So lets recap:

1. Brandon and Juli donated their TV’s to Goodwill
2. Brandon and Juli disconnected their internet
3. Brandon and Juli are crazy.

Ok, that seems sufficient.

So what has come of this little experiment? Well let me tell you. At first there was literally a wailing and gnashing of teeth. It only got worse once the kids joined in. Everyone was upset with everyone else. Juli was mad because I donated the TV’s. Hailey didn’t understand where they went. Noah would look at me with his pleading eyes and specifically asked when the TV’s were coming back. He even suggested that we go down to the store to get more. Jos would just smile and grin. She is so cute. Sorry getting side tracked. I contracted a serious case of mouse finger syndrome. You know, when you grab something like a banana and try to use the scroll wheel? It was bad … real bad. We had a family home evening to discuss it with the kids and set out a plan of action. We were going to read more (a lot more). Play games more. Do fun activities more and really try to be creative with our time. Let me share a few things that I noticed right away:

• Family prayer became a lot, I mean a lot more meaningful. We were no longer trying to squeeze it in between commercial breaks. If this were the only thing that happened then it would have been worth it.
• Hailey in the first week after realizing that the TV and internet were gone actually stayed with us for the entire time of dinner. Before she would eat a few bites and run and turn on the TV. Running after her up those stairs was getting old quick. Not only that but we had meaningful discussion about everyone’s day. We now play a game during dinner in which someone selects a paper out of our “family discussion jar” with phrases and questions written on them. The papers say something such as, “If you could go anywhere, where would it be?” Some of the responses we get were fun and very imaginative. This game was Juli’s idea and it has been fantastic.
• While homework is still difficult for Hailey, we have more time to complete it.
• There has been far less contention in the home.
• We read a lot more. Not just to the kids but for ourselves, for enjoyment. I recently just read a book called Washington’s Crossing. It was an interesting book on the challenges that soldiers in the Continental army faced. We take the kids to the library more often and go on walks and exercise more and get to bed a decent hour.

I could go on but I wont. I don’t want this to sound preachy or high and mighty. I just wanted to share our experience and detail why our family did this. We are only running this experiment for a year. Will it continue on after that? I don’t know. It’s been working so far and we have been a better family for it.