31 one days later

Well we have been in the new year for 31 days.   How is the new year treating you?

On January 1st my family set out to unplug from media.  We unplugged all TV's, all video games, all computers.  The only exception to this rule was we could check email, and I could get on line to work.  What an amazing 31 days it was.

This is what we found to be true for our family:
1. The house is cleaner....we have been able to keep up on chores and even get areas of our house clean that were being neglected.
2. We brought back family story time...we have begun reading the Bobbsey Twin series as a family.  If you are not familiar with this series it first came out in 1904 and many were reprinted and updated in the 1960's.  There are a total of 72 books in the series. 
3. People are not arguing and picking on each other as much.
4. We have brought back board games and playing them together.
5. We have all been sleeping better at night, by 8 pm everyone is tired and ready for bed.

So have we allowed stuff to be plugged back in...yes with some major restrictions, not only for the kids but for Mama as well.
1. No electronics till school and chores are done.  "We must take care of our responsibilities before we play."
2. No more then one hour max at a time...then you must do something that is unplug for an hour or more.
3. No electronics after 8 pm. 

So that is our first month of 2013....it was very eye opening and wonderful.