Turning off the Computer

Today I was on the computer and without thinking about it I clicked the button to turn off the computer. I paused, a little surprised, because I normally leave the computer on all day. But I decided to go ahead and turn it off. I didn't have anything that needed to be done on it anyway. I got a bunch of tidying and house cleaning down. There were two or three times that I went to sit down in front of the computer and realized that it was off. Each time I sat, I realized that there was nothing that I needed to do with the computer. It was just habit when I was done cleaning, or didn't feel like doing anything else.

Since the computer was off I also sat down at the table with the girls and read some of this month's Friend magazine with them. And I read about 30 minutes of books with them. As I was doing that I realized that I will never regret spending that time with them. Whereas I often regret spending so much time on the computer. I even went through the magazines in the bathroom and pulled out the old ones to throw away. Before tossing them I had Baby Dragon cut out pictures from them and glue them onto paper for fun. I showed Sweetie the right way to hold scissors and was so impressed to see how quickly she caught on. She has excellent fine motor skills. I also watched as Sweetie colored and she has learned a lot from watching me color on Sundays during sacrament (one of the best ways to keep her entertained and still be able to listen to the talks). She used different colors for different parts and it turned out really well. I also made a "gratitude turkey" and will have the girls tell me what they are thankful for each day and write it on a feather and add it to the turkey each day. Baby Dragon was thankful for the turkey (she named is Grapey) and Sweetie was thankful for Max and Ruby.

I feel like I was doing those things I've been wanting to do as a Mom. A couple of weeks ago I made a TV Time chart for the kids to limit their TV time. (The DVD and TV show icons on top mean those are available for them to choose, when I move them to the bottom it means they have already watched their allotted time)

Sweetie is the one that needs to be reined in, obviously. Baby Dragon had NO problem keeping the TV off. Anyway, I need to be limiting my computer time as well. I think we will all be happier if I do.