I found this coping list over at the Center for Screentime Awareness, and I think it's spot on. This is something that would also be helpful to those with kids who would like to do the TV-Turnoff week. My favorite one is: "When forced to entertain oneself, one gets quite creative." So true! (list via)
"1. Sit quietly with a cup of tea and think about what you REALLY want to do before jumping into several activities and getting too busy.
2. Be patient. If you can live through 20 minutes of whining, your children WILL find something to do. "When forced to entertain oneself, one gets quite creative."
3. Send the kids outside. One man had a vivid memory of his mother standing at the kitchen door with her yellow rubber-gloved hand pointing to the yard and booming "EVERYONE OUTSIDE UNTIL DINNERTIME!"
4. Make a list of all the things you love to do besides watching TV and keep it posted somewhere.
5. Take photos of your children doing creative things and keep them visible.
6. Go for a walk during your favorite sitcom, get your heart pumping, and breathe deeply.
7. Grow a little tougher skin when friends and relatives ask what in the world are you doing. Don't justify, just smile.
8. Create your OWN experiences instead of living vicariously through the lives of movie or sitcom stars. Remember, the best memories come from life's experiences. Instead of getting caught up in conversations revolving around technology, telling stories about sitcoms characters and treating movie stars as family, start working on building memories with experiences. Your OWN experiences…good or bad, make better stories than those told about characters on "Friends."
9. Keep a journal of your "withdrawal" - makes for good reading in a couple of weeks! (You won't believe how much easier it gets with time).
10. "Come out of the Closet" and tell your friends what you are attempting. You may meet with more support than you think. Parents commented that turning it off at first increased the chores and childcare responsibilities for a week or two with children vying for attention, but actually lowered chores and childcare responsibilities after children became more adept at entertaining themselves. For those veterans who had been without TV for 10 or more years, they constantly wonder how others find time to watch TV!"
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