So we have given up our TV for the month of August.  The entire month.  No TV.  No movies.  No news.  No sports.

This is not just for our little ones.  Keith and I are taking a break as well.  There will be no sneaking and watching something after the little ones head off to bed. 

31 days without the big, blaring box filling the house with noise.  It is only 31 days.

So why, you ask?  Why are we giving it up?  We are giving it up because of the feeling I get when I read the sentence above.  31 days without TV.  When I decided we should do this (2 weeks ago), it seemed noble and parental.  Now, I feel like I am going to be missing out on something.  I feel like I do not know what I will do with myself or my children.  I am anxious and sad.

Seriously, anxious and SAD about not watching TV?  THAT IS A PROBLEM.

Here is the irony in this whole thing, we do NOT watch that much TV.  My children average about 30 minutes a day - meaning there are days when they watch two hours of TV and then there are days when they watch none.  But they ask for it ALL THE TIME.  It is the first question my son asks EVERY morning when he gets up and Saturday is the ONLY morning we do watch TV (on other days it is usually when I feed baby at 10:00am - not first thing).  When we do sit down to watch a cartoon, several of them actually cry when it is over and I do not turn on another one (even though we RARELY watch two and it is ALWAYS explained that there will only be ONE).  THIS IS A PROBLEM.

I watch a cooking show or something on TLC in the late afternoon on SOME days.  Keith and I do watch TV in the evenings when our little ones go to bed.  But there are no shows we MUST watch.  Let's be honest, most of it is crap. 

So why so anxious?  I realized that TV is a drug on our house.  It is a recreational drug that we use to kill time, to control moods, to relieve stress, to ease boredom.   It is just as addictive as crack or LSD.    We want it when we can't have it and when we get it some is never enough. 

As I have mentioned previously in this blog, my last pregnancy was a trying one.  I was VERY sick for a long time and I got lazy.  TV was an easy way to deal with crazy children and to zone out myself when I had a free moment.  I am MUCH better now, but habits are hard to break.   Instead of picking up a book, I reach for the remote.  And books are SO MUCH better than an old episode of House Hunters or Friends.

So I decided we need a break.  Some might ask, why not just get rid of it?  And I have one word, football.  Keith and I love love love football, especially college football.  So, when it dawned on me that the TV was really needing to be curbed (not so much in amount as I said above, it is not HUGE amounts of time, but in desire) and that Football season was right around the corner, I decided August was the month to take the plunge.

Today has been fine.  They have only asked for it one time (B, first thing this morning).  I am wondering how it will all turn out.  I am sure we will do just fine this month.  But I wonder, like any addict, will we be able to turn the TV back on and handle it?  I have some ideas about that but will spend these TV free days praying about it, seeking wisdom as to how to handle our desire for it.