Unplugged

My husband and I made a rather radical decision earlier this week; we decided to spend the first 3 days of the month “unplugged” – no TV and no Internet. The recent Thanksgiving holiday had brought the whole family together, and yet too much of it seemed to be spent in front of the TV or the computer.

So December 1-3, we unplugged.

Day 1 was really very nice – not at all what you might expect from an ADD household. It was quiet (heaven!) and peaceful. My son Andy spent part of the day writing a paper for school that was due in 2 weeks. Imagine actually having a paper done well ahead of time!

Caitlin spent part of the day on homework, too, but most of it was spent buried in a book. Caitlin has always been a reader, but really hasn’t been spending much time lately with books. Tuesday was a wonderful exception.

I caught up on some housework – easy to do when there’s no distractions – and then spent the afternoon reading and writing in my journal. I enjoyed it a great deal.

That evening when my husband came home, we had time to talk instead of watching TV.

I would love to tell you that the other two days went by just as blissfully, but that would not be truthful.

Days 2 and 3 were very hard to get through without something to keep us mindlessly occupied. I guess by then the novelty had worn off. To our credit, we did stick to the plan, although the fact that my husband had disabled things might have had something to do with it.

What was most amazing to me was that even in a household where everyone has ADHD, we didn’t go stir crazy or argue with each other or otherwise lose our minds.

Maybe we’ll give this idea a try again at Christmas, in a slightly less extreme way.