The monkeys have spent the majority of this summer unplugged.
Not completely unplugged, but not playing Wii or xBox or even on their DS’s.
We went to the video gameless beach for the week of the 4th of July and came home and packed the Wii and xBox for our move that week, and since we’ve moved in, we realized that the tv where we were going to plug them into in the new house doesn’t support that type of connection. Haven’t gotten around to fixing that, yet.
The DS chargers were packed in the move and have yet to be uncovered (which is actually making me a bit nervous since I’ve essentially unpacked almost everything at this point.)
What have I found as a result?
A return to creative play.
My boys are once again spies and detectives and cowboys and whatever else they can think of. Instead of playing Lego Indiana Jones, they have become Indiana Jones and are finding the Crystal Skull in the recesses of the basement.
Now, I’m not one to say video games are the devil. I actually am a huge proponent of most video games because of the critical thinking they entail, and have been thinking of ways to include gaming in my classroom this year. Yet, I’m also a proponent of making your own fun, and I’m feeling so satisfied to watch my babies engage in a whole summer of this.
We are, once again, headed to the video gameless beach for 2 weeks. Yes, there is a television, but at the beach they find so many other things to do, the tv is usually their last resort.
When we return, we’ll probably get it all hooked up again, which isn’t a bad thing, however, after two months of not using it, I am hoping the video games become the third or fourth choice of things to play instead of the automatic go-to.
I love this post! A couple of friends just told me I was crazy when I said I wasn’t planning to hook up cable or phone when we move into our beach cottage. I remember being unplugged on our beach vacations, too. That’s what I want for my kids. Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of plugged-in time so far this summer (necessitated by all of the red tape for the closing that meant I needed to be on the phone or on the computer so often). But I feel like we can undo some of that once we’re in. I can’t wait for all of those walks to discover everything in our new beach town, too. So many possibilities! I couldn’t agree with you more. Love the way you think and write, Amy!!
Comment by StaceyMaisch — August 3, 2011 @ 7:07 am |