We don’t have Cable.
We don’t have TV reception.
And we never have.
In fact, our children’s exposure to Cable television was limited to Grandma Jane’s house, PopPop’s house, and then, a couple of years ago, at their father’s house.
When we tell people this, they are astounded. What are we, living in the Ice Age? What do we do with our downtime?
Downtime? We have very little downtime! There are too many fun things out there to be explored and experienced first hand. We don’t have a lot of time for vicarious experiences!
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve got plenty of DVD’s, and the kids grew out of their toddlerhoods with Baby Einstein et al. And I am willing to bet my kids are the only kids on the block who could give you characters and lines from Gilligans Island, Wonder Woman, Bewitched, and Johnny Quest.
But for the most part, we don’t spend a lot of time in front of the TV.
What do we do? Well, here’s an example of a Sunday morning, not too long ago:
In the Family Room:
Mom, I’m ignoring you.
Still ignoring you. You are SO weird, Mom.
I will have you know that I read this same series of books when I was her age. LOVE me some Nancy Drew!
Meanwhile, in the Kitchen:
Critter? Whatcha reading? Hello? Hello? Whatcha reading, Critter? CRITTER?!!
What???!! Alright Already!! Here!! Does this make you happy, Mom? You are SO weird.
Ah…from the series of books that spawned the movie “How To Train Your Dragon.”
Oh, and in case you missed this detail in his first picture above. Yes, I believe in a well-balanced, nutritious start to the day. A half pound of bacon, washed down with Tang.
Don’t judge! I’m just glad he’s eating something.
Some people say TV is evil. They say that it is bad for family dynamics because it causes children to disengage from other family members to be passively entertained.
Huh.
Disengaged from family members? Judging by these pictures, I guess books are evil too.
But what do I know? I’m just SO weird.
Mama Boe 
We must be on the same glacier… We have no tv etc. I grew up that way; happy, never bored. And my kids tell me I’m weird all the time!
I wish we were not TV folks. I mean I think we have a good balance – M really doesn’t watch TV unless her dad is watching something like “How It’s Made” or, like last night, “The Story of US” (as in the U.S. – awesome history series of, well, US!) They also like, uh, Storage Wars… *Sigh* But MOSTLY M likes to read with me! We read together and seperately together! Like you’ve said tho, when she reads, you can FORGET about communicating with her. She is SO far gone that nothing else exists for her while she’s “in” a book! Fogeddaboudit!! MOSTLY I like that, but sometimes it drives me nuts! Anyway, I loved Nancy Drew as a kid too, but I can’t get M into them. She prefers Fantasy/Fiction – mostly about animals on adventures complete with lotsa’ battles. I like fantasy too, but prefer the mystical stuff. We BOTH love Harry Potter! And she read most of Cowell’s How To Train Your Dragon series before losing interest for some reason. I think because after a while, they weren’t really about dragons so much – which she really liked. Anyway, here’s to a good book!! =)
We disconnected our satellite service last year, and I don’t miss it one bit! Our quality of living has actually improved, and we do more things as a family now. A lot of our friends and family think we’re crazy, but we just ignore them. When I’m getting hassled, I usually just ask how much they pay for their cable/satellite service. That’s shuts ’em up. 🙂
And, I LOVE that your daughter is reading Nancy Drew!!! Classic.