"Screen Free for 30" Stories, and the Final Raffle Winner...

"Screen Free for 30" Stories

Winner of the "Share Your Story" raffle

Congratulations to the winner of the Lulav & Esrog set ($95 Value):

The Ariel Family! מצוה גוררת מצוה - One Mitzvah leads to another!

Thank you to our Generous Sponsor, The Baltimore Esrog Center - R' Binyamin Zedner

Over 300 families, a total of over 1600 participants, enhanced their Chanukah and Menorah lighting through the Screen Free for 30 Raffle program. See below for some of the heartening feedback TAG received from the families that took part.

We all sat by the Menorahs singing for a while and then ate a family supper for much longer than usual. It was really nice to have no phone calls. The family time spilled over into the evening with kids playing games together.

We loved spending time as a family dancing and singing after lighting.

Not being on our phones during this special time allowed us to experience the mitzvah with our children on a higher level!

Baruch Hashem, it wasn't so hard, but it definitely enhanced my Chanuka! This year, I decided before Chanuka to just stay with the neiros as long as I could. And I was able to stay next to the Chanuka licht each night for at least half an hour, which was really beautiful! It was nice that I didn't have the distraction of my phone or computer!

Our family committed to all 8 nights of having a screen free half hour by the Chanuka Licht, and looking back, it took no effort at all. Going in to Chanuka, we signed up for Screen-Free time thinking it would be a big undertaking, but now we realized that we didn't even notice when our half-hour was over, a true sign that we were able to be present with our family, enjoying the moments and the company!In a way, it was our own Canuka story, taking on something that we didn't know we could do, and seeing in retrospect that we are capable of far more than we know! Thank you for giving us this opportunity and inspiration to continue being present in the moment, screen-free.

Our family enjoyed quality time together with everyone singing and sitting together! It was meaningful to the children when the phone rang and we said to them, "We don't need to answer now, we're enjoying spending time with you." The only challenge we had was holding off taking pictures, but experiencing the lighting without worrying about getting the perfect shot was well with it.

Putting away my phone every night during Hadlokas Neiros allowed me to focus all my attention on things that matter - HKB"H, my family and the holy lights. One night I missed a timely voicemail and tried calling the person back but they didn't answer. I had to hold myself back from feeling bad for leaving my phone for so long. My friend got back to me a bit later and explained that he was also away from his phone, and everything worked out just fine.

Although our family does not have screen time every night, the kids really struggled and even felt like the 30 minutes screen free was torture. The thought of restriction seems to have been a challenge. (Winning a prize this year was definately a nice reward for them!) It was an opportunity for us to continue explaining to the kids that we want to spend time together as a family without distractions. We stayed together in the same room singing Chanukah songs, playing dreidle and having conversations. This time gave us the opportunity to explain that there are some families that miss out of meaningful time together with their family because they are distracted by their phones / technology. We even extended the screen free time to an Amish interpretation, meaning we didn't do jobs around the house as simple as turning off lights. I'd like to continue this 30 minutes on a regular basis on weeknights throughout the year.

TAG Baltimore is open every night, Sunday-Thursday: 8-9:30pm

Daytime appointments available - see our booking calendar

Book an Appointment

Copyright (C) 2023 TAG Baltimore. All rights reserved.

Contact us at help@tagbaltimore.org or 410.449.1824

TAG Baltimore is a non-profit, funded through the generosity of the community. Help us help the Baltimore community.

Donate to TAG Baltimore

201 Milford Mill Rd, Suite 103
Baltimore
Maryland
21208
United States of America

You are currently subscribed to the TAG Baltimore email list.
You can Unsubscribe from this list at any time.