Screen Free Week 2017 Prep

It's Screen Free Week again!

I have been so looking forward to this week this year, because I know I am in need of a week-long reboot of screens so badly and I just can't wait to be 'off the hook' of knowing and seeing all.the.things all.the.time.

The kids, as every year so far, won't even really flinch because they are much less tuned into screens than Bud and I.  It really boils down to the access to phones and since only the adults in our home have those currently, the main screen zombies are us!

This year will be our fifth year participating in Screen Free Week and it's become another one of those mini-holidays we celebrate at our house.  The kids know it's coming, they know the drill, and we act like it's just another special week during a year of little (and big) celebrations.

In preparation, the kids and I sat down to draft up a list of the kinds of things we could do that didn't involve screens - just in case we needed a reminder during the week - and in only a few minutes and with no trouble at all, we were all talking over each other getting excited about the prospect of so many fun activities.

The three little ones and I will definitely make a trip to the library early on to load up on new-to-us books to devour during Screen Free Week.  Hopefully, if the weather holds out, we'll grab lots of outdoor time (I'm ambitiously shooting for 6 hours a day at least!)

We also have
(wait for it)
....a baseball game every single night Monday through Saturday and then Brandon and I are running in the Pittsburgh half-marathon on Sunday.  (go ahead, laugh at our expense, because that's a ridiculous week line-up, we're kind of laughing too...or crying; it's hard to tell).

Personally, I'm hoping to make up for my shoddy reading completion for this year so far and finish my current book and one other book too by next week's end.  And, I have some chores on the docket - like changing out seasonal clothes and switching kids' sizes, etc)

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I've written so many times about screens and modern day parenting and outdoor time that I know I must sound like a broken record.  So I apologize, but I think somehow, each of these pieces meet together to create a a tiny crack in the big picture of understanding so much about the current state of the world.  I know that in my own experience, the people who are the happiest, most level headed, calm, and adaptable are those that spend quality time outdoors and have a firm 'real life vs. screen' balance in their lives.  There must be a connection, I just know it!

In any case, if you're interested in looking back through all of my thought ramblings on these topics - you can take a glimpse back at these posts:

Screen free week for first timers
Modern day parenting & screen awareness
Why I try to clock 1000 hours outdoors

Or check out these places on the web for more info & ideas for this specific upcoming week:
Screen Free Week! (from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood)
Pinsearch: Screen Free 

And finally,
here are my screen free week reflections from previous years:
2016, 2015, 2014, 2013

I hope you'll be joining us in this unplugged week, if it's your first time ever or if you've participated in the past - I can't wait to hear about it in a week!!

Look up! Engage! Play!!
See you soon, friends! xxoxox

fishmas 2017

First up in our fishing season was Mentor fishing day - which falls the weekend before the First day of Trout that is set up to encourage and promote kids to learn to fish.  Our two biggest kids filled out their youth fishing licenses and packed their backpacks for a fishing camp sleepover with their cousins the night before.

The two little ones and I stayed home, so I woke up to this little face in our bed. 

I got text pics all morning of everyone having a great time on the creek and lots of updates about how much fun the cousins were all having together.  We had plenty of mentors to go around for all the kids, including my Dad (Chum) who drove out for the day.  It's nice to have lots of adults around to help with all the different aspects of fishing and to keep an eye on kids who are baiting hooks, chopping wood (!), cooking over the fire, and hanging out near rushing water.

We got a visit at our house with cousins Lisa and Rowan and then we all packed up and headed out to fishing camp to reunite with our crews!  Despite the chilly evening, it turned into a beautiful day and we all got to cheer on all the kids reeling in fish and kissing them before releasing them back into the stream.  I was happy to finally give my brand new seven year old boy a birthday hug (!) and he was proud to show off his fishing skills to his baby sister and brother. 

 

The following weekend, it was real Fishmas - which means the first day of trout! Keeping in tradition with the past four years, Grey, Brandon, and Pappy all headed out to fishing camp on Fishmas Eve to sleepover.  And we got our early morning texts of them on the creek fishing as soon as the clock struck 8am.

...um, real quick.  I just had to go back and search my blog to figure out if Grey has been sleeping over at fishing camp since he was three or four years old and found this pic and then obviously had to do a side by side comparison...and excuse me...when did this transformation happen to my little baby boy Booboo?! Time, why you do this momma's heart so wrong?....but, that beard though, b! xxoxo! .....okay, carrying on...

