words make me happy. Here's to more silent reading time this summer. And cicadas. And swimming, and running, and exercising the imagination.
Today and tomorrow: the last two days of school. The last two days that my mornings will be quiet, peaceful, silent. No cartoons, no computer games, no arguing and fighting.
I think I'm going to promote quiet this summer. When I think of our summer mornings, I think of cartoons. Whoever invented Cartoon Network should be prosecuted. Yes, I share some of the responsibility. I purchase cable. I allow my children to tune in. It's sheer laziness. Remind me if I slip: I will limit the TV this summer!
Mom, if you're reading: Thank you for hiding the TV every summer when I was a kid! That was genius. When I was a kid, my mom and dad took the TV and put it in their closet, up high, out of reach. That was back in the day when families had one TV. All our little friends thought we were freaks. "No TV?" What kind of family has NO TV? Sure, we would go over to the neighbor's house and watch TV from time to time. But when I think back to the summers of my childhood, I do not think of television. I think of open windows with curtains blowing in the breeze. I think of playing long, extended games of imagination in the back yard. I think of hide & seek. I think of the pool. I remember ice cream and swing sets. Walking to the library all by myself and coming home with armloads of books. Paper dolls. Listening to the cicadas.
Sometimes I declare "silent reading time" for the kids. I don't know where this came from. Maybe they do it in school. Anyway, for some reason, they freakin' LOVE silent reading time. All I have to do is say: "Kids, it's silent reading time" and they all scramble for a book and read. Even the youngest. I don't know if they think they're getting extra credit from me, or what. But it works.
Silent...Reading...Time. Just the words make me happy. Here's to more silent reading time this summer. And cicadas. And swimming, and running, and exercising the imagination.
posted by Juanita at
6:24 AM
4 Comments:
Constant noise causes heart attacks. I tell the kids to go have some "quiet time".
We're Huttigs. No matter how we try to deny that heritage, we are noise hating Huttigs!
They could hide the TV b/c there was only one, AND they were small....hard to hide a 50" plasma on the top shelf of the closet these days. :))
That's cool that your parents did that, what a great way to get the kids active.
Good goals. Kids' lives seem to revolve around watching TV these days. I admire your "cut back on TV for the summer" goal.
My folks never had to hide the TV as far as I was concerned. I generally wasn't too interested in it. I liked my atari when I got one at ten years of age, but I'd play it for an hour and then go read a book or play outside with friends. I generally only watched TV when the weather was bad. Summertime to me says swimming until we turn into prunes! I lived on a lake growing up, and every day I'd go out with friends and swim or go around on a boat or waterskii. It was Florida, so wintertimes actually included orange fights (oranges came into season in Dec. usually in Tampa). We used to take sheets outside and make fake tents and have picnics...climb trees...ride bikes...ahhhh. Neither of my children seem to be the reader I was, but then again that would have been hard. Still, my daughter would rather go outside and play than do anything with the TV. I like that. I mean, I like my computer addiction too, but I try to balance it with the rest of life. My son has to have his TV time restricted because of video games. He'd play all day if I let him. But I don't. And that's why my children are the only non-obese kids at their elementary school (I'm not even joking!). They actually go outside and play and RUN AROUND. I feel badly for kids who miss that part of their childhood.
I need to do that silent reading time! Jared's just starting to read, so that could work...he also is a creature of order, so if we did it regularly at X time, he'd instantly do it. Hmmm. This sounds like an excellent idea!
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