She didn’t have to kill her TV — she just wanted to anesthetize it. When Clorinda Brede enforced a “no electronics” hour in her house, the initial reception was positive. “Everyone was excited to try something new,” she said. “I
She didn’t have to kill her TV — she just wanted to anesthetize it.
When Clorinda Brede enforced a “no electronics” hour in her house, the initial reception was positive.
“Everyone was excited to try something new,” she said.
“I went to the store and bought a few board games,” said the mother of two and grandmother of one. Last month her family embraced the 7 to 8 p.m. “no electronics” rule in exchange for games or cards.
At first there was one reluctant participant — Brede’s husband wasn’t on board.
“He wanted to watch TV,” she said.
“We have three TV’s, so I sent him to one of the other rooms to watch.” It didn’t take long before he slunk from the recesses of the house to join the family in the den. “He heard us laughing,” Brede said.
In an effort to maintain the do-ability of the ban, she set a time limit.
“We keep it to one hour,” she said. “Monopoly can go on for days, I knew I didn’t want that.” Brede’s family alters the rules to shorten the game.
“Any player can bid on a property so it’s not just for the person who lands on it,” she said. Within an hour the entire game is covered in houses and hotel pieces.
The time limit seems to appeal to all. “We go from 7 to 8 and then we can watch ‘American Idol’ if we want,” she said.
It didn’t take long for other members of her family of five to get into the routine.
“After the first week one of the kids would point out the time and say, ‘Turn off the TV, it’s 7 o’clock.’”
The enthusiasm to try something new created momentum that first week. The challenge to motivate the family began the following week. “There were some nights when there were conflicts because of programming,” said Brede.
That soon dissipated though. “It’s one hour, five days a week,” she said. “”What’s an hour in a day?”
Her intent was to retrieve a feeling from her own upbringing. “I’m from a big family,” she said. Having been raised on Kaua‘i, she remembers when entertainment was gathering outside with the family and playing ‘ukulele and singing. “After dark if you didn’t want to sing or dance you’d just go to bed — that was our only entertainment.”
“I realized that we needed to spend more time as a family,” she said. Brede works full time and by the time she gets home for dinner it’s all about a quick meal just to get everyone fed.
“My kids are really into electronics and they’ll sit there all day with their thumbs going.”
Now, for an hour a day during the work-week the whole family comes together to either play cards or a board game.
“We love Perfection,” she said. “It’s for all ages — a timed game for fine motor skills.” She described the 25 small pieces of geometric figures that are then placed in a shaped frame as quickly as possible. Other family favorites are Monopoly, Scattergories and Scrabble.
“Sometimes we don’t want to all play the same game,” she said. In that case, the family breaks into groups — some pull out a game while others play Old Maid. “We don’t have an Old Maid deck so we use regular cards and make the Joker the old maid,” she said.
Scrabble isn’t always an option. “My 8-year-old grandson gets discouraged and that’s not the point,” she said. “I like to play memory cards with him — Concentration is what we used to call it.” This is a game that only requires a deck of cards. Once the cards are placed face-down on a table or the floor the key is recalling the location of certain cards and then matching them.
Brede’s next goal for the family it to take the games out of doors. “Growing up here we were always camping.” She described the scene of a single tarp strung between cars. “We didn’t need tents. Tarps are cheaper and then we’d just bring our ‘ukuleles.”
“I want to get the family out of the house to play together — run around, play tag — something that doesn’t feel like exercise but is.”
Brede continued. “The other night my daughter taught us a line-dance in the living room,” she said. “That’s what I mean — exercise that is having fun and not trying to be exercise.”
Pam Woolway, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-3681, ext. 257 or pwoolway@kauaipubco.com.
