One Week of Life Outside the Box

You think cozying up to a “Fear Factor” bucket of worms would be tough? You think being stranded on a tropical island full of neurotic, lying backstabbers would be tougher?

Those are nothing compared to this reality show: two adults and two kids living in the heart of TV land where the only rule is no television for a week. This in a society in which 98% of households have a television set and the TV is on an average of nearly eight hours a day.

Inspired by National TV-Turnoff Week last week, the Chastangs of Eagle Rock boldly went where many parents dream of, but few ever go. They pulled the plug on their household’s four television sets, which range from a 6-inch portable to the 25-inch set in their living room. And for good measure, they banned videos, computer games and Internet surfing as well.

They didn’t do it for money, prizes or fame. They did it to remind themselves there’s a life of the mind, a life with each other, a life outside the box.

“The kids would watch television all the time if they could,” says Catherine, a stay-at-home mom with a part-time scrapbooking business and the force behind the weeklong experiment. “A week with no TV is extreme for us, but I’ve been preparing them.”

Though each family member--parents Richard and Catherine, kids Angelica, 7, and Michelle, 5, who goes by the nickname Mimi--has his or her own particular weakness when it comes to the small screen, their collective crunch time seems to be in the late afternoon (after homework is finished) and early evenings (before the nightly ritual of bath, reading and bedtime). So in those hours each weekday, the family allowed The Times to watch them not watch TV.

Day 1

Like dieting, the idea is always easier than the reality. And like a diet, the first day always seems to be the hardest.

“It’s been roughest on Mimi,” Catherine says. It’s not television shows that she misses so much as her favorite videotapes: “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Cinderella II.”

But, Catherine quickly adds, “It’s been tough on me, too.”

The first hours of deprivation remind Mom of a key benefit of TV. It’s a reliable stopgap baby-sitter. “I couldn’t even have a phone conversation today,” Catherine says. “Mimi really demanded my attention all day.”

The youngest Chastang attends preschool each morning until shortly after 10. After that, it’s up to Catherine’s patience and ingenuity to keep up with Mimi, a bright, animated youngster in pigtails. After 2:30, Mom must also handle Angelica when her second-grade class lets out. Both kids are well-mannered and have no trouble concentrating but are still kids who seem to run on the Energizer Bunny’s batteries.

Catherine is pretty much on her own today. Richard, an attorney with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is on business on the East Coast and isn’t expected home until close to the girls’ bedtime, around 8.

It’s not even 6 p.m. and the girls have already worn Barbie out--the doll has changed clothes, residences and party scenes several times over. Later, Angelica makes a bead bracelet, and Mimi practices her lowercase and uppercase letters with an alphabet puzzle. The girls then play a spontaneous game of keep the balloon from hitting the floor.

“Let’s walk the dog,” Mom suggests. “We have some time to kill.”

Catherine takes Ginger, a frisky 1-year-old German shepherd mix from the pound. Mimi takes her scooter and Angelica walks. The brief hike takes them through the streets of their quiet hilltop neighborhood and onto a few off-road paths, where they get excited about spotting a small snake.

There’s still about an hour left before bath time, around 7 p.m. It’s game time. Mimi votes for “Anastasia,” a game they haven’t played in months. In 10 minutes, the game is over. They play again.

Like many preschoolers, Mimi loves repetition.

Want to play again? she asks.

No, Mom says.

Please?!

No. How about Chutes and Ladders?

Yeah! Angelica agrees.

It is a conversation the family will repeat in some form dozens of times during the week, with only slight variations in the suggestion of games.

Before anyone can climb up a ladder or slide down a chute, Mimi exercises her considerable veto power and pulls out a Dr. Seuss trivia game. In unloading the game, Mimi accidentally spills dozens of cards on the floor.

Another benefit of television, points out Catherine surveying the fallen cards and myriad other games spread out across the family room floor: “It’s not messy.”

Day 2

The dog days of a home with darkened screens are already upon the Chastangs. Angelica, who enjoys TV and videos as much as the next kid, greatly misses the CD-ROM art program that allows her to lay out and design text and photos.

Mimi misses the computer game “Madeline” and her videos.

Catherine misses the morning news programs she usually watches.

But of them all, it’s Richard who most needs to plop down in front of the television. He’s still jet-lagged from his trip, and he worked all day. Also, his favorite show, “24,” a real-time thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland, airs tonight. And then, there’s the Lakers.

“It’s hard to take not watching the playoffs,” he says, noting the next game isn’t until Thursday. “It’s early, but I’m confident the Lakers will make it past the first round.”

During dinner, Mimi volunteers with a smile that she tried to get the baby-sitter to turn on the television. The ruse didn’t work. The baby-sitter had been forewarned.

After dinner, the family settles into another evening of games. The girls pull out Twister and for the next 20 minutes look like they’re in a commercial for the game. Later, when the games switch to those not requiring the skills of a contortionist, Catherine and Richard join in.

Close to bath time, Mimi moves toward the computer and jokes: “I’m going to turn on the computer.”

