The Slice: The Nielsen family, they’re not

The Trout family in Medical Lake is trying a bold experiment this month.

They’re unplugging the TV.

“Notice we are not doing this during football season,” said Robin Trout, a 35-year-old mom who home-schools Elizabeth, 8, Noah, 6, and Eli, 3.

Her husband, Michael, 37, is a cardiac-care nurse at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

“I must tell you, I seldom hatch bold plans on my own,” said Robin.

She first got the idea for the monthlong television boycott from a Christian radio personality. She and Michael discussed it. Then, last Sunday, they read a Today section story praising unstructured playtime in the backyard. That cinched it.

“We are unplugging for this last month of summer to enjoy God’s creation more and let books and stories (paperback and audio) and games feed our imaginations,” wrote Robin. “There will be temptations – Saturday mornings and after the kids go to bed on a weekend evening. But we will face these together and, I think, grow closer all the while.”

Time will tell.

The Trouts live on a cul-de-sac next to a pond. “Lots of opportunities for bird and bug watching (the hummingbirds are going crazy for our feeders right now), marmots, deer and the occasional moose,” said Robin.

They are not self-righteous TV disdainers. They recognize that there are quality shows. Still, Robin and Michael think there might be better ways for the family to spend time.

“While we don’t watch a lot of TV, we have realized that most of what we do watch is relatively mindless,” said Robin. “The kids’ shows are usually of the PBS, educational sort – but that doesn’t stimulate brain cells like interacting with the real world. It’s summer out there! When it’s 30 degrees this winter, we will be crying about the warm, sunny times we wasted in front of the TV. I know, I do it every year.”

She doesn’t assume going a month without television is going to be easy.

“It might be brutal at first,” said Robin. “The challenge will be getting the kids on board and having an arsenal of ideas, books and imagination-starters, for them and for us.”

The Slice will check in with the Trouts in a couple of weeks and find out how it’s going.

“Slice answers: If Eileen Bakken’s street had a narrative name, she knows what it might be. “I am on Maple, just south of Wellesley,” she wrote. “I volunteer to rename Maple ‘Wal-Mart Freeway.’ “

And Les Norton knew just what I meant about having a crush on a house. “At the intersection where you turn left to go to St. George’s School, there is a house on the northwest corner that is white with a white wooden fence around it. I have always loved the place and daydreamed about owning it.”

“Today’s Slice question: What’s your record for the number of items you were purchasing and still were asked by the cashier, “Would you like a bag?”