"Broken" TV's

Andrea Danielle

New Member
I have always felt that watching TV had a big affect on my difficult child and I really tried to limit what type of shows he could watch but it has been a struggle as 9 year old easy child puts on shows which difficult child wants to watch so it has been a constant battle. He wasn't watching violent shows but even any sort of "attitude" he was seeing on TV he would immitate. I don't think they were watching more than other kids their age but it still seemed to be too much. I had started a conversation awhile ago about the media and the affect on difficult child's, RFS and SRL had some great thoughts on this.

Well, last weekend we tried something new and announced on Saturday morning that our TV's were broken because of a lightning storm and that it would be awhile before the repair man could come and fix them. (we really just unplugged them)
The boys were very upset at first, for the first few days they moped a bit and kept trying to turn on the TV hoping it would be fixed. Well, it has been a week now of no TV and we are seeing huge improvements in their behaviour, even easy child has improved and he was good to start!
The boys are no longer asking about TV. They are seeking each other out more now to play, last night they were playing musical chairs in our living room and What time is it Mr. Wolf and having a great time. They are also playing with Lego and drawing pictures and just having quiet happy times. difficult child still has his moments and struggles with impulse control and some aggression but it is totally more managable, there has been a huge improvement! He isn't taking any medications right now and his psychiatric wanted him to start on Risperdal today but I have asked that we hold off another week to see where we are headed since the week has been so incredible.
We plan to keep our TVs broken for a few more weeks and when we do "fix" them, I plan to set really strict limits, like maybe only on weekends and only really safe shows.

I am very happy with my experiment so far, some success at last! :warrior:

Has anyone else tried this with their difficult child?

Andrea
 

Ltlredhen

New Member
We haven't tried this on purpose but back when hurricane Rita hit our area, we were without electricity for 13 days.

We were able to plug the TV up to a generator at night for a short time so difficult child could watch just a couple of cartoons. We didn't see a difference in him but everything was turned upside down here. I can see where in a typical setting with loosing just a TV may be beneficial.

I really think difficult child "feeds" off of certain programs and therefore they are off limits around him. I am very strict in what he watches.

Good going and hope they don't discover the "fix" on their own, :rofl:

Donna
 

Janna

New Member
My children have not watched any television (other than G or PG movies that are viewed with the VCR or DVD and approved by ME) in over 3 years. We have no cable, and don't even get the basic local channels.

My easy child is now, at 7:30 PM at the table coloring. Dylan is in the living room playing Foosball with SO. They spend TONS of time outdoors.

We do allow them 30 minutes of Playstation time, however, this is earned and not just given. There is a timer in the family room on their entertainment center and when it goes off, they are done.

I'm not a real big fan of television. I, personally, don't see anything that excites me when I look through the stuff online about TV. One more reality show - I mean, come on :crazy:

I don't know if it's helped in my kids' behaviors or not, but I do know they spent a heck of a lot more time doing other things, and that's just fine with me.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
We stopped our cable service about 6 months ago and only watch online shows or netlfix or movies we have already. It is so much better. We had done this before for about a year and broke down because we missed sports... but this time I felt it was so important and this way we can't be lazy and turn it on... there are so many alternatives. Your really get used to it.

The girl's don't really mind and no annoying commercials!!! My difficult child would zone out and lose herself in the show...
Good luck.
 

jannie

trying to survive....
My sister's TV was "broken" for three years. As a result...the kids became avid readers...played more games..and learned how to entertain themselves. I think it's a great idea, but I don't think my home could do without TV. It suddenly became fixed with child number 3.
 

Andrea Danielle

New Member
Hi, just to clarify that things are certainly not perfect now either. I shouldn't have gotten excited so soon, he had a great week and I was feeling on top of the world and then this weekend he was up to his old behaviour even though he hasn't been watching any TV. Oh well, it seems to help a bit though.

Andrea
 
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