“You do and you’ll have a timeout for the next three days,” replies Richard with a smile.

Day 3

The kids are becoming more accustomed to a household in which the only voices heard come from live people. Catherine has a 10-minute phone conversation without a Mimi interruption. Nobody asks to turn on the television or the computer today.

“They know they’re up against a wall,” Catherine says. “Why bother?”

Homework is getting done. Barbie and friends are going to another party. And puzzles, long ignored, are getting some hands-on time.

“The house is just calmer with no TV,” Catherine says. “The girls don’t fight as much, either.” But she admits that she really missed television after the girls went to bed.

“I wanted to veg, to relax,” she says. “Television zones me out. It asks nothing of me.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers are still on Richard’s mind: “If they sweep, I haven’t missed much. But if it goes next week, I’ll still catch the deciding game.”

Tonight, Catherine makes a steak dinner and leaves for a business meeting around 5:30, so Richard has the girls. At dinner, Mimi provides an uninterrupted five-minute plot synopsis of Disney’s “Atlantis.”

“Mimi can narrate a long story,” Richard smiles.

After dinner, the girls persuade their father to play a new game called Cadoo, a fun mix of tick-tack-toe, charades, Pictionary and clay sculpting. Before the game is over, Angelica draws a school bus that to Mimi looks like a television.

“It’s on her subconscious,” Richard says.

After dinner, Richard and the girls take Ginger for a walk. Both girls are on scooters tonight and keep a half-block lead on their father and Ginger. As the walk ends, the girls take off their helmets and dance around a neighbor’s lawn sprinklers. It’s a good transition to bath time.

Day 4

The withdrawal pains are back. Today, Catherine has to explain to Mimi three times exactly when the television can go back on and why. Angelica says the first videos she wants to watch on Monday are “Peter Pan” and “Pocahontas.”

Richard admits to almost straying the previous night after the girls were in bed. “I almost had a moment of weakness,” he says, about the same time the Lakers were playing the Trail Blazers. “The kids went to bed early, I’d finished reading everything I could, and time was dragging. I thought, ‘Hey, who is going to know?’ But I figured we had a goal, and if the kids can do it, so can I.”

Tonight, before Richard gets home, the girls help Catherine paint a small treasure box as a thank you to a family friend for hosting a tea party. Angelica insists everyone wear aprons.

“We’ve never painted a box before,” says Angelica, as she applies beige paint.

After a ravioli dinner, the night’s main event is the family’s new favorite game, “Cadoo.” It supplies what it promises: creative fun and laughs.

Day 5

The bomb drops.

“I accidentally watched TV,” Mimi tells her mother.

On Fridays, Mimi is in day care in the afternoon. Day care hadn’t been informed of the TV embargo.

“We didn’t think of it,” Catherine says. “TV is everywhere.”

Then, she turns to her daughter, wearing an impish grin. “Did you think to tell [day care] that you weren’t supposed to watch TV?”

“No,” Mimi says, laughing.

According to Mimi, the dive back into television wasn’t that satisfying. She said one of the shows seemed to be about vampires and the other was “like Aladdin” but wasn’t. Also, the sound wasn’t working.

The lapse, which is taken in stride by the family, doesn’t end the experiment. The family is determined to finish out the week. But Mimi’s straying prompts Catherine to admit that the night before she “really, really wanted to turn on the television, just to see what’s happening in the world.” She resisted, and like other nights when the television wasn’t on, she went to sleep around 9:30, about 90 minutes earlier than usual.

The day has been unusual, too, because of the responses Catherine receives from a survey of Angelica’s elementary school. Less than a week ago, Catherine addressed 400 students urging them to join her family in their TV-less experiment. The parents of 66 kids filled out a survey of interest, a majority of those were supportive and positive.

But some were not. One first-grader’s parent wrote that Catherine should confine her “stupid social engineering” ideas within school walls and away from his home. Another parent offered this non-sequitur excuse: Banning TV might disrupt their child’s “balanced diet.”

Richard and Catherine are taken aback by some of the comments but are able to laugh them off.

Still, in all, the week has been a success, and the family decides to go out to dinner to celebrate. They enjoy another night of family conversation, browse a bookstore afterward and head home to bed.

“It’s been an exhausting week,” Catherine says.

Weekend/Epilogue

The weekend is filled with family activity. Gymnastics, birthday parties and an art benefit consume much of their time. The TV remains off. The same can’t be said for the computer. Richard points out on Sunday that technically it wouldn’t violate the original agreement to check the computer for the Lakers score--so long as there’s no Internet surfing. All parties concur and Richard discovers to his delight the Lakers have swept the series.

By Monday morning, when the week of TV deprivation officially ends, there’s something of a surprise. The TV remains off.

“This was wonderful; we are so grateful we did this,” Catherine says. “Having the television off stretches you and makes you reach within yourself. We really have to consider if we want to invite that invader back into our house,” she says.

On the other hand, Mimi isn’t back from preschool yet.