I did something I never thought I’d do. My wife has long wanted to do this, but I said no. She wanted to bring this into our bedroom, and I’ve always felt the bedroom really isn’t the place for it.
However, last month I finally gave in, thanks to my mother-in-law. While we haven’t used it much, I’ve really enjoyed it, and I’m excited about getting more use of it.
Had enough of the suspense yet? Okay, here it is…
This Christmas my mother-in-law brought us a gift that I probably wouldn’t have purchased for ourselves (mainly cause I’m frugal cheap!). But I have to admit I was excited about the gift and put it to good use not too long after we opened it.
The gift was a new TV. For those who’ve been readers for a while you know I’m not a big fan of TV watching. Prior to receiving this gift we only had one TV in our house. And that TV didn’t get a whole lot of use.
Family time and couple time
But over the last year, we’d gotten some good use of our TV during our weekly family movie nights, as well as my wife and I having an occasional at-home date night watching one of our favorite shows.
While we enjoyed watching our shows, it wasn’t so comfortable, cozy, or private watching them in our living room. I think our kids got tired of us yelling at them to go back to their room when they ventured out to try to sneak some of our time.
But as I said, buying a new TV, at least me buying a new TV was probably not going to happen for a while. And as my mother-in-law has always done, she came up with a great gift, that actually met a need. While a TV is not necessarily a “need,” but what it now allows us to do, hang out in our bedroom and be entertained if we choose, is.
Now we are able to enjoy some private time away from our kids watching a movie, episode or sitcom, or our favorite—-Netflix!
What usually happens on the couch while watching a movie
Truth be told, many of the movies we’d watched together in the living room, we never saw all of the movie. Because we fell asleep half-way through!
Only to wake up with a stiff neck or aching back in the middle of the night because we were scrunched up on our couch. We can now fall asleep in the middle of a movie in the comfort of our bed. 🙂
I’m not sure whether you have a TV in your bedroom, if you are rolling with one TV in the entire house, or if you have cable TV or not (we don’t). Either way, it’s good every so often to enjoy a good movie or show with your spouse.
Streaming with Netflix means we can watch when we want
Netflix is our go-to choice for doing this. If you don’t have Netflix, I’d try it out. Hopefully, I can help you with that.
As part of the Netflix Stream Team I’ve been given two FREE 1-year memberships of Netflix streaming to give to my readers. I’ll be giving them both out this month to two lucky readers.
To qualify for one of the memberships, all you have to do is leave a comment with your answer to the question at the bottom of this post.
I’ll randomly choose two winners next week on my 40th birthday, January 25th.
[callout]This giveaway has ended. The winners of the two Netflix memberships are (1) Tanel from BrandNewfather.com, and (2) Devin Dabney. Congratulations to them both![/callout]
[reminder]What movie genre would best describe your marriage?[/reminder]
This post is part of a partnership I have with Netflix. I am part of the Netflix Stream Team, and will be sharing posts throughout the year to inspire family time and conversations around the TV, tablet, and mobile devices.
photo credit: Tamara Álvarez via photopin cc
nice post!!!
Thanks, Michael!
As a mediator and conflict coach, I work with troubled marriages as well as divorced couples who still need to work together. On the issue of television in the bedroom (or at all), I would say “proceed with caution.” There are many resources that would say more marriages are hindered and not enhanced by having a TV in the bedroom. I can’t help but to predict that, in a year, I will see a post teaching husbands how to replace that TV set with a good book about intimacy or other mariage enhancing topics. I hope to be helpful, not just critical. Blessings on you and your mariage.
Wise advice, thanks for sharing! My hope and what I think the post will actually be is “why allowing a TV didn’t hurt our marriage in spite of the studies.” 🙂 Since we first got the TV, I think it’s been on two, maybe three times…I think two of those times were within the first 48 hours of putting it in our bedroom. However, we will proceed with caution as that is smart advice.
I’d have to go with documentary, because it’s real 🙂 Second choice would probably be comedy.
