Painting and TV-less Parenting

Brian and I finally tackled the main level of our house over the past couple of weeks with paint and lots of it. Whew!!! We started in the family room with a "soft" banana cream that turned out to be waaaaay more banana than cream. Then, we brought the wheatgrass color down from the hallway upstairs to finally (at last!!!) cover over the horrible red wall in the front room/dining room. The kitchen, completely by - no joke - Brian's choosing is blue...an electric sort of blue. Think Bahamas. So, our rainbow of colors that began upstairs has continued to the main level of the house.

Oh, and I can't forget the orange/melon color that beckons all visitors in the entry hallway. Brian put it this way...he had wanted a mellow color to greet guests with a whispering, "Hi, come on in. Have a seat." Instead, when the front door is opened the orange screams, "HI YOU ALL!!! HOW THE HECK ARE YOU?!?!?! COME IN! COME IN! COME IN!!!!" I love the colors and they are all growing on Brian. He doesn't have much wiggle room to complain since he selected the colors this time around.

With all our painting and rotating of furniture from room to room, we've had all our cable and internet wires disconnected during our mini room makeovers. This has meant zero television for the kids and quite an adjustment for Brian and I. I honestly did not realize how much tv the kids watched until it wasn't distracting them. For the first couple days the kids were bored, getting overly punchy with each other and complaining about not having anything to watch. Keep in mind, my kids are four and under! Because we had not intentionally limited their tv watching we had allowed some really bad habits to form. If the kids were fighting or getting overly hyper we'd turn on a show for them. If it was dinner time and we needed them safely playing out of the kitchen we'd turn on a show. If two children were napping and the third needed to stay quiet...yep, another show. Our children are so full of energy and imagination and rather than channeling it all into something constructive, Brian and I had become suckers for the idiot box (this being my mother's reference to the television set when I was a kid - and now, I couldn't agree more!).

So, anyhoo, by the third day a wonderful change occurred - the kids rediscovered their toys and began playing. I mean, really playing. They made up games with each other and played for hours together. One afternoon they amazed Brian and I when they lined up all the kitchen chairs to make a "pirate boat". While we painted, Isaac and Sophia fought off the "bad pirate", Baby Jack, who was trying to steal their treasure. Before the boat was fully constructed the kids were being very high maintenance - to the point that Brian had even wanted to hook up the tv just to get them to relax for a few minutes. But we opted to skip the tv and the kids had a blast playing with each other. Even Jack enjoyed himself once he became a "good pirate" and was allowed on the boat.

Brian and I aren't anti-tv by any means, but we are getting rid of cable. We don't need a tv babysitter so why should we be paying for one? We need to adjust and make more room in our lives for our kids and let them be kids (what a novel idea!). I don't see how the time they spend in front of the television fosters anything good in them - so we are on a new quest as parents to discover what will foster their energy and imaginations.

Who knew a decision to finally get some pretty colors up on our walls would change how we raise our kids!?!?! Now, I wonder what will happen when we clean out the basement!!!