We'll see if this works--today is our first day using it.
I made magnetic tokens and put them on the fridge next to a magnetic basket, so she has to put one token in the basket every time she watches a show. After she's watched 4, she's out of shows for the day. 4 shows at about 20 minutes per show isn't too bad compared to how much she's been watching lately!
We Tivo her favorite Nick Jr. shows anyway, so this way she can only watch one individual show with each token and we're not tempted to just let the TV keep playing into the next show.
Next to the tokens is a picture-list of other things she can do besides watch TV, which I'm hoping will help her AND us be less likely to resort to TV anytime we need to keep her busy or cure a little boredom!
<BR><BR>We'll see how this goes today...
Happy New Year!
My blog: Bear With Us
Ideas on Teaching Your Toddler/Preschooler at Home
Re: Our &quot;let DD watch less TV&quot; resolution solution: PIP
Visuals always help --- I've actually been thinking of putting the "house rules" on the fridge, along with a schedule (a la SuperNanny) so that we too can have activities to do without giving it much thought (at the time)!
great idea... but do I see a computer up there? Be warned... we turned to computer games as an acceptable "activity" for Amelia and she is now WAY more obsessed with playing Nick Jr. or PBSKids games online than watching shows... it was basically trading one bad screen addiction for another!
(I keep trying to convince myself that it's not as bad b/c at least it's super interactive and the games are educational but I know I'm just FOS!!)
Ooh, thanks for the heads-up! It's actually her toy laptop and her Scribble & Write...she doesn't really know how to use the mouse on the real computer, so she doesn't ever use it yet.
Kiwi Fruit, 10.2.06 & Ellie Bug, 4.5.09
My blog: Bear With Us
Ideas on Teaching Your Toddler/Preschooler at Home
I love this idea. Thanks for sharing!
DS may be just a tad bit too young for this idea just yet. I will definitely keep it in mind when our little TV addict can grasp the concept though.