Concerned Dad Pulls Plug On Illicit TV Time

The boy was out of control. Terry Riske recognized the signs and took action.

He locked up the television.

“I have one son who could spend the whole day watching TV,” he says.

When the physician isn’t delivering babies or diagnosing the flu, Terry, 40, is a family man. He wants to read and play games with his wife and three children. He doesn’t want to compete with the television.

Easy enough. The Riskes set rules.

Thirty minutes of reading earns 30 minutes of television.

The parents also have to approve what the kids watch.

But problems arise when the Riskes are out and the children are home alone.

Terry knows, maybe from his own childhood, that the best shows are the forbidden ones.

He hunted for years for a lock tiny enough to slip through the holes in the prongs of the TV’s plug. The only way to assure himself his kids didn’t watch sex and violence on television was to prevent the plug from reaching the power source.

“I don’t consider it a trust issue,” Terry says. “When you’re teaching your kids values, you don’t subject them to temptations, you try to keep them from temptations.”

A recent American Medical Association study on TV’s negative influence on children bolstered Terry’s determination.

He combed the nation for the right lock. Shafts on the smallest ones were too fat or short to fit through plug holes. Terry designed his own and found a manufacturer he could afford in Taiwan.

The 5,000 locks he ordered arrived right before Christmas. A Coeur d’Alene key store and a Christian book outlet agreed to distribute Terry’s $7.95 “Lock Out!”

The lock opens with a combination so there are no keys to lose. Terry included a rubberized cover that fits over the prongs before the lock goes on. The cover ensures that no part of the plug touches the electrical outlet.

Terry is promoting his lock as protection against television, the Internet and power tools. Parents can prevent household accidents by locking the plug on their tools, he says.

“If nothing comes of it, at least I tried,” Terry says. “But in every home it’s used and kids watch less TV and spend more time with their families, it’s building family values.”

Big hearts

Who says kids think only of themselves? Narrow-minded adults, that’s who. Anyone who spends time at the local high schools knows better.

Coeur d’Alene High and Lake City High adopted 40 struggling families for Christmas this year and collected 25,000 pounds of food for Kootenai County’s food bank.

Viking Katie Dotts collected donations at the Silver Lake Mall for the family her own family adopted plus two her class adopted.

Other kids from both schools gathered all the canned food they could find at home, then went door to door to involve the community. Kids are generous people when given the opportunity.

Headache cure

A 5-mile run or walk is a good way to clear the head after the New Year’s Eve parties or a good reason to keep the head clear at those parties. Coeur d’Alene’s Hangover Handicap is a 21-year-old tradition on New Year’s Day.

Slip on the thermals - or shorts, if you’re really tough - and trot down the Centennial Trail along Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The $12 registration fee buys you a healthy start to the new year, a spiffy green T-shirt with a polar bear on the front and lots of goodness points. The money goes to TESH, which helps people with disabilities reach independence.

Applications are at health clubs and sports stores. For details, call 765-5105.

What’s the goofiest thing you’ve done on New Year’s Day? Confess to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; FAX to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo