Brennan 2005...the week he lost his first tooth
A few weeks ago Brennan played his Wii when he had been told no more video games (it woke me up at 4:30 a.m.). The consequence was one week with no electronics...so he handed over his Ipod, Nintendo DS and was banned from television and all other video games. It was quite a week. He literally begged us to take him to the library to check out more books, he played monopoly for hours on end with Bella (all I could hear was laughter down stairs)! He spent more time playing with Lily and Claire (the rocker in her room is his favorite reading spot in the house). We saw Brennan's sweet, smiling face more. It reminded me of when he was 6 like in these pictures. At 6 years old, Brennan was too busy and active for video games (my brothers tried to recruit Brennan to no avail). As children grow up, their personalities unfold right before your eyes and it is bittersweet at times. Some of the bright-eyed innocence and simplicity is lost while wisdom, wit, and knowledge is gained.
Before I would give Brennan back his Ipod and Nintendo DS, he had to write and essay on what he learned. It made me smile because it is so very Brennan. I was sure to bold my favorite line!
Here it is...
The Benefits of No Electronics
By Brennan
This week I learned many things about not always playing electronics. One of them is that it brings you closer to your family. Another is that you get to use your imagination more. You also get better at board games and other things I usually don't do because of TV. Plus I do more athletic things. Also, I go to bed earlier because I don't listen to my Ipod at all!
I think this punishment was a good one because I learned all these benefits. Also I'll be starting to get more active and I'll try to play with Bella more. Also, I'll watch Lily and Claire and pay more attention to them. And when Alex comes over, we won't just play video games for five hours straight. We''ll try to play other things like checkers. I also learned that happiness almost never comes from a digital screen; it comes from all the time you spend with family and friends. In the future I promise to spend more time with you guys. And that's all the things I learned and will do because of the electronicless week!
