10 days into our unscreening adventure I'm encouraged, grateful, and a bit daunted.  10 days ago child of water was not able to eat or go to sleep without watching a video online, most often youtube video walkthroughs of his favorite video games.  He showed signs of hyperactivity for the first time in his life and had difficulty spending time without screens.  Inhabiting his own thoughts had become uncomfortable for him.  He nearly completely lost interest in activities he previously enjoyed, very suddenly- like riding his bike, reading books, painting, playing with his toys and going for nature walks.  Emotionally he was very unregulated with a low frustration tolerance, and he was having increasing troubles sleeping- staying up later and later to watch videos and play video games.

On a recent vacation to the San Juan Islands, I became aware of how far his media dependence had progressed.  I realized that since giving him his own laptop and buying him a wii and allowing him unlimited access to those, screened media consumption had no longer become a choice for him- he was increasingly unable to function without it.  We are (were?) part of a close knit group of whole life unschooling families who generally do not limit access to media, food, etc. or limit our children's choices and lives unless doing so is critical to our child's health or well being.

Coming back from 5 days away from screens, I needed to act very quickly to take advantage of our head start greatly reducing screened media from our lives.  I asked child of water's father for support and he quickly agreed to eliminate screened media while our son was with him, for which I am very grateful.

Once child of water returned from his dad's, we began unscreening in earnest.  Our first day we spent at the beach where I observed child of water return to his source in profound ways-  and a lovely day at mother ocean gave our transition safe harbor.

In the following days we connected with nature, we began partially living outside and we met with friends who lived closer to us in the Gorge, and I watched my son go from asking for videos every time he sat to eat or transition or sleep, to not at all by day 3 with me.  I watched him go from very unfocused, shifting, screen seeking behaviors to rediscovering the pieces of his life that he once long enjoyed.  I watched his art advance as we created a mobile art table and I watched him want to be outside all hours of the day and evening.  We began virtually living outside - eating outside, playing and reading outside, walking and bike riding to the park, meeting new friends and neighbors, and the screened world became less and less relevant.

I realized that these last months while my son became more and more engrossed in screens, so had I.  I was on facebook trying to connect and keep up with the whirlwind of lives and groups and folk that matter so much to me. 

I didn't disconnect the wii.  I moved the sofa back where it used to be, instead of right in front of the wii--- opening up the livingroom to creative play.  I sat books in various places around the house and set up art stations.  I walked with my son to the library and enrolled him in a reading challenge designed for his stage of development- and he seemed to blossom when we did the activities suggested to us.

By the end of the week my son was painting and drawing multiple times daily, singing songs and asking me to play his favorite music, and he was going off to play or read by himself- totally in his own head.  He became so much calmer when we put the laptop away and de-emphasized the wii.  He became more emotionally reslilient and seemed more joyful and engaged.  When he turned on the wii, I just went about setting up activities for him and invited him to join me in our outside livingroom.  I made an effort to turn off the tv each time he finished with the wii and to close the cabinet.   He was also, for the first time, interested in having me read aloud chapter books to him.  He is so enthralled right now with Jigsaw Jones and I can't wait to get loads of read aloud chapter adventures to share with him.  He also went to bed earlier and fell asleep more easily and slept longer than before.

It seems to me an influx of screened media caused him to rely upon it to regulate himself emotionally- but ironically the more he relied upon it, the less emotionally regulated he was.  Screened media dulled child of water by sucking him into a passive space of media "consumption" --- and I believe this was cognitively injurious to him, and is something we are now in the process of healing from.

I don't use the computer during his awake hours now, either- and I'm sleeping better and reading a lot more and finding so much more presence in the moment with my son.  This blog will be my very part time effort to track our progress and share our joys in unscreening our lives. 

This is a new journey for us- with lots to figure out, but here are a few things that are true for me right now:

• Some young children are sensitive to screened media and can become screen dependent.
• Child of water is one of these children.
• I am the most qualified person to assess my son's needs and even without validation from my community, I can act in my son's best interest and hope to engage my community later, and this is okay.  
• Child of water is thriving emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually since we began unscreening- and he is healing.  
• Right now I'm choosing to meet friends in spaces where screens are not prevalent- but can foresee a time in the future when this won't be necessary to the extent that it is now.
• Some children are best served with screened media prevalent in their lives--- and we support families to make decisions about what level of screened media is healthy- choosing what works best for us as well.