If we want to watch something in bed, we’ll usually just use the iPad. That way we can use headphones and the sound wouldn’t carry through to the wall.
I wonder if there will ever docu-comedy. 😉
I think the closest is probably “The Office” (available on Netflix!) 🙂
I really enjoyed this post. We have too many TVs in our house. Before my husband and I got married, I did not have a TV in the bedroom. I actually prefer not to have one in there, but your post has helped “soften” me to its existence. That ia a battle I quickly lost. The genre for us would be a romantic comedy. However, I saw someone creates a category that porbably suits us at times-dramatic comedy.
Thanks, Toni! I think it’s still my preference (not having a TV in the bedroom), but it hasn’t been bad.
However, after a Twitter conversation yesterday I realized although we have a TV in our bedroom, it doesn’t come on often…really only occasionally on the weekend. But I do like the option.
If we had another family or living room with a more comfy couch then we would probably would have put the 2nd TV there. 🙂
I’m not sure if this is technically a movie genre but what came to mind was adventure. Both my wife and I want our family to live this way so everything we do is labeled an adventure. A trip to the grocery store becomes an adventure with our 2 kids (some of you know this but perhaps don’t call it an adventure). We make it a scavenger hunt. Or an adventure to the local park to see if we can find new ways to play or invent a game while we are there.
Yes, Paul, I can related to adventure. Everything is an adventure when you are a parent. 🙂
I’m going to create my own: Dramatic Comedy! lol But that’s us! Life always has drama, but we really do tend to laugh it off! We love to have fun. At a family Christmas party a few weeks ago my aunt asked my husband, “Is this all just a show for when you’re out in public, or do you and Marissa REALLY have this much fun! 🙂 Best compliment ever!
Dramatic Comedy! That sounds serious! 🙂
You need a reality TV crew at your house! lol
Mine has to be romantic comedy. We’re high school sweethearts, have 3 boys ages 11, 8 & 7 and just added a new baby girl. If we didn’t laugh at most of the craziness that goes on in our lives, we’d go insane! HaHa. Great post Jackie. You hooked me with the headline. :>)
As long as it’s not a “chic flick” then you are okay, Kevin! lol I’m joking. I did not know you guys had a girl…she will be the most protected girl in her school every single year! 🙂
Somehow I knew that we weren’t the only couple who tries to watch movies in the living room and has to keep telling the kids to get back in their room.
Until recently, we only had one TV in the house that was in use and that was in the living room. We now have an old-school “boob tube” with the built in VHS player to pop in old movies from time to time for the kids (or for us occasionally). We mainly watch shows and movies on Netflix from our iPad mini in the bedroom.
To answer your question, I believe our marriage would be something like a romantic comedy or sometimes a reality TV show.
No, my friend, you were not alone. I’ve even had them turn their head toward the wall so they don’t see what is the TV…my wife likes the “doctor shows” (as our son calls them) like Grey’s Anatomy, etc.
Romantic comedies are good! 🙂
Congratulations, Devin! You are the winner of one of the FREE Netflix memberships. Please email me at jackie [at] jackiebledsoe [dot] com, so I can send you instructions on how to claim your membership.
It’s funny how people choose to focus on different things. When I asked this question from my wife, she said that it has to be drama. We’ve had quite tough last couple of years. I would answer TV sit-coms – they usually end well 🙂 and so far we’ve always come out on top!
Great idea to get your wife’s perspective, Tanel! And I like your mindset of sitcoms and always coming out on top. Thanks for sharing!
I think I’ll ask my wife this question as well. You’re right. It’s funny to see the differences in what we focus on. Congrats on your upcoming bundle of joy. You’ll never know everything, but enjoy being a dad (coming from a non-expert dad of 6).
Congratulations, Tanel! You are the winner of one of the FREE Netflix memberships. Please email me at jackie [at] jackiebledsoe [dot] com, so I can send you instructions on how to claim your membership.