No TV watching or No Cable TV

I grew up in the 60's and 70's with no TV. My dad said there was more important things to do than sit in front of that one eyed monster. At the time I thought he was mean! We got a tV - 12 inch black and white - in 1971 when I was in 9th grade. I have 2 older brothers nad a younger sister - can you get the picture of us all huddled around the table to watch on the 12 incher? And try to agree on what show to watch!?! NOt a pretty sight! So usually I just didn't watch. But because of this, I learned a ton of crafts - sewed ALL My own clothes and had a huge wardrobe all during highschool - could wear somethign differnet every day for a month and not repeat anything! I was allowed to buy as much fabric as I wanted as the sales were 50¢ - 77¢ a yard and a fabric store really near by! I learned to mix and match patterns and...well you get the point. And so mnay other crafts. My kids had TV (that was before cable came out!) and there were a few good shows on like Family Matters, Full House and those family themed ones that were good, but 90210 was not one that was allowed. Now, my 2 grand daughters 2 and 8 - seldom do they ask to turn on the tv at my house.... there's to much else to do! I have them on crafts, and creating things and baking and reading and things that they just dont' want to turn it on! I even have asked them if they'd like to watch something and they say "not really" (the 8 year old does) and if asked, the only thing the 2 year old wants to watch is Blue's Clue's which is an edcuational show anyway! So, no, no TV is not a bad thing, but with proper supervision it can be okay. THe problem is that so much crap is allowed on tv these days, it isn't fit to watch. I just saw previews of a show - LIfe of the Average Teen Ager - or something like that. ANdin the first episode the 16 year old girl winds up pregnant! That is what the life of a teenager is these days? And they promote it on TV? Well, then I guess that is why that is the life of a teenager! They are just doing what they see on TV. Everything works out great on the show, so it will in life too - is what they kids think. Yeah, turn it off!!!

We have to TV's in our house. We don't get good reception where we live for regular TV and could only get 2 channels. We don't have the option of cable around here. So we have DirecTV and have had it for years. We have two televisions with 2 receivers and one Tivo. We also get all our local channels (about 6 or so). And, it is only $62 a month. I couldn't do without it. We probably watch Fox News more than anything else. I also love the Hallmark Channel and right now, we are watching cops. I enjoy that and Forensics. My husband loves the country music programs and records many of those to watch over and over. There are many channels we watch on here, but the Fox News Channel is definitely one we couldn't do without.

I can live without TV that there is the Internet.