Television

When DH and I first married, we had an old TV that he had inherited from somewhere, we don't remember exactly where now.   We didn't watch much TV back then as I was going to school and doing homework and taking care of our new little home.  

 Shortly after DS1 was born we moved across the country, far away from family and friends.   We found another cute little apartment in the home of a very wonderful retired couple, but it was rather isolated on a country road and we only had one car.  As a new young mother I found that I had the Television on for many hours during the day to keep me company.  When the old TV died, we splurged on a new one, and my poor babies grew up watching TV.    They soon made their preferences well known, and wouldn't tolerate watching soap operas or talk shows.   Yes we did watch some Sesame Street and Mr Rodger's Neighborhood, but their favorites as pre-schoolers were the game shows, especially "The Price is Right",  "Wheel of Fortune"  and "Jepoardy".  If you ever watched "The Price is Right" with Bob Barker as host,  you might remember a game called Plinko.  The contestant is given between 1 and 5 large plastic plinko chips depending on how well they have guessed the correct prices of several small items.   They then climb a set of stairs to the top of the large Plinko board which is made up of a field of pegs offset from each other, spaced far enough apart for the Plinko chips to pass between.  The contestant drops each of his chips, one at a time, into the game board, and the chips fall down into one of 9 slots, each marked with a different dollar amount, and the contestant wins whatever money his chips total up to.  Plinko was DS1's very favorite game, and he devised a way to play Plinko by dropping several plastic disks or chips that were in his toy box down the back of our overstuffed easy chair rocker.  The big buttons  holding the upholstery acted as the Plinko pegs and diverted the chips in different directions.  This was great fun!

There were a few years when Dad and Mom of Six would take extra care to get the kids all into bed before 9 pm on certain nights so we could relax together and watch our favorite current show.  Hill Street Blues and LA Law were a few of our favorites back then. 

We did try to limit the amount of TV time, especially as the kids grew older and began school.   Homework and music practice and chores were to be done before the TV was turned on, and each child was to choose one show per day.  Of course, with four or five kids, that meant there was still plenty of screen time!  And of course we soon bought a VCR and started a collection of movies and shows on VHS.  After we received a Nintendo Game System for Christmas one year, the attraction and competition for TV time became even greater, and there were often arguments about whose turn it was to choose a program or to play a game.   One evening Dad of Six arrived home from work to find Mom of Six rather frazzled and children arguing over the TV.  He was even more frustrated when he realized that the very episode of the TV show in question, "Saved By The Bell"  had already been viewed by the kids earlier in the day.  Solution to the problem?   Dad cut of the TV power cord.   Our family no longer had a functioning TV, and it was eventually given away.   

Yes, we remained the family without a television for nearly 10 years.   We still had computers, one for Dad and one for Mom and the kids, but we had to share and take turns, both for homework and for computer games.   DD3 was just a toddler and DD4 was not even born yet, so they basically grew up without watching TV.  When Dad upgraded to a computer with a DVD player, we were able to gather around the computer sometimes on the weekends to watch a rented movie, and then we slowly started collecting our own DVD's.   Mom of Six finally broke down and talked Santa into bringing a new TV for Christmas one year so that she could watch the winter Olympics in 2002, and slowly the TV watching habits returned, but by this time the kids had so many other interests and activities that it was not a huge problem any longer.  And now as adults they all have their own televisions, laptops and other devices available to be able to see just about anything they care to find and/or pay for.

And what about today?    We don't have cable TV and we don't have Satellite TV.  The old television in the family room isn't equipped to receive today's TV signals, but is still hooked up to a functioning VCR so whoever is using the exercise bike can watch old movies.  Several years ago one of the kids gifted Dad of Six with a used large screen TV for the living room, and then later another child gifted him with a Roku streaming player.  We still very rarely watch traditional TV, but have found it entertaining to catch up on some of the old TV shows and movies we have missed through Netflix and Amazon. 

Does your family watch Television?   What have been some of your favorite TV shows?