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Posts: 32
10/22/11 1:45 P

I feel your pain. Breaking in-grained habits, especially when they seem harmless is sooo hard. But in trying to reduce our screen time and not eat in front of the TV, I remember a few things: A really good reason to reduce screen time is that I want my kids to learn from me, not hollywood as they're developing into the people they will be for the rest of their lives. Plus, commercials just get them all excited about new toys, sugary snacks and fast food. Worthless.
When it comes to eating together away from the TV there are a couple of really good reasons to have a few family meals a week at the dining room table: 1: It's a perfect opportunity to talk to your family, talk about their day, their friends, what they're working on in school/ work, what their favorite subject is, something new they want to try like dance or karate and why, movies they want to see, books they want to read, etc. 2: A good reason not to snack or eat meals in front of the TV is because it creates mindless eating. You're focused on the show/movie instead of how good the food tastes, a simple pleasure we should all enjoy more, and it's so easy to miss the subtly trigger that you're full, so you could end up eating way more than you need. Just some thoughts, hope they help. Good luck!

Posts: 7
10/20/11 8:21 A

I am really struggling not only with the screen time reduction (for my son) but with not eating in front of the tv. Unfortunately that has become an ingrained habit for our whole family. I have trouble in one major area:
- the habit of snacking in the living room. This one seems like a punishment to my kids. I've tried to talk about healthy eating. Their thought is, "well I'm eating carrots and celery...not chips and donuts, so that is healthy eating!"

If anyone has any ideas on creating this as a new rule in the house (with a 10 and 13 year old) I would really appreciate some help. Also, other reasoning as to why we don't eat in front of the TV any more? I was raised in a TV focused home and struggle with the reasoning myself. I understand that meals should be at the table, it's the snacks I need help with.

Thanks for any insight you can give.
Melissa