How do I fire the TV babysitter?

[Cheyenne]

Okay, I know that was a strange title, but I am serious. :) In the mornings, when my kids happen to wake up at the same time as me, I am not quite ready for them. They almost always wake up full of energy and getting wound up and I am still :yawn On those days, which happens more frequently then I like, I tend to put them in front of the TV to buy myself some more time to wake up. When I do that though, they tend to watch more TV than I want and even if I turn it off after only 30 min. to an hour, they seem really unfocused and when it is time to do school with the older kids, no one is focused and they are all kind of easily distracted. Not sure if I am describing it well. Anyway, I am not sure what I can have them do instead of TV. They have a tendency to fight and or run around wildly otherwise. I suppose I could make myself get going right away, but sometimes it is so hard. I do prefer to wake up before them, but if I haven't slept well, or they wake up earlier than normal, that doesn't happen. I appreciate any ideas you have. Truthfully, I want to start having the TV on way less than it is all together. That will be tough.

[klpmommy]

not firing the tv babysitter (I use it the same way in the mornings :yawn ) but what about having some "get your energy out/wiggle" time b/w the tv & school? So wake up like you need to, then go outside, run around, exercise, Simon Says or other physical game for 15 min or so, then go in & have school? I don't know if it would work, so far we have our tv time then the kids free play for a while before we start school & we don't have any problems, but our school time is so short since we are doing preK & I can definately see it being more of an issue as our day lengthens out.

[WanderingJuniper]

I use the tv in a similar way. It allows me to finish my coffee while it is hot. But, I also understand the challenges with this. We also do something similar. Once the show is done we go outside or something similar. I'm not sure how it will work after the warm weather passes but for now it is working.

[Cheyenne]

Thank you for your replies. :) I think for right now while the weather is nice, I will just let them go play, but of course it is summer break in a few days, so they won't be doing much school anyway, but once cooler weather comes again, I think I need to try to get up earlier so I can wake up more before they get up. :yes

[RealLifeMama]

I Understand, we have the same issues.
Especially since I am usually trying to finish nursing/pumping in the AM. It just seems easy.
I think sending them out is a great idea!
Also, if I just get out play-doh or watercolors, that gets my son interested right away and he can do that stuff by himself quietly.
But I usually just let them turn on Sesame Street just so I can sort of get going.

[Godiva Girl]

I don't know if this will help, but...
I'm SOOOO not a morning person and I homeschool our 6 children. We got into the morning TV routine when I was pregnant, or nursing or tired or whatever. TV derailed the whole morning regarding "homeschool" which in our house is more unschooling. My boys particularly couldn't seem to "find anything to do" after watching for 30 minutes. I ended up having a harder day and they were getting up earlier and earlier because they knew they could turn the TV on. Sooo, we go cold turkey when it gets out of hand and our general rule is no TV or computer during the week. There are exceptions for Myth Busters :smile and other educational stuff in the evening. BUT NEVER MORNINGS!! After the cold turkey (for all of us) they started sleeping in longer and waking up more slowly. Crawling into bed with me or playing in groups, finding activites to occupy their time. It was hard for about 3 weeks, but it's been a rule in our family now for well over a year and it works for us. This is year round because we don't homeschool only 9 months of the year. :smile My children range in age from 12 yr. to 19 months.

[Cheyenne]

Thank you Godiva Girl. :)

[illinoismommy]

We used to have that habit too, when David was a baby.... but yeah we just one day stopped turning it on. Now I turn on the radio if I need something.

[SansSouci]

DD started PTing around 3.5 when DH had a week off of work. The day he went back to work, she refused to go on the potty (she had "accidents" all day long). So that night I created "TV Dollars". The next monring, I told DD that each time she peed in the potty, she could have a TV dollar, and other than that the TV was off all day. Around 4pm she finally decided I was serious and she put pee in the potty! lol She got a TV dollar and got to watch ONE TV show, then off the TV went.

It was a great experience b/c I got to see what she did when the TV was off! It was about 45 minutes of grumpiness and attitude, but after we broke through that it was creative and fun play all day long! She actually played with her toys again! She even read some of her books!

So, I would say the best way to figure out how to do it is to just DO it. Commit to yourself that the TV is off for the ENTIRE day. Tell the kids this. Tell them they're going to need to find other things to do. Then watch (and interact of course! lol) and see how they actually do figure out how to keep themselves entertained!

On way I did eliminate the TV in the morning (at one point in time, a year or so ago) was I just established a very good morning routine: as soon as the kids were out of bed we had breakfast ASAP, then got dressed, and then... well, it went from there. But as SOON as they were out of bed, we did bfast & clothes... so it kick started our morning. It felt really nice!

[BTW I have yet to fire my morning TV babysitter for good. I really like my waking-up time in the morning!]

[AdrienneQW]

We went cold turkey. It was ugly, because DS looooooved his TV/DVDs, but I realized eventually that he simply can't handle television. Some kids do fine with it in moderation; DS is not one of them. So we suffered through a couple of weeks of him whining and pouting for television, complaining he was boooooored, etc - and then it simply wasn't an issue anymore. :tu

It was harder for me, definitely. I no longer had the option of being lazy or vegging out in front of GCM for an hour or doing an uninterrupted project, but the dividends the no-TV policy has paid have been well worth it. I feel your pain on the morning issue - I am NOT a morning person and DS rises by 6am every day - but for us it was worth it.