If Bow the dog or Armani the horse could talk, they wouldn’t have a single complaint about TV-Turnoff Week.
Ask their young masters about the TV-Turnoff Network’s weeklong push to unplug, and you’d hear a different story.
Emma Beauchamp misses “Tom and Jerry” cartoons. For Lindsey Atterbury, it’s a sacrifice to skip “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Aleks Udodik has a hard time not watching “Pokemon.”
And everybody in Laurie VanderWeyst’s third-grade class at Pinewood Elementary School in Marysville misses “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
Still, the 8- and 9-year-olds are giving TV-Turnoff Week, which is this week, their best try. Along with a few complaints are bonuses the kids never expected.
Many have gone cold turkey. Others are being selective, limiting TV time to minutes rather than hours each day. All are keeping daily logs, signed by their parents.
The teacher sent cameras home with the students so parents could take pictures of their kids’ activities when the TV wasn’t on. Photos and reports about the experience are being compiled in a classroom book, “Who Needs Television Anyway?”
While Kailey Edenholm misses shows on Animal Planet, she said Thursday that her miniature horse, Armani, is getting lots of attention.
“I’ve been playing with my dog, Bow,” said Ashlee Iverson, who also has plans to go swimming this weekend.
The TV-Turnoff Network, formerly TV-Free America, encourages kids and adults to cut viewing time for better health and learning, saying it also results in stronger families and communities.
The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Education Association all support the nonprofit group’s efforts.
Those arguing for limits on TV have tons of ammunition. Just this spring, I’ve seen these disturbing studies:
* A March 17 report in The New England Journal of Medicine said that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation of American kids may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of the rise in childhood obesity.
* Television is the villain of a study in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. University of Washington researcher Frederick Zimmerman found in a study of 1,266 4-year-olds that the more TV children watched, the more likely they were to be bullies.
My 6-year-old, more goof-off than bully, embarrassed his poor mom and disrupted T-ball practice this week with his lengthy imitation of SpongeBob. That’s what it took for me to unhook our cable connection – something I should have done long ago.
My cable isn’t canceled, we can watch if we want to (my little guy doesn’t know that). What he thought would be terrible punishment has been a week of playing catch and board games with his brother, and helping me make dinner.
We’re all talking and reading more. Our free time, always scarce, has miraculously grown.
The kids in VanderWeyst’s class are also expanding horizons. Cloyie Cummins wishes she could watch “Full House,” but she’s doing more gymnastics. Her twin brother, Joseph, has been jumping on the trampoline.
Autumn Larsen and her monkey bars are getting a workout. Alliya Bojador is playing piano. For Matthew Change and Eliott Lindborg, there’s more time for baseball. John Calkins is past page 70 in “The Silver Chair,” a book in the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Madison Doty is reading an “I Spy” book.
The kids answered “no” when I asked if they’d ever seen a commercial for an apple.
They nodded “yes” when VanderWeyst asked if they’d noticed younger siblings’ mouths hanging open while they’re zoning out in front of TV – a sign, she said, of brains being switched off.
The teacher makes a strong case, but TV’s lure is stronger. All the kids in class said they’ll celebrate at week’s end by watching television.
Before going to Pinewood on Thursday, I happened to read an Associated Press article in The Herald with this headline: “TV show gets rights to wedding of rapist.”
Apparently, “Entertainment Tonight” will air the wedding of ex-teacher Mary Kay Letourneau and her former sixth-grade pupil Vili Fualaau.
Huh. Instead of unhooking that TV of ours, I ought to throw the darned thing out the window.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
Turnoff week
For information about the TV-Turnoff Network and TV-Turnoff Week go to tvturnoff.org.
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