as Snookie would say.
It turns out that I don't want anybody to have fun, at least that is what my father-in-law told me on Sunday. Great Granny and Grandpa were asking about our tank and if it had a DVD player in it. I said no, and that we don't need one. GG thought that was great, by Grandpa had this comment "What, do you not want anyone to have fun?" Um, no, that's not why I deprive my children of a DVD player in the car... we don't have a dvd in the car because we don't NEED one. Take Sunday's trip, we were in the car for 3 1/2 hours to GG's house. During that time the boys read books, listened to music, talked to one another, played with the few toys we brought and played games. The same thing happens on the 7 hour drive to the beach during the summer, or the 4-6 hour drive to our different camping destinations.
It's not deprivation, it's simply not relying on mindless entertainment (or media babysitting) to get where we need to go. We're forming character, if you will. I'm not saying it's evil or wrong to have one, I just don't think it is necessary! Of course this conversation came after the one where he asked if we had PSP's, Wii (feel free to give the grown-ups this one), gameboys, guitar hero's.... all to which the answer was no.
I guess we are just too mean, making our children play with toys or games that don't require batteries... :-).
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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4 comments:
We don't have one either, and people are always surprised. Of course, we haven't gone any farther than Longview, which is about 3 hours. The Wii is way fun though. If I had the money I would buy one for the whole family.
Here here! I totally agree!
Nicole, if I had a rich benefactor who wanted to get us something... that's what I would ask for (probably :). We have a friend with one, and Daddio and I had a blast playing it.
Bob, thanks... coming from someone with so much more experience than us... well, it is definitely the encouragement we need!
Usually when they speak for the children, they are really speaking for themselves. I mean, let's face it, it is MUCH easier to put your children in front of an idiot box than to relate to them. It is not uncommon nowadays for children to be in front of gaming devices, T.V and computer at home, walk out the door carrying some hand held thing-a-ma-jigger and then watch televison or text friends in the car. And then people wonder why they have serious issues connecting with their children. Even if we could afford those devices, I don't them because I don't want to lose my children to them. If we had a Wii there would only be games that all the family could have fun with, they'd have to be games that would encourage exercise, and there would be strict times for playing it. What I'm most concerned about when it comes to gaming, is how addictive it can become. Marriages are breaking up over video games, so my question is, how do you make sure your children don't succumb to it?
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