Clara Beyond: December 2011

When I had my first child, I made a conscious decision not to plonk him in front of the TV. So I didn't. Not until he was nearly two years old and my twins were born. At that point, I really needed the daily half hour afforded by Play School, and the odd 10 minutes of Thomas the Tank Engine in order to get dressed in the morning, or have a little respite from juggling the needs of two newborns with that of a toddler. Bless them all..... it was a tricky time. And if I missed out on those 30 minutes allotted to me for showering and putting on my clothes, I was lucky to be out of my nightie before lunchtime.

A couple of years later we moved from Melbourne to Tasmania, and swapped our lovely old California bungalow and generous city patch of garden for a gorgeous big old weatherboard set in a beautiful acre of big trees and cottage flowers in the Huon Valley. So we decided to dispense with the TV altogether (for the children that is.... I still need my hour of rubbish in the evening for switch-off-and-knit time). With a rambling garden to explore and trees to climb, and space to build and play and run, nobody even noticed that TV no longer featured in our day. Even though we'd only ever watched a tiny amount, the impact had been subtle, but, nevertheless, quite profound on my children. There was an element of negative role play, imitation and acting out in accordance with what they had watched, and it definitely steered their play. But once even that tiny amount of screentime disappeared from their lives altogether, their creativity flourished and blossomed, establishing an independent course free of dictated content. Unfettered by the influence of storylines, characters and language all dreamed up by teams of adults trying to assume a child's perspective and vision, my children flew headlong into worlds entirely of their own making. Entirely. And since the day we hit that off button for good, those worlds have taken my breath away.

I am proud of my decision to quit TV on behalf of my children, and I can honestly say it has benefited them beyond my expectations or imaginings. Earlier this year we went overseas to visit family and friends. Before embarking on our trip, I sent out sensitive and considered messages to everyone we would be staying with, asking them when they watched the box, so we could make alternative plans for those times and set up our own rhythms. Interestingly, every single one of those families were more than happy to switch off while we enjoyed their generous hospitality, and not once was there a request, from any of the children, for the usual television time. For me, this felt like further affirmation of the negligible role TV plays in the lives and imaginations of our little ones. They simply don't need it or want it when there is something better to do. And there is always something better to do.

Now we are approaching the end of the year, and I am surrounded by festive creativity which involves lots of singing, giving and, of course, building. Always building. Lately more drawing has been going on too, and even a spot of writing from my 6 year old, something which he isn't yet being taught at school (we have chosen Steiner education), but which he is simply doing of his own volition. Looking back over this year, I can see for myself exactly what happens when your children don't watch TV, and I can happily say we won't be watching it next year either.....

So, what have we been doing?