Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Quiet

My house... is quiet.

Like, not right now—okay, yes right now—but, like, 95% of the time.

I’m not talking about the boys—they’re kids. Kids make noise. I’m talking about background noise.

Growing up, our radio was on in the kitchen, perpetually. I learned to read on a bus, my nose in Nancy Drews while I bounced my way to school and back. I know the TV wasn’t always on, but it was on far more than ours is now.

(And yes, we only have one in our household. Gasp!)

Truth is: I like the quiet.

Our oldest, who’s seven, has remarked more than once that he loves being home because it’s peaceful.

Now, he’s a kid who had blocked Eustachian tubes and couldn’t hear well for years before we figured it out. Ambient noise was a culture shock for him, to say the least.

It’s nice to have the quiet. Occasionally our radio is on. Since being on an airplane, the boys enjoy wearing earbuds when using the Leapster or Tag Reader... they appreciate the quiet, too.

Our TV is off mostly. There are strings of days where nobody bothers to turn it on. Truth.

We don’t have cable, but we have plenty of kids’ TV shows on DVD, and lots of movies for them to watch—which they do on Friday nights (movie night) or on weekends if it’s raining. It’s on nightly after the boys go to bed when Mr Lannis is on day shift—we watch a couple episodes of whatever we’re into at the moment before retiring for the night, but if he’s on afternoon shift, I don’t bother turning it on. Evenings are spent costuming while listening to podcasts on iTunes, or reading... that’s pretty much it.

Yes, it’s quiet. Yes, it can take some getting used to. I think my daycare charges are still shell shocked that the house can be so silent while they play—and they do play, loudly, four kids together. And that’s great. I have no issue with the cacophony of childhood—it’s the incessant buzz of background noise and what it does to the brain that bugs me.

It’s draining.

Other things are draining, too. The obnoxious commercials of radio and TV stations. The sensation of planning your days based on what’s scheduled on TV.

 To be lacking all that? It’s very freeing... and relaxing. Easier to focus.

Like right now, as I write this at 5:19pm on a Saturday afternoon, the only background noise is of Mr Lannis and the boys talking while they dig through the Lego bins and build elaborate creations. That’s it. No radio. No TV. Nothing yakking at us.

Peaceful.

Oh, I stand corrected...

The five year old is complaining that Mr Lannis is swishing through the Lego bins too loudly...

(Heh.)

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