The Great TV Experiment

When my kids were young I did an experiment to help them watch TV less and exercise more. The experiment was that, in order to watch television they had to first “pay for it” with physical activity time.  I did not care what the children did but if they expected to watch television they needed to first do some kind of physical activity.  I found a marvelous device called a time scout (which is no longer available) it is a simple credit card like machine that attaches to the television set.  As the children accumulate physical activity time they accumulate credit on their television card.  When they put their card in the machine the television turns on and the clock starts.  When their television time is up the television goes off.  No arguments because who are they going to argue with, the machine?  They tried but it does not answer them.  When I first tried this I was considered a mean and nasty ogre.  With the Time Pilot, I am out of the loop and the machine is now the ogre.  We endured a lot of flack about this, but, with the card system, exercise went up and TV time went down. In a very short time, we saw some amazing things happen. 

In addition to the predictable outcome of having more physically fit children, we also saw some very pleasant unexpected results. Without the mind numbing TV, they started to read more. Their grades really picked up! Both my son and daughter were becoming routine members of the honor roll.  My daughter became a better musician achieving the lofty position of first chair her very first year of the fifth and sixth grade orchestra.  Her teacher was so impressed that she actually called us to say that my daughter was on track for a music scholarship to any music school she chose! All of this because they watch television less and moved more, it was a breath of fresh air. 

            As another added benefit it turns out that my kids have become quite math geniuses now that their TV time has been tied to an accounting system. They have figured out how to conserve their time and use it like a bank account. Because of this training they are already becoming more skilled fiscal managers!  How about that! My children have gotten smarter, more creative and have become better money managers simply because they move more and watch less TV. My genius daughter negotiated a deal that if she exercised while she was watching television she could accumulate television time while watching the TV off her card “for free.”  This led to the kids petitioning for a tread mill to be placed in the living room! Should we add the art of the deal to our list of new skills?  We are now the talk of the neighborhood with our “new” piece of furniture.  It seems like all my kids friends can not stop talking about the fact that we have family dinners together, we go for walks together and smack dab in the middle of our living room is a hideous looking treadmill.  What amazes them even more is that my kids actually use it.