On this final day of my family’s screen-free week, I’m looking back over the last six days with a mixture of pride, relief, and the kind of wisdom only achieved by doing something hard. If you're thinking about ways to take back control over your family's TV time, maybe some of the lessons I've learned can help. Here they are, in no particular order:

It's good to take a hard look at your family's media habits. Whatever your personal philosophy around TV use, it’s always worthwhile to examine the why, when, how, where, and who. This practice can help you realign your habits with your values or even reconcile values with practicalities.

The way technology is used in the house is ultimately up to the parents. My kids are still young, so their habits are still moldable. They don’t care whether the TV is off as long as something is engaging them -- whether it’s a book, a parent, or a ball. (My daughter’s assessment of screen-free week: “excellent!”) When I turn the TV on for my kids, I’m making a choice about how they’re spending their time.

My kids are watching -- and learning -- from my habits. If I constantly check my email on my phone, sit in front of my laptop all weekend, and turn on the TV the second the kids are in bed, that’s what they’ll learn to do, too. If I mix movies with museums, Angry Birds with novels, and email with face-to-face conversation, they’ll follow my lead.

TV and other screens can be fun, educational, and enlightening-- in moderation. You probably saw this conclusion coming from a mile away: A balanced approach to media use is best for my family. Each of my family members has a favorite show, a favorite movie, a favorite app. We get a lot of pleasure out of watching and playing with technology. And as long as we mix and match our activities and interests, we’ll be just fine.

Get rid of the guilt. When my kids were younger, I’d feel so guilty about plopping them in front of the TV when it was time to make dinner. I thought I should be involving them in the food prep, encouraging creative play, letting them run around outside. But after many attempts -- and many failures -- I realized what we all needed when we got home was some downtime. With the TV on, I was able to fix healthy food and keep my sanity. And then we were able to turn off the TV and eat together as a family. Now, I don’t feel guilty for the Saturday morning cartoons that let my husband and me get a little extra rest on the weekends.

Phew! Don't tell anyone, but tomorrow I’m calling in sick to work and plan to spend the whole day catching up on my shows. OK, not really. But I am looking forward to putting a little more balance back into our lives. This has been fun, and hopefully it’s inspired some of you to try out your own experiment. If you do, please tell us all about it.