While the boys spent their day on the creek (Grey even getting a chance to learn how to filet and cook a fish he caught that morning!)...

The girls, Rusty, Gigi, and I headed out to our annual Fishmas tradition.  We all had lunch together and then got pampered and beautified by getting pedicures.  The Saturday before Easter meant it was even more busy out then normal, but the kids were really patient and sweet through the whole process.  They even earned themselves a quick stroll in the Pet Store to say hello to all the animals afterwards (hah). 

After our little girls' afternoon, we head over to fishing camp to meet up with the crew and spend the evening with them.  Grey had a great day and even a scary fishing story that he was eager to tell us.  Earlier that day, he felt a tug on his line and started reeling it in and could see the closer it got the bigger it looked.  By the time it was really close, it looked like it was almost two feet long!  He started getting really worried this fish was going to just swallow him up if he reeled it in! So with tears of fear in his eyes, he handed his rod over to his Pappy and asked him for help.  After a quick look, even Pap thought it might have been a snapping turtle, but as they pulled it up.....it was only a huge log!  hahhaha, i love that memory!

Another awesome Fishmas holiday that will live on in the kids' memories (and ours!)
Remember when Grey was just barely one and I wrote this letter to him about Fishmas.
Okay, bye, I'm too sentimental today, hahhhaha!

learning to run

My first ever half marathon is a mere one month and three days away which is both terrifying and exhilarating.  Brandon and my sister are running with me.  Brandon is running because he is a saint on earth and agreed even though he didn't have much of a choice considering I only asked him after I had already registered us both in our first ever.  Kayla has run a few halfs in her life and so she has been fielding my panicked questions and concerns with patience and encouragement - because 13.1 miles is A LOT of miles if you've never run that many before. 

But over the course of learning to run, ya know what I've learned?  1 mile is A LOT of miles to run if you've never run that much before.  And truthfully that's where I'd say I had started.  

A few years back (about five to be exact), my sisters and our men registered for my first ever 5K, the Color Me Rad race.  At that point, I had a two year old and a barely six month old baby and was way out of exercise habit.  Growing up as a volleyball player, running had always been a punishment - so I learned to hate and avoid it.  I found other forms of active living much more enjoyable and never considered myself a 'runner.' So, heading into the months before my first 5K, I was so anxious about running the race.  I was embarrassed to run in front of anyone, worried I wouldn't be able to finish or keep up, and slightly horrified that it was three miles all at once!  

So I began 'training' in a small way, I started running laps around our yard.  First I started at a half a mile goal, running the perimeter of our yard and then when I got more confidence; heading out into the streets of our neighborhood. I kept pushing a little farther until I finally ran three miles all together (without dying - much to my surprise and delight!) about a week before the race.  The color run was fun and after I was able to finish the race (jogging the whole time!) it felt sort of silly that I was ever afraid of a 5K in the first place.  Isn't that the way with life, it's scary until you do it, right? 

Since that first 5K, I've run quite a few others over the years.  Personally, I never run for time but rather the opportunity to run with people I love and to help raise money for whatever cause is putting the race on.  One of my favorite races is the Santa Hat race at our hometown Christmas parade that I've run with Greyson for the past two years and the races I've done with my baby sis, just the two of us running in the morning and then heading back to the rest of our days like it was no big deal that we ran three miles before the rest of my family had even finished waking up on a weekend morning.

And now, three miles isn't scary to me anymore.  I usually like to prepare a little bit before a 5K, but honestly there have been times when I've showed up to a race without running for weeks but I was sure that my body and lungs could handle three miles at once.  It wasn't exactly pretty (or fun or fast) but I'm confident I can run three miles if I had to.  #zombieapocalypse ....which is a HUGE deal knowing that when I started this all I was afraid of one mile. 

Bullet, our dog, has also been a source of running inspiration for me.  He is a malanois-mix and needs the exercise to help him be calm.  Any chance he can get out makes all of us feel happier.  Even when I don't feel like going, seeing his tail wagging and knowing it's helping him is motivation enough to get me out there.  Isn't that the way with Mums?  to benefit ourselves, it's not tempting enough - but for someone else in our family, by golly, we can muster up the strength! 

I've also found motivation in tracking my mileage.  I use the Runkeeper app (let's be friends!) and seeing how many miles I can tally up over the course of a week or a month helps me stay moving.  I live by the truth that it doesn't matter how fast you're moving, as long as you're moving.  Because, friends, I am one slow runner...I'm talking S.L.O.W.  

