Our Switch

About 1-1/2 years ago we realized that we were wasting money every month paying a cable bill just for fun.  The realization came on night when we looked around and discovered that no one had turned the cable on in a whole month.  What a waste of our money!

At that point we were already Netflix members as I had signed up when I took a Film and Politics class at Portland State University.  Since we were watching a movie a week and they had almost all the movies in their collection it was a good investment.  When we gave up cable we switched to Netflix for our TV viewing entertainment.

In all honesty we have not missed out cable at all.  I should share that we are not a sports watching family so there were no games for us to miss out on, and even for you sports people out there I hear that this year the Superbowl will be live streamed online so there are really no excuses anymore.

6 Benefits to Streaming

Since we gave up cable we have noted some benefits to our lives that had both been expected and unexpected.  Here is our list:

1) No more cable bill.  Even with the changes to subscriptions that Netflix has undergone the savings is considerable, especially as we dropped the DVD portion when they split them (we weren’t watching them anyways).

2) No more advertisements at Christmas time.  I have two school aged kids and while they hear about stuff from their friends they are shielded from the onslaught of commercials for the latest chunk of plastic or useless electronic that barrage our favorite shows come fall.

3) No more political ads.  For us this has been a great and unexpected benefit, especially heading into an election year like this one.  Right now we are having a special election for a new Senator and since we haven’t seen adds our decisions are based on what is on the ballot, their websites and our voter’s guide.  This allows us to make a decision without hating the idea of voting due to negative ads before out ballot even shows up.  For us this is a good thing.

4) No more missing the show.  This is great for all of us, if you doze off or have to run a kid to an event before the show is over there are no issues, just watch it later.  Sure you get this with DVR but then you probably have a higher bill than I do.

5) I know what the kids have been watching.  They have the chance to cruise the available shows and movies on Netflix and there are some that they are simply too young to watch.  Since everything you watch kicks over to a “Recently Watched” section we all know what each other is watching.  A much easier way to keep tabs on things, though my kids haven’t tried watching anything they shouldn’t.

6) Exposure to new shows.  I have found that documentaries that interest me are far easier to come by then they used to be with my cable provider.  This also means my kids have gotten into “How It’s Made” that they would have been unlikely to run across before our switch.

Do you stream?

While it is not the best answer for everyone, the switch to streaming TV has been great for us.  So tell me, have to switched to streaming and if you have what benefits have you seen, if not, why not?

by my daughter in Kindergarten

Creativity is essential

While not everyone will agree, I feel that one of the greatest gifts you can provide for your child is the ability to be creative.  Thinking with a creative mind allows a person to not only develop novel solutions to a problem they are faced with, but also imagine what might happen should a certain course of action take place.  In our world there is quickly developing a divide between those that can imagine novel solutions and those that are the sheep that follow.  While both are required in society, in my case I don’t follow all that well or happily.

Raising creative kids

So, if I think raising your child to be creative is so important how do you go about doing it?  To start I would like to say that I am not an expert on raising kids; this is just one mom’s opinion on the matter.  What I suggest and do myself may or may not work for your family, kids or yourself, all we can do is try.

That being said, I think the first and most important step to raising creative kids is to have creative parents.  It is far easier to approach things from new angles when you live in a setting where you see the adults doing so all the time.  This is why my kids are welcome to sit at our gaming table and listen to the group try to figure out how to solve the latest challenge the GM has thrown at them.  This is also why we discuss problems that we have at work or with school at the dinner table, trying to find the best way and share our different approaches we have tried in the past with each other.

I think that the best way to bring out the natural creativity in any child (or even adult for that matter) is to ask “what if” type questions.

a drawing by my son in 3rd grade

Such as “What if your rubber duck could swim on its own, what would it do?”, this gives a young child the chance to imagine a clear picture and respond with an answer.  Now comes the hard part, respect your child’s answer by either expressing approval or by asking a question to get more information.  It is critical that you allow them the freedom to answer with something that isn’t even logical, especially when they are younger then school-age.  If their rubber duck would turn upside-down and swim with its feet in the air using its wings to paddle, then respond with a “Neat”.  Don’t shut them down by pointing out that ducks can’t swim like that.  Creativity is about imagining those things that are, combined with those things that aren’t, to generate a newness.  We cannot be creative and endlessly bound by our current reality at the same time!

