Television

We haven't had a TV for the past couple of years.  When we got rid of the television it seemed like a pretty drastic thing to be doing.  My husband has never been much of a TV watcher, but I watched WAY too much TV, and my son was getting into the habit of watching a movie almost every day.  We knew that it wasn't a good thing though, and we wanted our home to be an environment of learning, so we finally got rid of the TV!  I do watch a few shows online, and we use the computer to watch movies.  My boys get to watch one movie a week together, and every now and then we have a family movie night.

I borrowed a TV from my parents so that we could watch the Olympics.  We decided that the Olympics would be a good learning opportunity, and it was!  Gage learned about all sorts of different countries and sports and he really enjoyed it.  I was surprised though at how little of an impact the TV had on our home.  I was worried that I would be tempted to turn it on all the time, like I was two years ago.  This time though, it just sat in a corner and was only turned on for a few hours each day (or some days not at all) to watch the Olympics.  I can honestly say now that I am glad we don't own a TV, and I'm amazed at that. :)  Yay for me! I actually found the TV kind of annoying.  I am used to watching my favorite shows online.  I usually have to wait until the day after the show airs, but then I have the convenience of watching the show whenever I want to.  The other bonus is that there are way less commercials.  I got tired of watching all the commercials during the Olympics, or feeling like you have to channel surf during the commercials.  There were often beer commercials or McDonald's commercials, and all sorts of commercials for things that we don't promote in our home.  It was annoying to have my son fascinated by those commercials and think that a McDonald's happy meal is a good thing.  I know that I can't shield him from everything, but I really don't want to have to battle all those tricky marketing schemes that are on TV to make kids want things that they don't need.

So this was a good experience for me, to prove to myself that I don't want a TV.  We've thought about having a TV again at times, but really it's easier not to.  Our home is more peaceful without a TV and we all learn better without the distraction.

In other news, I joined a food co-op and got my first order last week!  I got all this produce for $10: 

That's a great deal for 10 bucks!  I was really happy with the experience and plan on getting an order every month!  You should definitely see if your area has a food co-op!  You basically get to skip the price hike of the grocery store and can buy the food at wholesale price.  If you live in Utah, check out The Community Food Co-Op of Utah.  There is also another food co-op called Bountiful Baskets that I haven't tried yet, but they have distribution sites in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Washington, and Las Vegas.