This was a no-brainer for me. This fall my husband and I bought a Wii solely for the purpose of Netflix streaming. Up until a couple months ago, my son had never played a video game, unless you count pbskids.org, which I do not. I'm talking about crazy graphics, loud music, fast-paced, can't help but play it with your mouth hanging open, video games. I asked Damien not to even show Cameron the Wii or the video game that came with it, but one day, for reasons my husband and I cannot agree on now, Cameron became aware of the powers of the Wii.
Before I get ranting, please note that my son is not the subject of what I love to hate. It is really the Wii. His obsession of the Wii drives me crazy, but it is the Wii's fault :)
Since he discovered that this magical black box can do amazing things, he cannot control himself from asking if he can play it. Our rule was only on Saturdays, but sometimes we would give in to his whines and let him play. The problem became that he never wanted to turn it off. He would not turn it off without tears and screams and this drove me crazy! You would have to know my son to understand, I think. He is a sweet, kind, loving, happy child, but the Wii actually made him nuts! I'm talking possessed by a demon crazy kind of nuts! The worst part is that he had no idea that the Wii was doing this to him.
It got so bad sometimes that we had to unplug the Wii and hide it for a couple of weeks so he would get it out of his mind.
He's better now. He sticks to the rules. We only allow the Wii on Saturdays, and occasionally during the week if Daddy is home. We set the timer for 10 minutes and that is all he is allowed to play. When the timer goes off he has to finish that game and be done. There are still some minor meltdowns, but for the most part he gets it.
The Wii makes him happy and I can't help but smile when he is smiling, even if he is smiling at the Wii. And you know, for a kid who never touched a remote control for the first six years of his life, he's really good at video games. Ugh ;)
(I have been playing around with editing the saturation, so all of these photos have actually been edited!)
I can relate on a slightly different level. My husband has an xbox which I briefly touched on my love to hate but i focused more on our cat. Ha!
ReplyDeleteOh boy! Video games, I'm sure can be a loathed item! I do love your rules though, if Siena gets into video games, I may have to steal your Saturdays only idea!! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sweet comment on my "Then and Now". I had a fun time with it and love that this project is making us dig deep and talk about things we wouldn't normally think to take picutes or or journal about. Like your story today. I'm sure it's something you'd rather not remember later, but it is part of who he is and hopefully some day you'll look back on this together and be able to laugh about it,
ReplyDeleteI started this course (late) too and love it. I totally understand how you feel. I hate it when our get "obsessed" with the computer but it just take discipline on our part to stay firm. He is very cute and i understand how you melt when he smiles :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have the same issue with the DS sometimes. BSD wanted to get the girls a Wii for Christmas but I told him NO. I don't want another video system to draw all their attention.
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