16 Balls in the Air: A Radical Practice

We've practiced something new almost every month this year, but we're getting radical in August.? We are going way beyond a commitment to read a chapter from James, or a short devotional at the breakfast table. ?

I can't be the only mom out there who feels like it's a war.? Screen time vs chores.? The wii vs reading aloud. ? Math vs Facebook.? The almost constant battle of cajoling and timer-setting.? we can't seem to break the repetitive cycle of the situation escalating to banshee screams {mine} and? eventual restrictions because cats or chickens didn't get fed before another round of Call of Duty had to be finished.?
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I want my family back, not the baintrain intent on a TV as their main source of entertainment and communication.? I don't believe the best way to spend my mothering time is acting as a mediator of turns and games and shows.? I want our home and family to grow and be transformed, not stagnate in a brackish backwater habit that is not working for us.

This practice will certainly be a taxing challenge for me too.? No more getting my work done while they are occupied in front of a screen.? So what?? It promises rewards and dividends too great to be overlooked: Peace. Quiet.? No more refereeing ridiculous arguments about virtual games.? Time to use all our other forms of entertainment, you know, the old fashioned kind: reading, cards, board games, and more lego and imagination.? Time to relate and chat and hopefully grow and reboot as a family.? Time to enjoy our last full month of summer and squeeze every last drop from the cup of outdoor fun.? Time to adjust to the school/homework groove, which begins on the twentieth.?

We're two days in.? It's not something they would have chosen to practice (and they've been very vocal about that fact), but we are having more fun and less fights.? Mexicanjupingbain actually asked me if I'd listen to him read a book this afternoon.? At the end of our raucous card game of War last night limabain exclaimed, "That was really fun!"??

It was music to my battle weary ears...

What about you?? Have you ever gone screen free as a family or considered it??

Lib
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Source: http://www.16ballsintheair.com/2012/08/a-radical-practice.html

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