What happens when a parent removes every violent video game, every violent cartoon and TV show, violent words and every violent kid friendly, (if that ever can be considered part of one sentence) light saber, gun, sword in their son's life?
We have yet to see what will happen, but it's our hope that whatever change is brought from it, will be positive.
Why did we do this?
Because we're convinced our children, at our own doings, are addicted to violence.
What's the length of time for this project?:
Undetermined. If we were to set a 30 day rule, then we fear the kids may feel as though they can "return" to their lifestyle. Ideally, though, we'd love to see 30days of this and beyond, for we do know that in order to change a behavior, in children, will most likely take at least 30days.
What led us to this?
That will be discussed in time. For now, we are capturing the changes in our sons, when the majority of their playing world, is removed, in hope to encourage far more healthy "kid friendly" play. Which will help them grow up into healthy young tweens, teens and adults.
SUNDAY JUNE 12TH DAY 1:
We sat them down this morning, and told them the news of our new "project". This being after Brian and I spent a long night documenting and outlining this project, and the little parts of what we will allow and what we won't. We didn't want them to "beat themselves up," or "blame themselves," for this, but we wanted them to know how important this matter is.
Sunday morning, we gathered our three little men into their backyard.
Had them sit, within two inches of one another on their picnic table, and we mad our announcement of what they will be gaining.
Naturally, as kids generally do, they asked questions that we hadn't even considered, but this is a project in the works..
(NOTE: It's Tuesday, and we still don't know how to approach these questions, but we know this project isn't just for our son's development, but for our own as well)
We realize we can't remove every bit of "violence" in a young boys life. The hard part is knowing what is 'acceptable violence' vs 'nonacceptable.' Is Tom and Jerry out because the cat beats up the mouse?
Can they still play football outside although they're using two hands to "soft push" the other team?
We have taken away everything that has become a "constant" negative in their little lives.
They all helped Dad pick up and gather every gun, sword, light saber and costume that lay around the garage in bins, as their only method of play, was playing "war" with the neighborhood crew. They each picked boxes that we will store their "weapons" in. They helped carry the boxes into the house, and watched as Dad and I carried them downstairs to the basement.
We also whispered all the "violent" words, that are no longer acceptable within this family, into the "Whisper box." We discussed what words are acceptable, and what words are not. We gave them all an opportunity to "pick up these words," and pluck them from their mouths, to store them in the 'whisper word box" to clean them up and make them shiny again.
They enjoyed doing this, as boys and kids do. They've already asked if we could all make them their own "whisper boxes." Which in time, we told them yes, but for now, this is for all of us, we share everything as a family, so all our words will be cleaned together, in our one whisper box.
They were okay with that.
They spent the entire day playing baseball and football in the yard. We even heard them tell the neighborhood boys that "we can't play fight games anymore, because we're not making good choices. But we can still play with you, but you can't play with any of our guns and swords or outfits because we put them in special boxes and put them away."
The neighborhood boys were perfectly fine with this. Surprisingly, later that day, they went home and told their parents about what's going on in this household.
Yet another good sign.
Ben did try to turn a blue golf club into a sword, but we handed him a ball and thankfully, redirection was a success.
All three boys and Dad took a bike ride to the local park, where they rode their bikes in the skate tracks and they all played a game of basketball.
Ben (and I) attended a birthday party at a gymnastic center. Our other boys and Daddy went on a bike ride, played baseball with the neighborhood boys, climbed trees, and got muddy.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and like any addiction, things will probably get worse before they get better. But for being day 1, I have to say, that they did pretty well.
We have yet to see what will happen, but it's our hope that whatever change is brought from it, will be positive.
Why did we do this?
Because we're convinced our children, at our own doings, are addicted to violence.
What's the length of time for this project?:
Undetermined. If we were to set a 30 day rule, then we fear the kids may feel as though they can "return" to their lifestyle. Ideally, though, we'd love to see 30days of this and beyond, for we do know that in order to change a behavior, in children, will most likely take at least 30days.
What led us to this?
That will be discussed in time. For now, we are capturing the changes in our sons, when the majority of their playing world, is removed, in hope to encourage far more healthy "kid friendly" play. Which will help them grow up into healthy young tweens, teens and adults.
SUNDAY JUNE 12TH DAY 1:
We sat them down this morning, and told them the news of our new "project". This being after Brian and I spent a long night documenting and outlining this project, and the little parts of what we will allow and what we won't. We didn't want them to "beat themselves up," or "blame themselves," for this, but we wanted them to know how important this matter is.
Sunday morning, we gathered our three little men into their backyard.
Had them sit, within two inches of one another on their picnic table, and we mad our announcement of what they will be gaining.
Naturally, as kids generally do, they asked questions that we hadn't even considered, but this is a project in the works..
(NOTE: It's Tuesday, and we still don't know how to approach these questions, but we know this project isn't just for our son's development, but for our own as well)
We realize we can't remove every bit of "violence" in a young boys life. The hard part is knowing what is 'acceptable violence' vs 'nonacceptable.' Is Tom and Jerry out because the cat beats up the mouse?
Can they still play football outside although they're using two hands to "soft push" the other team?
We have taken away everything that has become a "constant" negative in their little lives.
They all helped Dad pick up and gather every gun, sword, light saber and costume that lay around the garage in bins, as their only method of play, was playing "war" with the neighborhood crew. They each picked boxes that we will store their "weapons" in. They helped carry the boxes into the house, and watched as Dad and I carried them downstairs to the basement.
We also whispered all the "violent" words, that are no longer acceptable within this family, into the "Whisper box." We discussed what words are acceptable, and what words are not. We gave them all an opportunity to "pick up these words," and pluck them from their mouths, to store them in the 'whisper word box" to clean them up and make them shiny again.
They enjoyed doing this, as boys and kids do. They've already asked if we could all make them their own "whisper boxes." Which in time, we told them yes, but for now, this is for all of us, we share everything as a family, so all our words will be cleaned together, in our one whisper box.
They were okay with that.
They spent the entire day playing baseball and football in the yard. We even heard them tell the neighborhood boys that "we can't play fight games anymore, because we're not making good choices. But we can still play with you, but you can't play with any of our guns and swords or outfits because we put them in special boxes and put them away."
The neighborhood boys were perfectly fine with this. Surprisingly, later that day, they went home and told their parents about what's going on in this household.
Yet another good sign.
Ben did try to turn a blue golf club into a sword, but we handed him a ball and thankfully, redirection was a success.
All three boys and Dad took a bike ride to the local park, where they rode their bikes in the skate tracks and they all played a game of basketball.
Ben (and I) attended a birthday party at a gymnastic center. Our other boys and Daddy went on a bike ride, played baseball with the neighborhood boys, climbed trees, and got muddy.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and like any addiction, things will probably get worse before they get better. But for being day 1, I have to say, that they did pretty well.
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