Lessons Number 1 and 2

So, here we are... 4 days from my bold blogging of our foray into (semi) screen free-ness.

I should have waited until after the massive amount of rain that we had on Friday.

It all started innocently enough. We had gone to the library the night before and stocked up on more books than we had shelves.

There's no limit of how many we can check out at our library! Jackpot! For them. This just increases the odds that I'm going to owe my second born child and my car to them as collateral for library fees.

Anyway, our shelves were full. Knowledge! Imagination!

Half of our stash.

For the first 15 minutes, there was a lot of this:

Peaceful reading

Exactly 4.5 seconds after the above picture was taken, someone threw a book which bounced off of the floor and knocked someone else in the face. There were many accusations, tears, and episodes of civil unrest.

I looked at the pile of dishes in the sink and the piles of laundry on the couch. I looked back at the mutiny. Chores. Mutiny. Chores. Mutiny.

I debated sending them outside and locking the door. But it was pouring, so no. (I did make them go out later).

I also debated letting them fight for first blood.

Then I sighed and turned on a 30 minute show.

I got the dishes and the done and they piled together like puppies and happily watched television.

I had made it 1 hour and 47 minutes into day 2.

My lessons learned?

1.Time without television pretty much guarantees that the kids will descend like ants to honey when they hear a screen turn on. This has many benefits. I can sit and drink coffee and play on my phone (screen). I can do the dishes and other chores without tiny hands making more messes.

2. Rain makes kids nutty. Nutty kids make massive messes. Budget screen time for rainy days.

Lessons learned. Onward!