The other night when I ran my longest run so far ever which was 6.5 miles, I was averaging about a thirteen and a half minute mile.  This is NOT fast.  like at all.  but you know what, I RAN SIX AND A HALF MILES no matter how slow I was moving.  A mile is a mile...and six and half miles is six and a half miles regardless if it takes you an hour or an hour and half.  When I told B my pace, he was all like, "oh gosh, the half marathon is going to take us like three hours!?" and I was like, "dude, the finish line is the goal."  (he's a saint doubly because despite the fact that he could probs run thirteen miles without any training at an 11min pace, he'll stick by me the whole time because, you guys, he is serious #husbandgoals). 

Besides feeling better about my physical self and strengthening my body and lungs - running has also increased my outdoor time and my solitude/peace time.  I only run outside (we don't have a treadmill, nor do I belong to a gym), and I run without headphones almost always, so my brain moves into overdrive with planning, daydreaming, and reflective mode (after that initial "omigoshIhatethissomuch" thought phase in the beginning of a run, hah)  

If you read here regularly, you know I have a thing about how being outside positively effects everything in your life - but seriously, it does.  I am so grateful to running for this part of outdoor experience for me - getting to notice our neighborhood in a new way, to be grateful to the breeze when I'm sweating, to learn the distances from our front door to the high school and back.   

And I'm sharing this all, not to brag or boast (bhahhahah! certainly not with how slow I move!), but because back when I was first starting - I wish someone would have told me that it was normal to be afraid to run a mile if you've never run a mile before (or haven't in a very long time).  Or that running a 5K for the first time feels terrifying but that it IS possible.  And that if you can feel brave enough to try, your body will surprise you and you can learn to run and not hate it....learn to love and crave it, in fact!  And I wish someone would have told me that who cares if you have a 15 minute mile or a thirteen and a half minute mile or a ten minute mile - because it's the miles that add up, no matter how long it takes you. 

The truest thing is, my body isn't perfect - four kids later it definitely isn't, but even before then - it's darn near impossible to find a pair of pants that fits my thighs, booty, and waist and be the right length...(where my fat bottom girls at?)- but running has reminded me that my body works!  It works in all of its imperfect, jiggling, curved fullness.  It may be slow and sore and tired - but it's mine and it works.  

So running for me has become a gift and a challenge.  A gift to my brain for the removal of distractions and chaos of everyday life - and a challenge to keep moving forward in the literal way.  That this old girl still has many miles left on her, no matter how slow -That I can accomplish forward motion..which actually is a pretty good metaphor for life in all of it's winding, bending paths.  

xxoxo onward, friends.

Why 1000 hours outdoors?

I set out a goal of reaching 1000 hours outdoors in 2015 and after giving it a good effort (although, if I'm being honest, not a great effort), I accumulated over 510 hours counted that we unplugged and got outside.  And despite a small defeating feeling from last year's attempt, I'm going for it again this year. 

If for any reason, you've been asking yourself why am I doing this at all - here's both a rationale and a recap from last year's effort that will hopefully shed some light on why I'm doing it (and inspire you to try to be better at outdoor time too). 

I wrote a little about my immediate reflections last year in April about how being outside was making me feel more calm and seemed to enhance our quality family time (but was also a lot more difficult to rack up the hours than I initially thought).

I was originally inspired by Ginny who runs the 1000hoursoutside instagram account.  At about the same time, I had read The Winter of our Disconnect by Susan Maushart and was completely intrigued with learning more about family life and technology and raising kids in a plug-addicted world.

And so I stepped into the challenge myself to reach for 1000 outdoor hours in 2015 to get a better vantage point for myself.  And as part of my goal, I also read The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and was gripped with interest and fascination.  (recommended!)

Since then, many of the books, articles, and TED talks I've watched around kids and technology have all been interesting and sadly, just the scratching of the surface on the research.  This whole technology takeover happened so quickly, that we've barely had time to see what the effects even are for kids, for relationships, for the environment.

So for some number crunching (that makes me honestly dizzy and scared):  One of the most commonly cited numbers is that the average American child gets about SEVEN HOURS A DAY of screentime  (about three hours of TV and four hours of other screens: phones/tablets/computers/video games).   In a year's time, that's 2,555 hours on Screens for kids!

