Day 16 Catching Up

This is much harder than I thought it would be. I shouldn't be surprised because, hey, I'm 60 lbs overweight. That might be an indication of a problem of self-control.

In any case, I definitely broke my rules in a couple of ways this week:

1) On Tuesday evening, I was in my hotel room in Phoenix. Since arriving on Sunday I had not turned on the TV at all. I was having a hard time getting to sleep, so I turned it on and watched about 30 minutes of HBO (I rationlized that this was probably better than commercial TV, but that was just lying to myself).

2) On Saturday evening, I watched a few episodes of Family Guy with my son. Thankfully, my wife objected and we've now banned FG in our house. So, I should be good for the rest of the month.

3) On Sunday evening, I watched another half hour of TV with my other son. I think he was channel flipping between a Power Rangers movie and CSI.

4) Friday night, I watched a pay-per-view movie, Cloverfield, with my sons. My wife was at a youth camp for girls that night. Since my rule states that I will watch a movie with my wife, this was a violation, but I probably should have thought it through. My sons pushed watching the ppv because we were home together on Friday night, so I kind of give myself a pass on this one.

I'm finding it very difficult to live up to the standards I set for the month. I've noticed that when I turn on the TV, it is like a magnet for my kids. They like to watch TV with me and it is a socialization time. We talk about what we're watching, laugh together, comment on it afterwards, etc. It's not just mindless "vegging" time.

I also find it difficult not to sit down with them for a few minutes while they are watching. I want to make sure that they know that I'm monitoring what they are watching.

It has also become very apparent how permeated my home is with popular media. Most of the time when I am home I can hear either a TV, a radio, a video game, or the click of keys on the keyboard (supposedly from someone using the internet).