Television

A Homemaking Library for Under $30?!?!? {Coming oh so soon….}

April 24, 2013 By Ruth Schwenk

My friends know that when I find a deal, I love to share it! Just ask them. As soon as you tell me you like my outfit, I am telling you where I got each piece and how much it cost. Honestly I didn’t even realize I did that until someone pointed it out to me. Apparently it was just my natural response. So I guess it is true…I love a deal!

All that to say you will surely understand why I am so so so excited to tell you about a FANTASTIC opportunity coming next week!

Mark your calendars because starting Monday April 29 and for 6 days only, more than 75 widely-known bloggers and authors in the homemaking sphere have joined together to offer 97 of their most popular eBooks and eCourses, valued at just over $600, for the incredibly low price of $29.97!

I have personally had a chance to peruse many of the eBooks in this collection and I have to concur that you will not find a more comprehensive collection of high quality and useful content to encourage, equip, and inspire you in your role as a mom and homemaker.

Here are just a few examples (remember there are over 97!) of the great resources included in this bundle….

For only $29.97, you gain access to every single one of the 97 resources, so that you can customize your own collection to contain exactly the ones you want and know you’ll use.

This library of homemaking helps include topics such as mothering, organization and cleaning, recipes and kitchen helps, home education, spiritual growth for both moms and kids, home décor and DIY, pregnancy and baby care, frugal living, health and fitness, and even work-from-home and financial tools.

As an added goodie, we’ve also teamed up with 10 companies to bring you over $140 in bonus offers, giving you an affordable opportunity to get products you’ll use and love for only the cost of shipping, or in some cases, entirely for free!

You will probably never see this collection of books for this price ever again. So whether you buy this for gifts or for your own collection, don’t miss out. The sale only lasts for 6 days, from Monday, April 29th to Saturday, May 4th.

Stay tuned for Monday April 29th…………

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The Unplugged Quiet {Is tossing the TV weird?}

August 23, 2012 By Cassandra

“I knew a Homeschooling family when I was young. I always thought they were… well… weird.” Mom smirks at me from the couch and I chuckle at her honesty. “Not weird in a bad way. Just – their house… they were like you. No TV and all that. Their house was just so quiet. I remember thinking it was really different – strange.”

I know exactly what Mom is talking about. That unplugged quiet. When my husband and I decided to toss our TV about five years ago, it took us awhile to get used to. However, within a few months of going TV-free, I couldn’t stand being in a room where the box was blaring. I literally couldn’t think straight.

And I often wonder if that’s how most of our culture lives – with the inability to focus. We are a culture obsessed with distraction. It’s why I call a lot of media “Weapons of Mass Distraction”. We are so accustomed to entertainment, to always having something to watch, something to listen to, something to fall into and zone out with.

These days, the average teen uses five media devices at one time. They’ll be listening to their iPod, watching TV, surfing the web, sending texts on their cell, and talking on the home phone all at once. And when media is made to sell products and encourage humans to crave the continual material upgrade, how is our obsession with screens contributing to our inability to find joy and peace? Everything is awry. And we wonder why so many people cannot feel, cannot engage and cannot love?!

It’s like Neil Postman said,

…we are entertaining ourselves to death.

Death because we cannot find peace in the quiet. We cannot just be. We don’t know who we are, so we are not comfortable with ourselves. The quiet home is an eerie one. The TV-free, rambling-free, mind-clutter-free home is the one that makes most feel uneasy. It should be the other way around, but it isn’t. We are living in a topsy-turvy culture. Busy, mindless noise is common place. Ridding your home of it is, well, weird.

But, if we cannot find comfort in quiet, how do we find God? How can we hear His voice when all our senses are crowded with the clatter of pop-culture mayhem?

How do we still ourselves long enough to even think? To wonder who we are, what we are doing here, and where our Creator is in all this mess? To read. To write. To drink up the time we have with our children, our spouse, our friends. To talk. To actually engage with the people around us and this amazing world God created – instead of staring at a box of lies.

I wonder if our culture fears solitude. Do people honestly fear quiet? Maybe it’s the uncertainty of what we might discover if we take time to just be. Be still. Be humbled. Be taught. Be spoken to. Be intimate. Be vulnerable. Because the quiet is vulnerable, isn’t it?

The quiet is this big wide open space we feel needs filling.

But, what if the filling is the problem?

