Old School Saturdays
DISCLAIMER- This post is not to invoke a debate about screen time, but a way to incorporate screen time as a family time. 😊. Also, this is what we try to do MOST Saturdays. Sometimes we have interruptions to our weekly tradition, but we do this more often than not!
My husband and I both were children of the 1980s/1990s. We grew up in a time of no streaming services, commercials, and if you didn't have satellite or cable (because very few did) you didn't get to watch cartoons on demand. You might have some VHS tapes of shows (usually recorded off of television), but you also had to share the television with the rest of the household. We realized early on when we had our daughter that she was growing up with a total different experience than we did in regards to media. Now don't get me wrong, I know every generation tends to have this experience with ever increasing technology, but we realized some of the experiences we had with physically using television (not just the content) actually influenced us with some life skills we have now! For one thing- PATIENCE and GRATEFULNESS! 😜
My husband and I canceled our cable many years before our daughter was ever born. It wasn't some major reason- we just realized it was not really an expense we needed. At the time we had just started using some streaming on-demand services and we also have an extensive DVD collection. We both worked full-time jobs at the time, so the actual use of our television just didn't match what we were paying for cable or satellite. My husband does like to watch some college football, but usually watches that at the homes of other family members, so sports channels really weren't a big necessity either.
When our daughter was born, we had been without cable over a decade at that point, so we did not really think much about not having "children's channels". By that time we also had multiple streaming services, so we had accessibility of a variety of shows. On a side note, we love this option because we can pick and choose what our daughter views and does not view.
Our family funny story we love to share (side bar)- My husband absolutely loves "The Andy Griffith Show". When my daughter was a toddler, people would ask her if she liked "Barney". She had no idea about the purple dinosaur, and she thought they were referencing "Barney Fife"! 😜 It's not that we have anything personally against "Barney", it just wasn't one of the choices we made when she did get to watch shows.
As our daughter got a little older, we started to realize her only experience with television and media was "on demand" and "no commercials". We also had an experience at someone else's house where she thought the tv was broken... it was a commercial! Because the show "quit working", her first impression was that the television was malfunctioning!
One Saturday morning a couple of years ago, my husband and I decided we wanted our daughter to experience a Saturday morning similar to how we remembered. My husband made some chocolate chip pancakes, we put on some cartoons from the 1980s (my husband and I had some on box set even before our daughter was born), and stayed in our pjs for the morning as we watched cartoons as a family! It was so wonderful and nostalgic. Our daughter was still experiencing "on demand" and "no commercials", but my husband and I had such a fun time feeling like a kid again, and getting to watch characters we loved during our childhood (while getting to share the fun with our daughter).
We had such a fun time with our first "Old School Saturday" that it soon became weekly! Each Saturday, my husband would start making chocolate chip pancakes, and I would find some cartoons. We'd all cuddle up in the living room and watch cartoons while eating breakfast.
Soon, we started to realize we wanted more of the "Old School" memories! I had a few VHS tapes of recorded cartoons with commercials that I had converted to MP4 files. We started watching some of those. This was definitely a new experience for our daughter- commercials AND not knowing what show would come on next (or the episode)! Not long after, we started finding compilations of 80's and 90's cartoons on YouTube - with commercials! Soon, our daughter became just as excited to see the commercials as the show (honestly, I think maybe we all did). One really cool thing is my husband and I have several of our old childhood toys that my daughter plays with, so my daughter gets ecstatic when she sees the old toys advertised.
We realized that when we started implementing our Old School Saturdays, that other things started happening too- our daughter decided she wanted to start helping make the chocolate chip pancakes with her daddy! This provided kitchen time with him (that usually she only gets with Momma). Also, rather than us each watching our "own" thing, we were enjoying shows together as a family.
We noticed that not having shows and episodes "on demand" taught her a lesson in gratefulness and actually having more excitement of the "surprise" of what's next. Also, commercials provided a lesson on patience. Instead of instantly having a story line with no interruptions, she had to learn to wait for the story to continue.
Even though there are sometimes exceptions to the schedule, we try really hard to keep Saturday mornings "old school". Since doing this family tradition, we all look forward to it each week. Our daughter often refers to Saturdays as "pancake day".
This small change to our weeks has now become one our most precious family times. What is great is that this doesn't cost a thing (other than the pancake ingredients 😉). Even if you don't incorporate an Old School Saturday, try setting a time aside each week that you do something special as a family. Even though we homeschool, and I have lots more time with my daughter than I did when I worked full time, it is still easy to get caught up in the "busy" of everyday life. It's important to be intentional with family time too!
Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
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