TV Turnoff Week

This week is TV Turnoff Week, a national event started in 1995 by the Center for Screen-Time Awareness. The purpose of the event is to help people break or reduce their television viewing habit and hopefully discover other worthwhile pursuits. This years event started on 4/23 and ends on the 29th. Anyone can participate - just don't watch any television this week.

This is from today's Danbury News-Times:

"Usually it's the parents who push TV Turnoff Week on their children but first grader Holly Tomaino was so excited by the suggested alternative activities on the flier Center School sent home, she lobbied her parents to participate and even started the TV-free week a day early.

"I want to play fetch with my dog (Ludwig, a German Shepherd) more," she said, talking about some of the things she will do this week instead of watching television.

"Jennifer Tomaino, Holly's mom, said they have a busy week planned already so it's a good week for TV Turnoff Week to be scheduled. She said her 4-1/2-year-old son may make things more challenging as he is too young to grasp the concept.

""I am excited about this, especially with the good weather," she said, "We started it today (Sunday) and instead of watching cartoons, we made breakfast together."

Holly is my niece, the sweetest, brightest first-grader you will ever encounter. I laughed out loud when I read the News-Times article, because her reaction was typical. She is so curious intellectually and I'm sure she views this as an exciting opportunity to explore new activities.

It's a worthwhile event. Most of us probably watch too much television. Given our current obesity epidemic we could probably all stand to replace at least a portion of our viewing time with an exercise regimen.

You can learn more about TV Turnoff Week by visiting the Center for Screen-Time Awareness website:

http://www.tvturnoff.org/