No Tech Day pt. 2: No Tech Week

About a month ago, I decided I wanted to do another No Tech Day with the boys.  It had been about a year since our last one.  As the days went by and I witnessed more and more agitation and fighting over electronics, I decided to go with a No Tech Week.  When I told the boys, they had the following reactions:
14-year old:  That sounds like a good idea.  Sounds healthy!
12-year old:  ...
6-year old:  Wait!  Can we still eat cereal?

On Monday of last week, the TVs got turned off.  The computers, video games, and handheld devices were ignored.  No Tech Week had begun.

Monday found the older boys playing Chess, bike riding into Harrisburg, and finding ways to entertain themselves.  The four of us spent some time at the library, then the park.  The 6-year old had two meltdowns, which is not normal for him at all.  There was a lot of bickering and crying.  I blamed it on tech withdrawals.

Tuesday was a little smoother.  Still some bickering and outbursts from the younger boys.  We did a scavenger hunt at a different library in which we received ten clues with call numbers.  We hunted down the books, whose locations were described in riddles, and solved the puzzle.  Then off to another park!

Wednesday is transition day from dad's house to mom's house.  We made what was supposed to be a quick stop to yet another library to return and check out books.  It wasn't so quick.  I had two of the three boys in sight.  The 12-year old had wandered off.  I quickly found him sitting down with a pile of books on his lap, reading.  This was huge!  The 12-year old is not a big fan of reading, so after seeing him with not just one, but four books on his lap, I decided to stay a little longer.  He ended up checking out the books, which turned out to be hacks for Minecraft.  But hey, at least he was reading!  The day continued with bike riding with the neighbor boys.

Thursday was the day the boys absolutely could not wait for.  I had gotten permission from both parents to take the boys camping.  We left early in the afternoon, running a few errands before hand.  We stopped at PetSmart to visit with the critters there (and to buy some cat food for my baby girl), then my house to pick up some things I had forgotten.  We got to our campsite, put up our tents, then went to the pool.  I should mention that this was probably the most humid day I had ever experienced.  The pool was so refreshing!  We returned to camp, took about an hour and half to make a fire, played at the playground, and went to bed.  Longest night of my life.  Sleeping in tents is definitely the worst part of camping.

Friday finally came.  We got the campsite packed and cleaned just in time for a light drizzle.  We headed back home.  More Chess games were played.  Yet another playground was visited.  And I was about ready to fall over.  So I had a surprise for the boys.  Around 2:30 in the afternoon, I had the boys read for a little while.  Then,when the last page was read, No Tech Week was over.  The boys went their separate ways and life continued as normal.  Except, there was no bickering.  No anger, crying, meltdowns.  Just calm.

My goal in having No Tech Week was met.  I wanted the boys to learn that they could find ways to entertain themselves that did not involve electronics.  The 12-year old, who on Monday and Tuesday kept asking me what he could do, finally figured out how to entertain himself.  I also wanted to see how their attitudes changed throughout the week.  I was not disappointed.
Monday and Tuesday were the most difficult days by far.  Tantrums, cursing, crying, and angry outbursts from the 6-year old.  Angry nitpicking from the 12-year old.  I assumed it was from tech withdrawals.  Turned out I was right.  Wednesday came around, and there was next to no fighting, no outbursts, and absolutely no cursing.  Thursday and Friday, I'm not even sure I was with the same kids.  Manners came out of nowhere from all three boys, but especially the 6-year old.  Please, thank you, and sorry were being thrown around willy-nilly.  I was so shocked at one point, the 6-year old actually had to remind me to say "You're welcome" after he thanked me for getting him a drink.  I watched as the boys spent time together, having fun, showing love to each other.  I was tempted to just throw the electronics out after seeing this huge change.  But I don't want the boys to hate me.
I may never know why electronics have such a negative impact on the way children behave, but after this past week, after seeing the big change in the boys, I am going to try to take more time with the boys, away from electronics.  I only have a little under a month left with the them before going off to college.  I want them to learn to appreciate each other and to use their imaginations.  I work with three wonderful boys.  I want them to know just how wonderful they are.  They won't learn that while staring at a screen.

The Manny Diaries pt. 6: The Review

As my time with the boys comes to a close (just one more month! *sob*), I decided to have the boys rate me.  I made up a little worksheet for them.  At the top were five stars.  They colored in however many stars they thought I deserved.  After coloring in the stars, there were two questions to answer: 
What do you like most about Philip?
and
What do you not like about Philip?
Here are the results:

The 6-year old gave me five stars, but said I should actually get five billion billion million thousand stars.  What he likes most about me is that I play with him and I do stuff for him.  When I asked him what he doesn't like about me, he said "Nothing!  I just like you and that's it."
For the past almost two years, I spent the majority of my time with the 6-year old.  We became really close buddies.  He loves spending time with me and stresses out when I leave his side.  I have to tell him anytime I need to go to the bathroom, just so he doesn't worry about me.  He's got a huge heart.  I'm going to miss his innocence and unconditional love.

The 14-year old gave me a nine out of five star rating.  He likes that I am responsible, caring, and funny.  He doesn't like that I am leaving to go to college.  This answer caught me off guard.  I was so sure that this kid wouldn't care about my moving away.  He is a teenager, after all.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, the 14-year old really didn't like me when I first started with him and his brothers.  He was a loner, moody, always on his phone or video games.  He would lock his bedroom door so I always had to talk to him through the door.  He told me a couple times how much he hated me.  Twenty months later, he and are like two peas in a pod.  He talks my ear off, tells me jokes, fun facts, Would You Rathers, and creams me in Chess.  He still tells me he hates me, but only in fun.  He always says it with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

The 12-year old's review of me was exactly what I had expected:  pure nonsense.  He gave me a negative fifteen out of five star rating.  His answer to what he likes about me is as follows:
"He's honest.  (Too honest.)  He's OK at being smart.  He can count...uuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmm...He can do the alphabet."
That's exactly what he put, down to the the last 'U'.  Even the parenthetical "Too honest" was all him.
His answer to what he doesn't like about me:
"He wakes me up too much.  He has no tech days.  He has no tech weeks.  He has no tech weeks.  He has no tech weeks.  He STILL has no tech weeks.  He doesn't know what a space cucumber is.  (I don't either.)"
Again, word for word (I made some spelling corrections, though.).
When I told the 12-year old I would be posting this on my blog, his eyes got wide and he said "Make sure they know I'm kidding!"  When I asked him how many stars he would really give me, he told me he would give me five.
The 12-year old and I hit it off right away.  He is a social butterfly who makes friends with nearly everyone he meets.  He and I have a lot of heart to heart conversations in which I give him advice on patience and kindness.  And he listens!  This kid has grown so much since I first met him.  He is more patient, less angry, and more loving.

It's going to be super difficult for me to leave these boys.  I get depressed every time I think about it.  Even though I'll be on the other side of the country, my thoughts and heart will always be with the three young souls I left in Pennsylvania.  My boss/mom and I have already planned to Skype on the 6-year old's birthday.  The older boys each have my phone number to keep in contact.  And I'll be back to visit.  I've even told my mom (jokingly, of course.) that when I do come back to visit, I'll be seeing the boys before I see her and my dad.  I'll be counting down the days.