Sunday 20 November 2011

a screen-free weekend

On the weekend I set my family a challenge: to have a "screen-free" weekend.  So no television and no computer (and no sneaking internet on our iphones!).  This idea came about basically because of my increasingly bad habit of putting on the telly as a way of getting the kids (aged 8,6,4 and 18mths) to be quiet, and therefore giving me time to do what I want to do peacefully...often my sewing, cooking, getting on facebook etc.  I guess you could say I've been using the TV as a live-in nanny.  Not great mothering, I know.

I have to tell you that although it was fairly tiring, we had a really great time of it.  On Saturday it was cold and raining so we spent the day indoors with lots of cooking (my husband calls this edible craft)and a bit of paper craft.  We started off making coconut biscuits, my favourite recipe from my childhood (I remember my mums original printout of it from a 1970's womens' mag).  I've included a recipe further on in case you feel inclined to try them out.

Next was playing dress ups, followed by some simple paper craft cutting snowflakes out of white paper.  The kids had been begging me to put up the Christmas tree so I thought our snowflakes would look nice hanging nearby.  We then made gnocchi from scratch which was a great activity for the kids!  They equally enjoyed the boiling process and dishing them out of the pot into their plates.  Also accomplished was making goats milk cheese, setting up the Christmas tree, lots of drawing, reading, running in circles...and just, well, playing! 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time over the weekend, but I have to confess that my husband and I gave in and enjoyed a much earned movie on Saturday night once the kids were asleep...and I may or may not have peaked at facebook from my phone once or twice (lol).  But all in all I'd say it was a success, and I hope to do the same every weekend if we can stay strong!  Do you do TV free days in your home?  If not, I challenge you to!!

Coconut Biscuits
4oz/110g butter
1 cup castor
1 1/2 cup S.R. Flour
pinch of salt
1 cup coconut
1 egg
Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg.  Slowly add sifted flour, salt and coconut and mix well.  Roll into balls and flatten slightly, then place on lightly greased baking tray.  Bake in moderate oven (170-180 degrees) for 10-15 minutes or until golden.  Enjoy :)



FRESH COCONUT BISCUITS OUT OF THE OVEN


ROLLING AND CUTTING OUR GNOCCHI DOUGH


OUR FINISHED GNOCCHI, SERVED WITH A CREAMY, BUTTERY
 SAUCE, WITH A HINT OF GARLIC AND FRESH THYME

OUR PAPER SNOWFLAKES HANGING


IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!
 


4 comments:

gourmeteater said...

Great idea...would love to try a screen free week because I findmy kids are better behaved when they watch less and play with me more!

Hupi said...

Hi gourmet eater, yes I agree, my children are far better behaved if they haven't had any tv time, and plus it pushes me to get on the floor and play too :) Danielle, Hupi xx

Anonymous said...

What a great achievement! We don't let the kids watch tv during the week, as they have their extracurricular activities and homework, so any spare time is them playing. But on the weekend we lazily resort to the tv to occupy our childrens time when we can't be bothered. Sadly, the tv eats away the time and before we know it, it's Monday again and we haven't achieved much with our weekend. I would love to try this over a weekend, just need to work up the courage!!

Emily said...

I love the paper snowflakes - will definitely be doing this with my girls! I attempted to make gnocchi years ago with not much success - you have inspired me to have another go. Little helpers will love all that rolling of the dough..