Sick of It

I caught myself saying that phrase too many times that I had to do something about it over the summer. I'm referring to the TV. It annoys me when it's on at length... like fingernails on a chalk board. It's great every once in a while and we all need some down time... plus it is a nice go to, at the proper moments. However... it will not be the first thing that gets turned on when we come home or wake up to here. There is SO much more to do.

This little thing used to house Nutter Butter cookies and is now dressed to be our TV token box. It could have been prettier and I sense a makeover in the near future... but I needed a fix, quick. Each son of mine receives 3 tokens at the start of the day. I can take them away just as easy as I can give them out. Each token represents 30 minutes of TV time. It is genius. The boys choose when they want to use them and just simply place them in the token box. Family movie time is excluded from this and holidays are free days.

They are saving their tokens and not really watching much TV at all because they have found more joy in other things. The shows that are being watched are now thoughtfully decided on. The same episode of "Jessie" isn't being watched 3 times. Instead...

-We have swam outside more
-Made creative snacks
-Dug deep into the toy chests
-Designed games with imagination
-Used craft supplies to make a wrestling belt
-Bike Rides
-Played more with Letty
-Increased our face to face convos

Which all... are more important to me and encompass play that I want my children to balance with.