For some personal reflection:  in our home on weekdays, screentime isn't allowed to start until after 11am.  We have one TV (downstairs) and one tv upstairs that's connected only to Netflix.  We have a wii but it doesn't get used (yet anyway) for video games, and we have one iPad.  Brandon and I are the only ones with phones and the kids aren't allowed to use them for games.  So, if I'm being one hundred percent (painful) honest, looking at Gemma who is four and half and not in school yet:  She gets about two hours in the afternoon for a movie/show on TV, probably an hour of iPad time in the late afternoon (just to get her out of my hair of asking me questions), and then at night probably another hour maybe...and this is a good day where I am present the entire time to monitor.  If it was up to her it would certainly be more screentime.    So Gem clocks in on average about four-five hours a day.

So for my kids - we're looking at about 1,825 hours a year on screens (and for my screen time - surely closer to 7 hours a day!) So setting a goal for 1,000 hours outside for the year seemed like a goal towards BALANCE which is what I hope to create in our life.  It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect our kids would spend equalish amounts of time on screens and in the outdoors, right?  It was in fact though, a lot harder to do than I though it would be.  My goal was not to demonize screens, but have a healthy balance in plugged and unplugged living for all of us, myself certainly included in that balance.

My goal offered me an opportunity to slow down, to breathe in this wild and chaotic current life with the breezes and to the tune of the songbirds in our yard.  I felt more present this year when my focus stayed steadfast on my outdoor goals, than any time during my young motherhood ever, yet.

In Louv's book, there was this passage that I highlighted and dog-eared the page as it spoke so deeply to my own reflections about my thoughts on busyness and relaxation and how as a mother to young kids I feel so strung out in so many directions that sometimes I feel that quality time with the kids - real face to face slow living - falls to the bottom of my to do list for the sake of all the other things that need done.

"Weekends are no longer for recreation, but for the undone chores that pile up during the week....if anything, most parents have an acutely tuned sense of responsibility - to the point where they consider relaxation and leisure, for themselves or their children, a self-indulgent luxury."  -Last Child in the Woods, p.120-121

What if instead of glorfying the busy that comes with life today, what if we (read: type A-ish Mum Me) allowed us to just chill the heck out?!  What if we just played, and learned through natural moments that the outdoors provide at every turn.  What if every single thing didn't need to be absolutely efficient.  In the spirit that thought, this year I even stopped taking my headphones on dog walks and jogs because I used to justify a walk/jog as doubling up on time to listen to audiobooks - like the walk/jog wasn't a reason enough.  Now I just walk and daydream and listen to the sounds that nature provides....I'm present in my walk, I'm present in my life.



This year, with my conscious effort on the goal - we got to be part of the living of nature.  We played in puddles and mud and creeks and bodies of water.  We stared into the grass and watched ants build up their mounds.  We guessed at constellations, caught lightening bugs, and howled at the moon.  We built new forts in our backyard, discovered new paths and trails in our hometown, and kept track of the animals that make their home around our home.  We lived and grew among the living, growing natural world.

And not just the kids, because truthfully, this year has been a huge reminder that I can set boundaries and limits for screentime until I turn blue in the face for my kids, but until I am a living example of a healthy unplugged/plugged-in balance - it will do no good what I preach to our children.  If I am daily reminding myself of my connection to the outdoor world and how it brings peace and rest to my body, soul, and mind - it will be easier for our kids to make that same connection....a life lesson that will serve them well as they continue to grow and compete in our plugged in society.

"First and above all is for the parents to understand the connection itself.  The future is not about designing a curriculum.  It's about awakening to creation.  Kids have to feel that this connection is vital and deep in their parents.  They see through us all the time.  They know what is fake and feigned.  As the connection becomes more vivid to us, our commitment to it becomes more authentic, and children respond to that authenticity." - The Last Child in the Woods, p.302

With my eyes up and off of a screen, I am calmer and gentler and kinder as a mum (and as a person too).  I am slower and more intentional. I am less stressed and feel like I'm in so much less of a hurry. this is so embarrassing to admit aloud, but many times when I'm involved in entertainment screentime, the thought bubbles up in my mind, 'these kids are distracting me!' and it feels so frustrating.  But what the heck kind of a world is it if I can't recognize that the screen is the distraction from THEM! 

