I had a conversation with a friend the other day where she relayed this (paraphrased) tidbit of wisdom:
My child just celebrated XYZ birthday. I know had I not worked hard to be present with him when he was growing up this fact would make me sad. Since I was present and enjoyed those years Im not sad as he enters an older phase of his life.
As a mom to a youngster this comment stuck with me.
I cant say it resonated with me (at all. right now I cant envision NOT missing the PrincessMoments which are age four no matter how hard I try & absorb them into my brain) but it did get me thinking, once again, about the importance of BEING PRESENT.
As a result Ive decided to implement three 100% technology-free nights per week.
**Cue collective GASP. Mainly from my lovely Renaissance Man of a husband**
No TV.
No Twitter.
No computer in any form (yes, love of my life, that does include an attempt to fake me out and pretend to âneedâ to check the weather for the âmorrow).
No itouch.
No ipod/iphone/cliq.
No wii.
Wii (rimshot?) will start this before the husband comes home (pretty easy for the Tornado & me) but the crucial piece will be carrying it through from when Ren Man gets home till the morning.
Weâve fallen into an exhausted by our days habit of chatting briefly then settling in for 30 minutes of trashy comedy (yes Community, Old Christine, & Big Bang Theory thatâs a shoutout to you).
Weâve stumbled back into checking our email/twitter account before bed.
Weâve added some itouch watching at night (and People I must give you the three letters Id always hoped to avoid here on this one: WTF? When did this happen?!) in our television-less bedroom.
(There was a reason for the televisionlessnessment there. we need to remind ourselves of that with these tech-free nights. a recent study showed couples without TVs in bedrooms have sex twice as often. Id imagine that this bears true with itouches, too.)
As a result, even before I spring this on my poor unknowing husband tonight we launch this tonight as a family, I KNOW itâs going to make a tremendous difference in our domicile.
And yes.
I realize that technology-free nights will be a challenge at first which is why Im setting us up for success and only starting with three.
For me much of my constant pluggedinessment is merely habit.
I reflexively check my email before bed when, if forced to admit, Im utterly aware there isnt anything there which could not wait until morning.
Whatâs that they say? Twenty one days of solid repetition builds a habit?
Please to check back in with me on May 5th.
Ill let you know how we are faring.
And you?
What do you think?
Are you in? Wanna drag yer family unwillingly down the path I shall begin to carve out with the Ren Man tonight?
Are you willing to start small, perhaps, with implementing Technology-FREE Tuesday evenings?
Do you think Im a nutball (thatâs the technical term) given my passion for all things social media & am destined to fail miserably at my own little blogâperiment?
Please to hit us all up in the comments.