We moved Van into a big boy bed this month and spent loads of unplugged time jumping and horsing around. Time infront of the TV is a saving grace, at times, because -as you can see- unplugged time always involves some sort of tackling. As I move further down this road of recovery, I hope to spend more and more unplugged time outdoors.

Please show my fellow Childhood Unplugged comrades some love by checking out their submissions over on the Childhood Unplugged blog. You can follow @childhoodunplugged on instagram, where we take turns featuring images from loads of other photographers and / or mothers who are joinging the movement and making an effort to unplug.

When I was a younger women, I’d dream about what motherhood would be like. I used to subscribe to Adbusters and I remember an image they published of a young girl in front of the TV. Her mouth was open, eyes dazed, body slumped. If the TV had not been in the frame, you would have thought she belonged in a mental hospital.

I vowed not to be the kind of mom that let her kids sit in-front of the TV for hours on end.

It seemed like an easy decision before real kids actually entered the picture. Now that I am a mother, I realize that getting the kids out and encouraging them to interact with dare-I-say-it, their environment, is – well – a lot of work for me.

I’m not a perfect parent. In fact, I’m well aware of my shortcomings. Truth be told, I put Super Why! on for Hooper so I could sit down to write this post in peace. Van’s napping.

The flip-side of limiting technology in your child’s life is that you have play an active roll. By the same token, for me, less TV means more fighting over toys, more hitting, slower and more frustrating meal times, and less peace n’ quiet.

And yet, I think know it’s really important.

It’s with great pride I introduce you to Childhood Unplugged. I’ve been invited to share one image, once a month, along with several other photographers I’m pleased as pie to be associated with. You can click on the button below to see the image I chose and to check out the images others chose as well.

How did you unplug this month?