The past year has been eye-opening, though we didn't even come close to our goal of 1000 hours I am so very grateful that we had the goal to push us towards more intentional outdoor time.  It has laid the backdrop for the kind of childhood I want my kids to remember when they're grown:  that they climbed and ran and built and hid and swung and discovered and explored and solved problems and played in the great big world.

Some important guidelines I discovered along the way, for anyone interested in attempting more outdoor time for themselves:

1. Pack snacks!
2. Invest in quality outdoor gear appropriate for the season for yourself (and your kids but they care way less about being too cold or too wet in my experience).
3. Don't be afraid to try somewhere new:  a local trail, park, or outdoor venue.  We've even spent time roller blading and riding bikes in the high school parking lot for a change of scenery!
4. Water is always the cure to all child bad moods.
5. Step back.  Yes, they'll do things that look too dangerous and scary - but let them show you that they know their own limits and have thoughts on creating solutions.  It is lifelong character building!

Looking back through my photos of this year, most of our favorite moments and certainly those with the biggest smiles happened while we were outside in the living world - with the sky all the way up high and the rocks of star dust orbiting in the vastness of space even above that.  And the bugs and burrowing animals moving around in the ground below us and the bubbling, molten lava even below that.  There is reassurance and power and inspiration that comes from the boundary-less feeling of the outdoors.  You can dream anything, the possibilities you can imagine are endless, and all those things that get caught up in your mind and make you feel worried float off with the wind.

There is an outdoor enthusiast quote that gets around the interwebs that I love.  It says, "Kids don't remember their best day of television."

So, get out there!  Your children's favorite childhood memories are waiting to be made.


Helpful information:
Screen Free Parenting:  Screen-Free Activities
NPR:  Kids and Screen Time: What does the research say?
National Wildlife Federation:  Health Benefits of kids being outdoors
TED Talk: Dimitri Christakis - Media and Children 
TED Talk:  Sherry Turkle:  Connected but Alone
Simon Sinek:  On Millennials in the workplace
Screen Free Week information - May 1-7, 2017
Childhood Unplugged - photo inspiration and encouragement to techfree playing
Let the Children Play - Outdoor Resources

Some of the links are Amazon affiliate links in this post.  Thank you for supporting Team Studer. 

Screen Free Week 2016 Reflections

We lived to tell the story of our Screen Free Week again this year: our fourth and easiest participation yet!  Since our first year, we have steadily made screen awareness a part of our lives as a family and as a parents and because of that, we've removed screens from the equation in many instances of our day-to-day already.  So Screen Free Week isn't a big deal for the kids (at all), and a welcome refresh and reboot to us as the parents - as we find ourselves every year at this time in need of a wake-up call on our screen dependency (most often our smartphones).

For us, the parents, Screen Free Week proved this year to be a welcome reprieve from the heavy reliance we slowly accumulate during the year (especially the winter months).  I don't know what has been up (the election coverage? the negative and fear promoting news articles?) but I have been feeling pretty down lately, but couldn't seem to stop scrolling before SFW.  So, it was so nice to feel like I was somehow 'off the hook' of being in the know.  I needed the break from all the nonstop coverage of everything and everyone.  I needed to take away the feeling that I was obligated somehow to respond or 'like' or comment on things (totally made up obligation, but it sure feels real). 

I got chores done, I read (a lot!), we got in extra sleep, we woke up earlier, and were a lot more patient with each other (and ourselves) as there wasn't this weird pressure to know all the things all the time. 

For the kids, it was mostly a regular week for them with the exception of the "Happy Screen Free Week" sign hanging on the tv and that I hid the iPad on top of the refrigerator (out of sight, out of mind) so that took care of the temptations for the kids.  They went about life fairly regularly; attending Greyson's games, working on homework and 'projects,' watching our caterpillars turn into chrysalis (!), playing outside, and finding things to do in the house when the rain drove us inside (playing games, reading books, etc). 

We did have some special things planned for the week.  The favorite of which was the night the big kids got to make dinner all on their own for Taco Tuesday!  Grey browned the beef and added the seasonings and Gemma was in charge of making the (instant) rice and heating up a can of corn.  I gave them each a little checklist of items to do so they wouldn't argue over who got to do what.  Their lists also included things like putting chips and salsa into bowls, setting the plates and silverware out on the table, etc.  They asked if they could light candles for our 'feast' and so they worked together to do that as well (such big kids!)  