It’s when we relax and choose to un-entertain ourselves that the real, life-changing, love-inspiring movement takes place. The God-discoveries and self-meetings. The stuff that just can’t transfer from blinking screen to human heart. It’s the eternal sweetness that happens in the quiet.

Once you embrace it, you crave it. The quiet is no longer weird, it is home.

17 Comments | Filed Under: Discipling Children, Family Management, Following God, Homemaking, Media, Parenting, Television, Uncategorized

Protecting the Innocence of Your Child & Better Mom Mondays Link-up!

June 4, 2012 By Ruth Schwenk

Today we have a guest post from Kristen. Here is a little bit about Kristen:

Kristen is a stay at home mom to two incredible kids, ages 2 & 4. As former Wedding & Event Planner, she now celebrates the everyday stuff of life and works to make each day special. She has long lists, loves Diet Coke and playing jokes on her husband. On her blog you’ll find fun ideas for children’s activities, creating memorable moments and of course, party planning and other wacky events. You can find her at Celebrate Every Day With Me.

Kristen writes:

Not too long ago, I read an article in a magazine about a three year old boy whose favorite movie was SpiderMan. This may not surprise you, but it sure did surprise me! In fact, I was actually grieving the fact that a little toddler who should be playing with cars, learning his alphabet and having his boo-boo’s kissed witnessed the PG-13 violence and story-lines meant for those much older.

Innocence is a seemingly elusive concept in our modern world. Children are exposed to the violence and adult content that pervade our movies, media and video games, not to mention our marketing. (Did you catch Cassandra’s post on our culture causing children to grow up too fast? It is a must read!) As a mom of a 2 and 4 year old, I am trying to be vigilant in protecting the innocence of my sweet children, but it is a daunting task. How do we protect the eyes and ears of our children while living in a world where violence is the norm and immorality is widely accepted?

Merriam-Webster defines innocence as “freedom from guilt or sin through being unacquainted with evil.” Keeping your children in the proverbial box won’t cut it. As much as we want to shelter our kids (and oh boy, do I!), there will be times when we will not be around.

Consider these thoughts as you endeavor to protect the innocence of your child:

Closely monitor what your child watches on television. Be cautious of exposing your child to story-lines that are suited for older ages. Even traditional children’s tv programming doesn’t always know where to draw the line. Take into consideration your child’s age, sensitivity and ability to process the subject manner in a healthy way.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a national speaker and author of “Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill” explains that a child should not see any act of violence on the television until they are of the literate age (usually age 6-7). Until then, their brains are unable to separate fantasy from reality.

I have also discovered that televised sporting events can be tricky! Many show commercials that are not safe for the eyes of my four year old,whether it be violent scenes promoting an upcoming movie or the provocative nature of adult beverage commercials.

Avoid playing violent video games. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman also explains that we are de-sensitizing our children by allowing them to “shoot” at people in video games. When the military trains a soldier to kill, they are ‘hard-wired’ with safe-guards. These don’t exist for the child playing large amounts of video games in the home.

Build strong relationships with your children. Work to have the kind of relationship where your child can come to you with any problem or concern. As a parent, I want to know what my child is exposed to and what his friends are doing. Communication through a strong relationship is the key.

Communicate age-appropriately. When you see something negative on the TV or on the go, keep an open line of communication. Explain why something is wrong. Don’t leave out the role of God as the law-giver. Kids are better prepared to separate right from wrong if they are rooted in the absolutes of who God is.

As your child grows, regularly host friends at your house. Have the fun house! This way you can observe first-hand the interactions and activities of your child’s circle of friends. We know a mom and dad who regularly host 6-7 teenage boys for Friday night sleepovers at their house. Why? They serve incredible big breakfasts every Saturday morning. The friends talk about it and look forward to it. And bonus for these parents, they are able to exhibit strong, positive influence, while observing their sons’ peer groups.

Pray for your child, his or her current and future friends. There is incredible power in prayer. I am so grateful that the Lord hears the cries of our hearts. Just as many parents pray for their child’s future spouse, pray for your child’s friends and those who will have much influence over their lives as they grow.

No, keeping your children in a box isn’t going to work. As much as I want to shelter my kids, there will be days when I have to trust I have done my job in teaching and instructing, but more than that, rest in the knowledge that God watches over them, even when I’m not around.

Blessings,

Kristen

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So now it is time to LINK-UP and join the party!!!!

