Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wii-morse

My son is, at this very moment, emptying the dishwasher and touting the virtues of each individual Star Wars character. He's currently on R2D2 who is, incidentally, his favorite robot, "because he has lots of important stuff on him and he helps out a lot." We just finished up an existential discussion about Darth Vader, "Is he a robot, Mommy, or a human?" Lucky for him, Mommy is a virtual Star Wars encyclopedia, having grown up with an older brother and seen every movie several times. I recounted the final scenes of Return of the Jedi in which Darth Vader's true identity was revealed to young Luke and the dark lord met his end. My son was a captive audience, giving me a satisfying, "oh yeah" after my explanation. Star Wars

Where is this coming from? This sudden interest in Star Wars? Remember a few weeks back when I shared my husband's luck at winning a Wii during a bingo game at my son's Fall Festival? Well, I found the Lego Star Wars game on sale recently and purchased it for my son and husband (they're both fans). The game made more of an impact than I could have ever imagined. It has taken residency in my son's brain and occupies his thoughts during every free moment. It even inhabits his subconscious. I heard him scream out, "Use the force!" in his sleep once last week. Yikes. What have I done?

I have always had an aversion to video games. It comes from growing up in a household where television viewing was kept to a minimum and where, despite the yearnings of my brother and I, we never owned a Nintendo. I inherited my parent's line of thinking that video games and television are instruments of time suckage that should be allowed only in small doses. The Wii was something we would have never purchased on our own. It is too expensive and too low on our priority list to ever warrant an actual purchase. I do like the Wii because, unlike most gaming systems, many of the games require physical activity (unfortunately Star Wars is not one of them) but I can't imagine us owning one without my husband's luck. That being said, I feel slightly guilty that my son is spending the next half hour (he's done with the dishes) playing a mindless video game. He's been asking me since he got in the car to play the Wii and I told him that he could once he completed his chores. He complied, so what's a Mom to do? The con in this situation is that I have an almost-six-year-old who is a certified gaming addict. The pro is that it is Star Wars and I have a currency that I've never had before. All it takes is a threat of no Star Wars and I have immediate compliance.

Anyone else have a gaming addict out there? How do you handle it?



12 comments:

  1. I'm unfortunately no help here. I've outlawed video game systems in this house and thankfully hubby is compliant. And we have girls, who tend to be less interested in such things anyway. At least you've got leverage now. That's one positive!

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  2. Remember to set the timer. It works well in our house.

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  3. Well as you probably already know I have 2 addicts here. I am pretty good about limiting their time, but some days I get side tracked ( weekends especially) and they get more time than they should. Welcome to the anonymous therapy group. Next meeting is Thursday at 7 pm :)

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  4. Well we have three game systems here, and all three were gifts from the grandparents. But I find the trick to this is DON'T limit the time they play on it.
    My kids probably haven't played a video game in over a month. When they get a game they spend tons of time on it, then they get bored and start to do other things.
    As long as they have other friends and options they won't play on it for long. The only kids I know that are addicts are the ones whose Mom's limit it, this seems to make the kids want it all the more.
    It's just a toy, like the millions of other toys that you've bought and they've held the kids attention for what? Maybe a week at most?
    IMHO, this is not one to sweat or argue over.

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  5. As a mom of a 11 year old boy, I can say that video games come in phases. Keep him active (outdoors as much as possible)! Ryan plays sports and has other interests. Don't play into the mommy guilt. Think of it as father/son bonding. Ryan mostly plays when he has friends over to our house, and trust me it is very important in boy world to know how to "get to the next level" of whatever the newest game is when you are in front of your friends.

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  6. We've gone through periods of having a game system and not having one. Right now we don't have one. I found that my kids played the most when they had a new game and lost interest once they mastered a game. So I rarely bought them new games and that controlled their interest for the most part...

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  7. I am pretty sure that Uncle Chris has a tear in his eye. This family loves the Star Wars, no?

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  8. I must concur with Aunt B. The Forsyth Hales are a little to young, but, soon, with Uncle Ben's help, they will feel the force too!!

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  9. thank you God, i have a girl who could care less about gaming. However, she did just ask me for a cell phone and she is FIVE

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  10. Off-topic! I'm replying to your comment on my blog. Don't worry - I'm planning to return (with relief) to my regular blog diet of kids, vomit, and mice (and refrigerators!) tomorrow.

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  11. I do and I handle it the same way.
    Threats and withholding can be beautiful.

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  12. I have the same attitude as you b/c my dad always rammed it into our heads that if you watch too much TV it means you're depressed (the unspoken message being: and your life is going nowhere) My daughter just got into NickJr. and I just hate that she likes or TV for that matter. It is a constant struggle but it is part of life today. I think you're doing a great job of managing it. Chores then video games. I always put at most a 20 minute time limit on it.

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