On the weekends, Kwabena tends to watch too much tv, and I tend to sit in front of the computer too much. It starts with him wanting to lie in our bed in the morning and watch cartoons. From there, I get us breakfast, bringing in his little Ikea table and set it up in our room (i.e. in front of the TV), and I plop my butt down in front of the computer to check email, Facebook, etc.
After we’re done breakfast, we usually end up continuing to watch TV and use the computer. And when I am ready to do some clean-up, the TV has become a good babysitter; easier to keep him occupied that way instead of trying to entertain him myself while trying to clean.
But this past Sunday, I told Kwabena that he and I are going to go on a “TV and computer strike.” And let me tell you, it was the most wonderful thing!
We started off the morning with breakfast at the dining room table. We talked…I looked through my knitting magazine, etc. Then Kwabena wanted to play with his new monster truck that we bought from Arundel Mills on Saturday. So we broke out my sewing cutting mats and made a ramp, and played with that for a good 30 minutes or more. We also played a little hide-and-go-seek (OMG, Kwabena was hilarious! When he couldn’t find me, he started freaking out. I told him one game was enough–poor kid was getting scared!).
We also read several books. And then later spend about an hour at the thrift store, playing with toys and browsing around (one of our favorite weekend activities). Afterwards, we took advantage of the odd mid-60’s temperature and went to the park. Kwabena wanted to ride his Lightening McQueen scooter. How amazing it was to sit there and watch my beautiful, handsome child try to do tricks on his scooter! 🙂 He attempted going down the hilly parts of the playground and park…proudly displayed his ability to “pop a willy” on his scooter….and after begging him to take me around a lap of the park, he finally agreed. Just watching him push off and practice putting both feet on the board was so cool. Kwasi’d been trying to teach him to do it for the longest time. And even though he would sort of get it (honestly, I think they make the boards too narrow for two feet), it wasn’t until now that I saw that he was truly mastering his scooter!
I sat there with a big ‘ole grin on face, just soaking up my amazing child 🙂 Ahhhhh……
Overall, it was a perfect day! Turning off the TV and computer felt so good. It made me feel more focused, less rushed, less self-centered on some inanimate object. Instead, I put myself 100% into Kwabena and what he wanted to do. I enjoyed the moment. Hell, I didn’t even bother with doing cleaning yesterday! It was all about relaxing with him and not feeling like I had 10 million other things to do.
Even today at work I was focused on what I SHOULD be doing instead of connecting to the computer–I rarely checked email….didn’t check Facebook….and only did the minimum amount of browsing/online chatting necessary. And I was so much more productive at work!
When Ohene comes, I plan to continue this “un-connectedness” to the computer. It really is like an addiction. (Hell, sometimes I find myself on the computer after I’ve done all I “needed” to do, wondering why I am STILL sitting there, reloading to see if any new emails came through, etc. What’s the point of that?! Just a time zapper, in my opinion). So as I was saying, when Ohene comes, I hope to continue on with this new focus of reconnecting to the real world instead of pulling myself into a superficial cyber world.
This feels liberating! 🙂
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