*****We pin our favorite link-ups on The Better Mom’s Pinterest Board!!*****

Better Mom Mondays Link-up is every Monday!!! Join the fun by adding your blog, and by checking out all of the others listed!! Don’t forget if you join below -please add the Better Mom Mondays Link Up button to your post so your readers can find us here! (Posts can include the topics of mothering, marriage, homemaking, discipleship, recipes, organization and more!) You can find the html code in the sidebar, or “save as” copy, and paste the button below.

60 Comments | Filed Under: Discipling Children, Following God, Food, Fun For Kids, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Internet, Link-ups, Marriage/Relationships, Media, Ministries and Missions, Miscarriage, Parenting, Television, Uncategorized

Understanding Advertising and Your Children

May 23, 2012 By Cassandra

As a Media Communications grad who walked away from the industry, I understand very well that TV, above all else, is a business. Advertising fuels the beast and keeps endless programming on the air and online. More than ever, we live in a society totally consumed by SCREENS and STUFF. Interesting how the two feed each other. Our kids are growing up in the most media-influenced generation in the history of man, and Media=Advertising, so they’re also growing up in an overwhelmingly materialistic culture.

Kids are bombarded with thousands of logos, images, and messages everywhere they go. It used to be just the ads on TV, but now, children are carrying little advertising machines everywhere they go. Iphones, ipods, video games, and cell phones all bid your child to buy more.

As so many of us discussed in a post from last month, children are being beckoned into a “lifestyle of wanting” from an incredibly young age. It is up to us, as parents, to put our foot down. The companies want nothing more than to manipulate your kids into wanting their toys, snacks, electronics, games, etc. They are calculated, educated, and well-researched. They tap into your kid’s brain when they are tuned out and turned off.

In the 60s, commercials were very different than they are today. They showcased a product and gave a quick description of what it could ‘do’ using basic, boring camera shots and everyday dialogue. It would be as simple as, “I love my new slinky. It’s so fun! It can climb down stairs. You’d love one too!”

Today, advertising sells a lifestyle and a feeling. In the 70s, researchers realized something remarkable about what happens to humans, and especially children, when they watch television – our brains shut down. The same goes for gaming and internet use. Literally, the left side of the brain, which accounts for critical thinking, turns off. The right side, however, kicks in to high gear, making us more emotionally driven and responsive. Children are sitting ducks in front of media. Their opinions about the world are being fed right into their emotional being. And now, it’s not just advertising in it’s truest form, it’s everything they take in. Everything is an advertisement – the programming they watch on channels like Family and Disney, even the games children play on PBS are often advertisements for products and shows.

We think we’re engaging in entertainment, but we’re actually programming ourselves and our children to consume. This is about creating little consumers who are not happy with themselves or what they have. It is about hypnotizing an entire culture of people to be consumed with consumption. Consumed with greed. Consumed with building our American and Canadian dreams. There are children who lie naked in the streets of a far-off place, parentless and dying while we buy more plastic. My soul is more than unsettled. It is disgusted. Ladies, we can choose to take a stand in our own homes.

Here are a few ways you can protect and equip your family to deal with and respond to the influence of advertising:

1. Toss the TV. Trust me, you don’t need it. In our family, it is one of the very proactive ways we’ve given advertisers, propaganda, and a myriad of other “influences” the boot. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself if you truly need the television? Consider the idea that the best way to protect your kids and avoid having them be defenseless prey for advertisers would be to eliminate the biggest source altogether.

2. If you’re keeping the TV, at least limit your kids’ intake. This applies to time and content. Remove televisions from bedrooms and limit their viewing by time and content. DVDs are a good option for skipping the commercials, especially if you skip the previews.

3. Educate your children about how commercials and internet advertising works. Children are amazing little people. Often they are quite annoyed and put-off when they learn that companies are trying to manipulate them into wanting their products. Explain to your children that commercials are meant to make us want things we don’t need and the companies pay a lot of money to have them on TV.

4. Encourage kids to point out the things that they find questionable about the commercials and advertising they may see. Discuss it with them openly and honestly.

5. Engage your children in meaningful conversation about life, giving, culture, and our purpose. In our family, we talk freely about children in other countries. It is our responsibility to partner with those who have less than we have. We do this intentionally and have close friends in Uganda we share with and learn from. We understand there is a higher value to our resources than simply buying things for ourselves.