The Saturday 7

1. Could I have picked a worse two-week period to do a screen fast?? Lol. Well we officially made it one week with no screens by Wednesday, despite two snow days. I worked at school on Monday. On our first snow day - Tuesday - I sent the kids to Niki's so they could play with Nova, Thea, and Cove while I was at Once Upon. I've left them home alone while working before, but they literally watched TV the entire time I was gone, and I didn't think they could handle being home alone with no screens. My hero Niki took them instead, and kept them off screens all day. 

Wednesday was our second snow day of the week, and I was scheduled to work at Once Upon, but so was Niki. So I called in and stayed home with the kids while she went to work. 

2. Honestly, the screen time fast was going pretty well. Levi continued to be obsessed with audiobooks/podcasts that keep him entertained, Lucy was plowing her way through books (she read the first Hunger Games book in two days), Lena spent a lot of time with Neighbor-Girl-Kylee, and I continued to be bored and ornery. Despite the lack of blatant complaining, though, I've been mildly disappointed not to see the drastic changes in behavior and temperament that the book I read promised. DeFrank insists that the kids she's coached through this detox have dramatic behavior changes that are almost immediate. I guess I shouldn't judge after only one week, but Levi is still willful, disobedient, lazy, and impulsive. Lucy is still withdrawn. Lena is still driven to frustration and rage by Levi. And none of them had any gratitude about giving up their screens like the kids in DeFrank's book did. Not a single one told me, "I'm so glad you took away our screens" like DeFrank's did. 🙄🙄🙄 Stinkin' ungrateful kids! I also have yet to see a sudden boon of boredom-induced creativity. I wonder if Levi's not truly bored enough since he's still listening to stories all day. I still have to initiate almost every activity we do - whether it's drawing, playing a game, doing a puzzle, or baking together.

He did do some of this puzzle by himself, but only because I got it out for him and challenged him to finish it (only 100 pieces) before I finished cleaning the house. I still had to help him complete it when I was done. 

I'm not saying I never want to play with my kids, I'm only feeling misled by the book that made me think they'd be so grateful to be freed from their devices that they'd voluntarily dive into new and exciting endeavors. I know - how could I be so naive? Obviously it's going to take more than a week to undo years' worth of bad habits. 

3. So it is with some shame that I have to admit we broke the fast early. Another blizzard swept in on Friday, which meant our 3rd snow day in one week, and was forecasted to continue all weekend. The thought of another weekend of no screens while being trapped inside was too daunting for me to bear, so I gave them the new Wi-Fi password on Friday. And they immediately fell back into their old ways. 🤦 They have absolutely no self-control on their own, and will not stop consuming media until I make them. Today, I was much stricter and only let them use their devices for a short amount of time. But it's showed me that I can't trust them to make good choices on their own. Haha. I don't know what next week will hold. We're leaving for Florida on Saturday, and I'm going to let them use their devices on the plane and in the car. I'm thinking that barring another snow day on Monday, I'll probably change the Wi-Fi password again and go back to the total ban. I just hate having to make all these decisions, and I wish we could land on a reasonable happy medium without my constant oversight. But that is apparently wishful thinking.

4. I will say, the one thing Lena and Levi have done on their own volition this past week is play in the snow. On Tuesday, they sledded (slided? slid?) for at least an hour at Niki's. On Wednesday, they sledded with Nova and Nash for close to two hours, then begged Justin to take them to the sledding hill that night - whereupon they sledded for another hour. On Friday, Niki met us at the sledding hill with Nova and Thea, and they spent another two hours sledding! Levi has been so sore from all the physical exertion. 😂 They've also been playing in the snow with NGK and helping Justin shovel.

I went down with Levi once, but it's too much work to climb back up the hill, and I'm afraid of hurting myself before going to Florida. 😂

5. For the record books . . . I stuck this 15 inch ruler in the snow on top of the kids' picnic table on Friday morning. It reads 4.5 inches from our previous snowfall. 

By this morning at 10:00 a.m., we were up to 11.5 inches - so 7 inches in 24 hours.

The last time I checked it a few hours ago, it was just over 13". But it's still snowing, and they're calling for another 3-6" overnight. I'm hoping the ruler will be buried by the time I wake up tomorrow! 

6. And now for a meandering treatise on the book I'm reading: Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson. An apologetics podcaster I follow recommended it in an episode I listened to about a month ago. I immediately added it to my To-Be-Read list on Goodreads. When we decided to start this screen time detox, I canceled my Kindle Unlimited subscription and subscribed to Everand instead (because they have a much larger selection of children's audiobooks). I was excited to see that Remaking the World was available and added it to my list of things to read during detox. I hadn't gotten to it yet, when my pastor posted it on facebook a couple days ago, saying it may be the best book he's read in the past ten years! That propelled me to move it up the list, and when I was feeling bored and restless yesterday, I finally started it 

All that's to say, it is totally fascinating. As explained last week, I've taken a sudden interest in history. And this book has history in spades. I'm actually astonished by Wilson's breadth of interests and knowledge. He quotes Parks and Rec, but knows Chinese philosophy and ancient French literature. I'm figuring out that I love to study "the big picture." I love stepping back from our current culture and biases to see the grand scheme of things, and that is what Wilson attempts through this work. He explains through great detail and meticulous research how our history makes us - how Christianity is so ingrained in our culture and reasoning that today's strongest secular humanists use Christian terminology and ideals (love, justice, compassion, etc.) to tear down the very institutions that gave rise to those virtues in the first place. But it's about so much more than that. It's about the beginning of civilization and why civilizations flourished in some areas over others, about science, philosophy, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, economics, Romanticism, individualism, the founding of America, and more! The book is, at times, too cerebral for me, but Wilson's tone is conversational and his love for acronyms and alliteration has a special place in my heart. Lol. I'm only 2/3 of the way through, but I'm loving the parts that I understand. 😂

7. A few more pics:

Levi made himself this cage, then laid in it to listen to his audiobook. Haha. (He's been listening to Horace and Bunwinkle this week.)

Snow days call for monkey bread. I actually made it twice this week because it's so snowy, and so delicious. 😁

I finally did the taste test. I could tell the difference . . . but I actually liked Pibb Extra more. 😲🙊😬 I don't even know who I am anymore!

Snuggle buddy

Stella does not appreciate sharing her perch with Taco Tail (That is what Levi named him. I have no idea why. Lol.)