Electronics

For the purpose of this blog, I consider electronics to include video game systems, hand-held game systems, computers and televisions.

I used to allow electronics in the morning when the children first woke up until we were ready to start the day.  They would play video games or watched cartoons while I made breakfast, then I would have them shut it off so they could get dressed and start their unschooling for the day.  I found that having electronics turned off during the day forced them to get creative and find things to do and learn.  At some point in the late afternoon I would let them turn the electronics back on.

Fast forward to present time.  That system did work at first.  Four things happened that has altered my original plan.

1.  They would play on their electronics, and I would use that time to cook breakfast.  Then I would do dishes while cooking.  Then I added tidying.  It eventually turned into breakfast, dishes, laundry, sweeping, putting away, and whatever else needed done.  This was obviously allowing them more time on the electronics and not being creative.

Of course I would tell them to turn it off and get dressed, brush teeth, etc. while I finished the tidying, but I would turn my back and they would be all engulfed in the game or cartoon again and would say (every time, I swear), "I forgot."

2.  They would beg for more time to finish the game they were on or finish watching the cartoon that was on.  I got duped a few times using this ploy.  I didn't want them to turn a game off in the middle of a scenario or they would lose their progress.  Well, as you could imagine, it would turn into minutes then an hour or more, because once I gave permission to finish the "one more thing," then they would take that as consent to just continue.

It was easy to dupe me because I would be off trying to tidy up just one more thing.  And I wondered where they got that attitude.

3.  Once the electronics got turned off, it would sometimes be close to lunch and they were ready to eat. After lunch they would start begging to get the electronics back, and ask every few minutes if they could have them back yet. 

On occasion I allowed them to play active games on the Wii (games that made them jump and dance, for example).  Sometimes that worked, but it ended up being a begging session where they would try and manipulate for more games or spend too much time doing it.

4.  The girls would argue about the games.  They would argue over who got to do what, or who got to play it first, or who got to pick the game, or who had it last, or who didn't put it away when it was done.  A stupid game is not worth the bickering.  


I know that some homeschool families eliminate all television and gaming systems, and I'm not planning on doing that.  But I am going to get control of the electronics again.  I've already banned the morning electronic games.  They can watch Fox News if they want, they can type a letter if they want (Megan likes that), or they can play a learning game on the computer (they hate that).  They complain for it in the mornings, but then they start getting creative right away and have a lot of fun now.  I get to hear them fuss still, but it's worth it.