T.V. Junkie

Jack is a TV junkie, an addict, when he is in the zone you cannot get his attention for anything. Travis and I have decided that we aren't able to change his love for TV, but we are able to limit the amount of TV he watches so he may possibly find other things he loves to do. The new rule is 30 minutes per day during the week and one hour on Saturday and Sunday. He may watch his allotted time whenever he wants, but once his time is spent, there is no more TV for the rest of the day. Today I set a timer to make sure I would remember to pry him from the TV because I was busy cutting fabric for the birthday capes. I can be kind of like Jack, when I get in the zone with a project I can loose all track of time. Jack knew he was in the final 30 minutes of his hour when I heard him calling me from upstairs (where he watches TV).

Jack: Mom, I am going to need you to stop the timer.
Me: Are you done watching TV?
Jack: No.
Me: Then why would I stop the timer?
Jack: Because I have turned off the TV during the commercials, I don't want to use my TV time to watch commercials.

How do I deal with this? He is a smart little guy wanting to optimize his time, but I am not going to turn the timer off and on every 5 minutes. Not to mention, when he turns the TV off he is still sitting in front of the boob tube waiting for the commercials to be over. The whole reason for the limit is to ensure that he is more productive with his time; playing outside, doing table time, playing with his mounds of toys, annoying his mother, etc.