An Empty Room

Over the past few weeks I've come to the conclusion that our formal dining space would be better served having another purpose. Basically, we were only using it a couple of times a year. Also, the girls have been spending too much time on their iPads lately.  So I have done two things. The first is to buy a device by which I can set time limits and bedtimes for internet access on all the devices in the house, as well as parental controls. So the girls now each have an hour of internet access per day on their iPads. (For Ben I have not implemented any time limits, but I did set parental controls on everything and set a 10PM "bedtime" for all his devices).

Yesterday was the day I got all of this set up, and when Caroline hit her time limit and her YouTube videos suddenly stopped working, she rolled around in agony on the kitchen floor for a few minutes. But I will not be taking away without giving anything in return. Over the next couple of weeks the now empty dining room (I sold the dining set on Craigslist yesterday) will be transformed into a technology free space for the kids, with reading chairs and spaces for lego building and drawing. Some day they'll thank me :)