Will TV rule the summer?

I cannot believe summer vacation is upon us.  I cannot believe my 3yr. old and 6yr. old are getting ready to spend 2 months of freedom and bliss…yelling at each other!  I am determined for two things to happen this summer: 1) I will not yell and 2) the TV will not be the boss.  I even had to take a deep breath just to type that statement! 

I can appreciate my almost 2nd grader’s desire to decompress and get lost in the Disney channel.  I even find myself taking a time-out to watch Good Luck Charlie or Jessie.  These shows have taken the place of the family sitcoms of our youth, ie Cosby or Family Ties.  

And there are some really great children’s shows that actually teach something.  I LOVE The Electric Company on PBS.  And the newer shows like Team UmiZoomi do a wonderful job of teaching math skills.

But, what makes summer SUMMER for children is a break from the norm, the ability to go on adventures….to do something different.  The different can be a trip to the mountains or it can be a visit to a local farm or it can be a fairytale picnic in the backyard.  It can be counting all of the red signs on the street in your city.  It can be making leaf creatures at the kitchen table.

I am going to buy a blank notebook and have my girls chronicle all of the “things” we do this summer (big and small) and the week before school starts we can relive all of our adventures.  And I am going to take a pledge to not let the TV rule the summer!

(If you would like to join in taking the pledge to tune out the tv, use #TVwillNotRuleSummer on twitter or go to www.facebook.com/PagesCorner and join the event, Page's Pledge.)