Last week — it was Tuesday — Georgia said to me, “Mommy, when we do Greasy Kid Stuff this week, I need to find lots of things to do to keep me busy.”

We record our weekly radio show for kids on Wednesdays, and Georgia usually watches a movie while we record the show. “What do you want to watch?” I asked, ignorantly.

“MO-OM-MEE-EE! It’s TV Turnoff Week!”

That explained why she got out her play dough on Monday right after school. She doesn’t watch TV every day, but often she does have a rest and some Bill Nye the Science Guy, or Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. She’ll often ask for a book or to play roughhouse with me, but she never plays with play dough. I realize now it was strange, but I didn’t give it a second thought then.

I didn’t know it was TV Turnoff Week. I really didn’t! I guess I’m so tuned out of mainstream media, or wherever they might promote it, that I just missed it. But it was TV Turnoff week, and Georgia was very diligent about it. She even scolded me for having the computer on.

“Mommy! No screen time, it’s not just TV!”

I assured her I wasn’t just wasting my time on the computer; I wasn’t playing games, I had to use it to work. She was appeased.

A quick search for TV Turnoff Week brought last week’s tuneout-fest, in its 13th year, as well as a different one sponsored by the Center for Screen Time Awareness coming September 20-26. The idea, of course, is to see what you can do if you don’t turn on that electronic brain sucker. Spend more time with family, read, think, get active, and just see what TV is taking away from your life. The CFSTA says, “On average, people watch 4 hours of television and then spend another 4 plus hours with computers, games, video, iPods and cell phones.” A day?!?! Yikes! I don’t think we average 4 hours of TV a week, let alone day. Who has 8 free hours every day to entertain themselves at all, let alone with screen time?? Hova and I do squeeze in 24 minutes of day-old John Stewart webcasts any night we can, and we did try to watch the Blazers make an amazing team attempt for glory and redemption. Which reminds me…

A game was on Friday, and we were able to get it on the digital converter/rabbit ears setup we have, so Hova turned it on. Georgia was shocked. Shocked! She covered her eyes, “I can’t believe you guys are watching TV!” At first I thought she meant because of the rabbit ear contraption, but then I remembered TV Turnoff Week. We turned it off out of respect for her (but listened on the radio). She had done so well, and not made a big deal about it at all. She had gathered lots of art projects to occupy her time during our radio show recording session, and she didn’t ask for TV once the whole week. It was a much bigger deal on her part, and I hardly noticed it. So when she went to a sleepover Saturday and the 1978 Gene Wilder Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was on the agenda, I assured her she didn’t need to feel bad about watching it. I feel like she should have got a medal, and maybe in September I’ll make her one!

Today a new week started. After school she played on the playground, and when we came home she was tired. She got a snack and said, "Mommy! Narnia!" I caught myself before I told her TV Turnoff week was over and realized I was about to ask if she wanted to watch some TV. I am sure she knows it's over, but she didn't care. We snuggled down and read four chapters.

Did you turn off the TV last week? Will you turn it off in September?

Photo credit: Aaron Escobar™