About Barb Brock
A professor of recreation management at Eastern Washington University, Barbara Brock is widely known for her innovative research into TV-free lifestyles. Articles about her work have appeared in Time Magazine and in publications such as Parenting, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, and Good Housekeeping. Perhaps
ironically, she has also been interviewed on the Today Show.Her own family
has lived TV free for over two decades.
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• Catch the News. But do it before or after dinner. (TV during dinner stops all good conversation.) Thirty minutes of news is all you need to keep current. Talk with children about world events. Let each family member choose a topic to follow each day of the week. See what is new on your topic. See how much more detailed the newspaper is on your subject. When a story is over, choose another one to follow.
• Try an Experiment. For a week or longer, live as if you didn’t have a TV set. Listen to the radio for news, stories, and music. Use the time spent on TV doing more exciting things, such as having a family Monopoly night or a family-prepared Saturday morning breakfast. See how little you missed. When you go back to TV, you’ll probably look at fewer shows! Some families have adopted the plan of TV on weekends only, except for educational specials. Encourage a child to write up this experiment for the school paper. Let her tell what she missed, what she did instead, and what she thinks about TV now.
• A Day at Our House. On a weekend day, let each family member who knows how to use a video camera record activities at home: sleeping, breakfast, work projects, play, friends who stop in, errands, an excursion, cooking, dinner, reading, games, clean-up, bedtime. Look at “the day” and see if the time was spent doing interesting or boring things. If boring, plan to make some changes. Tape a similar show in a few weeks and see if the content has improved and also if kids are getting better with camera angles, panning, and other techniques.
Taken from 1001 Things to Do With Your Kids.
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