by: Topher Wiles

“Where did you learn to say those words, Clara?” is the
question my darling wife asked.
Immediately her blame was leveled at her five year old brother, Micah,
who was sleeping soundly in the recliner, waiting patiently on me to come home
from baseball practice. My interrogation of Micah would be postponed due to my
five year old not being able to stay awake past 9pm. Thus I headed to bed with the puzzling
questions on my mind, “Where did he learn it and why would Micah think that
phrase is appropriate to share with his sister?”
While I fell asleep quickly, my mind continued its detective
style work well into the dark recesses of the night, waking me when with a
fuzzy dreamy image of a red-bearded guy wearing a “DP” t-shirt yelling, “What
the hick!” in my face. That’s right, I
awoke dreaming of Tyler from the hit Youtube channel, “Dude Perfect.” These trick-shotting sports junkies are so
popular that you can buy their brand specific football at Walmart. My boys and I have been following the five
man Dude Perfect crew for about five years, ever since their hit video, “Pickup
Basketball Stereotypes” saw me laughing hard enough to spill milk from my
nose. Yes, sometimes these goofball guys
get a little crazy with their antics.
Yes, their funny usage of odd words gets a little more colorful than I
want for my two year old little girl.
Yes, it is my own desire to watch Dude Perfect videos that allowed the phrase,
“What the hick?” to creep into Micah and Clara’s vernacular. Thus my 2am face-palm.
Please understand that I don’t blame Dude Perfect for their
influence on my little girl. Their crazy
antics and colorful wording reaches their target audience of 13 to 35 year old
males very well. It isn’t their fault
that I have seen every single video on their YouTube channel, all 202 of
them. It was my desire for something a
little more mature that influenced my young children. This isn’t the first time we have had to
reassess our pleasure watching habits and the influence they have on our
family.
Thirteen years ago, we gave up our TV. That’s right, we cleared the spot on our
living room tv-stand around the time Google bought Youtube, Nintendo launched the
Wii, and Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. It was my beautiful bride who first suggested
we unplug as our evening viewing pleasure consisted of a steady diet of “Friends”
reruns and the hot new show, “How I Met Your Mother.” Ashley’s question, “What do you think of
getting rid of the TV?” was probably met with a responding question similar to “What
the hick?” I’m grateful I followed my
wife’s suggestion (admittedly after much initial protest), and we’ve never
looked back.

What did we do with the five+ hours of TV watching that the
average American loses from their day in front of a screen? We reinvested our time into tennis, books, hiking,
chess games, Bible study, piano playing, volunteering, and more. People have often asked how we are able to
accomplish so much in any given day, to which we usually respond, “We just don’t
own a TV.”

Whether it’s the influence the world is having on your precious
children or an honest self-assessment of how you’ve been investing your time, I
invite you to join me as together we strive to invest the best in our families.
E-mail me at topherwiles@spartacoc.com if you’ve
got a idea for wise time investment suited for a hopeful hick like me.
“Act like people with good sense and not like the unwise. These
are evil times, so make every minute count.” – Ephesians 5:15-16

For further reading check out the New York Times article: How to CutChildren’s Screen Time? Say No to Yourself First.
The word “forte” comes from the latin word “fortis” meaning strength. Our weekly Family Forte article in The Expositor is the effort of family at Central Church of Christ to give your family the love, care, and attention it needs to become a stronger version of itself. If we can help you in any way, please contact us at Central Church of Christ through email, topherwiles@spartacoc.com, or through our website, www.spartacoc.com.