We sat down to dinner in the dining room with the candlelight and the kids were so proud.  Of course, Brandon could not help himself from teasing them saying things like, "I don't like this food, make me something else," or "this is gisgusting, I want cereal," because seriously, every night one of our children makes those comments when WE make dinner (hahha).  The kids did their best to impersonate us too: "This is the dinner we made and you have to eat it!" 

Gemma actually was on a very big cooking kick (since forever but especially) last week.  She was constantly asking to help make food all week including potato soup, adding chocolate chips to our pancake dinner, and making our chocolate chip cookies.  She also has repeatedly asked at any meal, if she can sit on the counter and watch me cook - she is so eager to learn how to prepare and cook food!  Maybe we have a little future chef on our hands? It has my wheels turning that maybe she needs some more time in the kitchen with child-friendly recipes for lunch.  That sure will come in handy in a few weeks when their baby brother arrives!

The girls and I headed out to the library one afternoon with my children's book wishlist in hand.  They were thrilled to discover the library's playroom was open during our visit too!  I let them play and then we got a chance to browse books and I picked up eight children's books to check out for the week.  Alas, in true pregnancy brain fashion, I hadn't switched the key accessories yet from the truck to our new van keys, including our library card!  So, we actually couldn't check any of the books out!  Hahha, they weren't too upset considering they got to play and then after leaving we met our Aunt Uch out for lunch - so it wasn't such a big deal, and it was the reminder I needed to finally finish that key task! (done!) 

To get their bodies moving on Saturday while Brandon was at work, I took the kids to Stackhouse park to hike and play in the creek.  They had a lot of fun running wild and jumping over logs and pretending to be spies.  I have to say, the hike and out was brutal for this big belly of mine (!sometimes, what am I thinking?!) but it was good to get everyone good and worn out - and get outside after a long gloomy week.  The big kids got a chance to hike 'by themselves' on the way out - they took the trail that was wooded while Violet (in the stroller) and I hiked out on the road-type trail that runs parallel to the wooded trail. 

And on Friday night, we had a special 'no electricity' night where we kept all the lights off and traveled around the house with candles instead, "like the olden days!" After dinner, we moved the candles to the living room and ate marshmallows and told 'spooky stories' and made hand shadows around the inside fire.  We definitely would have done it outside, but we were trapped in by the rain (enough to cancel Grey's baseball game that night!) and it worked out just fine.  

As in SFWs in the past, our kids are always tuckered out through the week, falling asleep in random places during the day and going to bed early.  We were ALL in bed every night last week by 9:30p!  Which was a big win considering we almost due for the Rotten first 8 weeks of newborn next month!  Violet took multiple naps on the couch last week and Grey fell asleep for a nap after school one day before we had to wake him up to go to his Spring Concert (very unlike him)! 

Using their little brains all day long and playing so much makes for sleepy, worn out kids which is always a welcome (and needed) reminder from Screen Free Week.  Their brains and bodies get the work-out they need when they get a break from screens! 

Mother's day felt extra special because it was kept to ourselves.  (Although, personally I missed seeing all the pictures of my momma friends and their babies until Monday!)  We got to spend time with Gigi on Saturday night and Abba on Sunday; just enjoying their company and celebrating them in our lives.  We made some memories that were just ours for those days.

The morning after we had planted a bunch of new flowers around the house, the kids came up with the idea to first go out and sketch the new plants and then take my camera out and take pictures of each.  I had no clue what they were even talking about when they were trying to explain it to me, but then I was actually cracking up looking at their drawings including the names of the flowers copied from the tags and their photos.  The whole thing lasted about an hour and they worked together and completely independent of us to do this weird investigation they made up at 8:30am.  Perfect example of SFW at its finest!

stinky fertilizer on the grass seed! haha!

My favorite part of SFW is always to see how the kids figure it out - they find ways to have fun and explore when the option of zoning out in front of a screen is removed.  They play with toys they haven't touched in ages, they make up weird games and inventions (including a pulley/basket system they rigged up in our laundry shoot for toys!), and best of all - they work together because it is a lot more fun to play with someone than to play alone.  There is always teasing and arguing, but more than that (by a lot) is laughing and silly memories made.

So, Team Studer (as in years past) is giving Screen Free Week two big thumbs up!  It was a needed and wonderful break from screens that has given us the perfect reminder that balance is what is needed in all parts of our life - including screen time! 

Did you participate this year - how did it go?  I'd love to hear - share your thoughts or your blog reflections in the comments!