My creative kids

As a result of letting my children be free-thinkers they are often praised for their creativity.  Of course there are times, such as school assignments, where we have to reign in that creative thinking some so that they can conform enough to pass.  It is a fine line to walk, especially with my daughter who is very free thinking.  In the end though, I find that it is worth the struggle.

I find that because of their creativity my children are constantly looking for ways to rework the world into something new.  Our dining/game room has 2 bookshelves in it primarily dedicated to art supplies, our recycle bin is regularly scrounged through for the latest creative endeavor.  In fact, just yesterday my son looked at his old twin mattress we are getting rid of and since it is too worn for use, he asked if he could take two of the springs from it so he could attach them to his shoes.  As you can see I work to keep up with them as they surprise me with questions I am at best half prepared to hear.

Lego creation by my son

So what do you do with this?

Start asking your kid questions about “what if” with no wrong answer.  Buy them blocks and Lego sets and let any style of car or rocket ship they build be awesome, and join them at it even if you aren’t very good in your eyes – they will think you make cool things.  Watch clouds go by and decide what they look like, cats or elephants or flying monkeys.  If they create a new creature and draw you a picture, provide approval and reinforcement by asking them what its favorite food is.  Anything you do that allows them to make new things adds to their creative pool, giving them the means to move past how it has always been to how it could be.  That is, after all, how we turn our wishes into reality.  And while you are helping your child be creative, help yourself to be creative as well.

I discovered Sheri S. Tepper as an author when I was in middle school.  My mom had taken me to the Downtown Portland Public Library and in the Young Adult section I found the book Jinian Star-Eye sitting on the display racks.  The cover intrigued me, and the Title and short synopsis cinched it and I took the book home.  I tore through it like crazy and completely fell in love with the character of Jinian as well as the world in which she lived.  I ended up checking out the book several more times during the years in Middle and High School.  Honestly I can’t even remember how many times I read the book before I discovered that it was really book 9 of a 9 book series.

So begin my love affair with all of Sheri S. Tepper’s Sci-Fi/Fantasy books.  I have virtually all of them, though some of her first works are harder to come by these days.  Due to my school schedule over the last couple years, as well as the rest of life, I have fallen behind on reading her latest works though I am starting to get caught up.  Right now I am reading The Fresco, which is proving to be yet another excellent book.  While I love her style of writing and how she tracks the story from several different angles by jumping between characters from chapter to chapter eventually bringing them together as the story unfolds, I also love her underlying themes.  Her themes resonate strongly with me especially those about how we treat each other, what it means to be a creature that is truly part of our world, and even what it means to be human as well as how we treat the planet we call home.  I find that her works really cause me to rethink how we as humans are managing, or not, ourselves and what could be done to fix many of the social ills we suffer from.

If you are looking for a new author to try out in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre then I highly recommend Sheri S. Tepper, My favorites are Beauty and Gate to Women’s Country, though The Fresco and The Family Tree might be an easier jump in for some people as they take place on Earth.  I know I am one of her biggest fans, I named my daughter Jinian after the book that started it all for me.

Image courtesy gilderm

I am rather excited to find that some serious attention is now being given to the need for interstellar travel capabilities. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA for short, has teamed up with a branch of NASA to set the ball in motion. It is call the 100-year Starship Study. There will be a symposium on the subject in late September in Orlando, Florida and about 150 people will participate. They will be chosen based on panel proposals and speaking abstracts that are submitted through their site.

It is great to see that they are finally working towards this and so seriously too. If you check out the release from DARPA on this you can see how serious they are. There will be discussion not only on what new technology will get us to the nearest star but also how we choose who goes, how do we deal with the ethics of it, how do we sell the idea to the general masses, cryogenics, and a lot more.

In the end they are looking to seed a company that is created with the purpose of making this happen in the next 100 years. Personally I am hoping for some of the technology created along the way to improve my life. Mostly I really want a faster way to get from my home to Orlando, Florida for my favorite vacations as the plane ride is the only downside to my Walt Disney World trips. Maybe we will be able to say “Beam me up” by the time they head to the stars.