I told you yesterday about a challenge that our son's school PTA program started.  It's called PTA TV Turnoff week and it also includes items like smartphones, tablets, and video games.  Well we finished day 1 and it was quite a change from our normal routine.

I picked up the kids from school and daycare and returned home.  Usually at this point, I'd plop down on the couch with the baby and turn on the TV and half play with her and half watch reruns of Seinfeld.  However, without the option of watching TV, I instantly became bored.  I put her in her bouncer and proceeded to SCRUB the kitchen.  I did the counter tops, dishes, stove top, and I even scrubbed the floors.  That killed about a half an hour of time.

Next I went on to doing laundry in between entertaining the baby.  I actually kept looking at the clock looking forward to cooking dinner, because it would give me something to do.

The kids and I played upstairs together for a while... something that usually doesn't happen if the TV is on.

I cooked dinner as I normally do, and my wife came home from work.  We actually sat at the dining room table for the first time since the baby was born 6 months ago.  It took a little bit of time to clear off the stacks of papers, but it was nice to actually sit down and eat.  This is something we need to start doing more, instead of staring at the TV and eating on the couch. (We fell into that routine with the baby before she could sit in a high chair.)

After that, I went into the garage and worked for about an hour on my boat.  The kids went to bed and day 1 challenge was complete. The toughest part was not reaching for my smartphone and doing something on there to pass the time.  I found myself looking around for things to do.  It was kind of eye opening.

Then today, I found this video when I was at work, and it really hit home on what we're trying to do here.

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