We are officially 20 days into No Media March, and it felt like a good time to reflect.

So far we are thrilled with the results. We thrived on spring break and my son returned to school Monday ready to see friends again.

Here are the main positives we’ve seen so far:

1. More creativity

My son had a Leprechaun Trap project to make over spring break. I put various materials in front of him and he designed and created most of it himself. As we built he kept having new ideas and he was so excited to do it himself.

LEGOs!!! My kids built so many LEGO creations over these 20 days and played new made up games each time with them.

2. Better family time

We played more board games than ever before. We snuggled more, read books, and drew pictures. We went to a new museum and learned together about the Southwest. Overall we were more present with each other…no distractions.

3. More Fresh Air

With no screen temptations indoors we found ourselves outside A LOT! Since March in Arizona is perfect weather, being outside was ideal. We did a day trip to Payson, AZ, went to the zoo, and visited all our favorite parks!

4. Better sleep

We all sleep better with no media, and my kids do not resist going to bed. With no media they are more active physically and mentally, so they are worn out and very ready for bedtime.

5. Emotional control

Have you ever turned off a television while children are watching a show? It is an ugly situation filled with protests and tears…and it doesn’t matter how “good” your kids are, it happens every time. They are essentially in a trance and then you abruptly snap them out. My kids lose emotional control when they watch tv. Everything becomes dramatic and escalates quickly. Without screens they are never in that deep trance and respond better to directions and transitions.

So these are the main benefits we have seen!

Some media we did allow (because we are not perfect!):

• Magictreehouse.com so my son could log his pages read and take quizzes (all guided by me).
• One 30 minute tv session of PBS kids when our babysitter no-showed and we had to rethink 4 hours of our afternoon.

The lack of media did not hinder us, and in fact opened more space in our schedule to have fun.

Without tv and movies as an entertainment option we had to go out and explore our surroundings.

I plan to slowly reintroduce media in April, but this brief hiatus reminded me of the benefits of restricting media to truly needed moments….like when the babysitter no-shows!

It has been a great experiment that we plan to do again soon.

-Brittany