To Wii or Not To Wii

I have been struggling with my THREE-YEAR olds addiction to Super Mario Brothers on the Wii for several weeks now. It's ALL he EVER wants to do. A small Wii-addicted monster has been created. I have always been against too many video games or too much television viewing or too much of any type of electronic engaging. Not because I am anti-technology. On the contrary, I love all of the conveniences technology offers, but whatever happened to children just running around outside from dawn to dusk?! Getting fresh air, playing pirates and whatever else strikes their imaginative fancy? So, I was greatly amused when I read this blog posting from Sushi & Pizza.


To Wii or Not To Wii

To Wii, or not to Wii: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler as a parent to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous pleading,
Or to take arms against a TV of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To spurn—to scorn,
No more; and by scorning to say we end
The twitches and the thousand natural tics
That kids are prone to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To spurn, to scorn;
To scorn, perchance to play — ay, there's the rub:
For in that rejection of video games what envy may come,
When we have played Guitar Hero with friends,
This must give us pause—there's the fun
That can bond a family while strumming "Livin' On a Prayer."
For who could blame the parents who would join
Their children in revelry and laughter
As the adoring crowds applaud the avatar to Star Power!
The mirth of play, and the merrymaking
That patient dexterity of hand and eye!
Oh, what then when Rock Band calls to you?
Not only guitars, but drums and microphone join
To make music and fun together as a group!
But that the dread of something after playing--
The tantrums, the craziness, the hyperactivity which,
When endured, can cause the parents' hair to grey.
The refusal to settle down and sleep in a room
From whose bourn no parent well escapes, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience (together with economic recession)
Does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great fun and merrymaking
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the act of purchase.


To Wii or Not To Wii?