Be Careful with the Wii
ByAccording to a recent study, more than an hour a day of video games (not limited only to the Wii) increases your risk of joint injuries. Of course, playing outside might increase the risk of other injuries. But it seems to me that outside play is well worth such risks!
One thing is for sure, I will not be pleased if my son or daughters know how to beat Super Mario and hit homers like crazy on the Wii, but cannot do shoot a basketball or hit a baseball consistently. I am very thankful my parents severely limited our video game exposure.
Funny story: At one point, our parents got us Nintendo Gameboy for Christmas. Big deal back in the day. Well, after my Dad saw us disappearing for hours in order to beat the Super Mario game (among other ones, but this was our favorite), he told us we would have to take an indefinite break. Well, indefinite turned into ‘for the rest of your life,’ because about six months later, we asked him where it was and he completely forget where he hid it! I can’t remember if it was ever located. I might email him now.
2 Comments
December 17th, 2009 at 11:01 am
That is a funny story!
I never got in to video games. We did have an old Atari that I played some as a child, mostly during the super cold days of winter, but I was always an athlete and a nerd. I would rather read a book or go for a run. OK. I’d rather swing around the bars (uneven parallel that is) than do just about anything. I’m grateful, because it also limited my enjoyment of television (still not a big tv or movie watcher). My husband, on the other hand, is still a big video game player. I used to hide his PSP on occassion, because he’d want to play if we were in the car for 30 minutes. It drove me crazy!
For The Boy, while I certainly hope he can dribble and hit a baseball, if his talent and desire is not there, I do hope that he finds something more worthwhile than video games– books and/or musical instruments, for example– to occupy his time.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Ahah to funny Joe! My father did the same w/ me. He hated to find me in front of videogames each time when coming back home and at some point he hid my consolle somewhere I never figured out! That really drove me crazy at that time but now I feel really thankful with him as you said. As always, it’s important to find a balance, but those videogames bring dependency, especially to younger folks (nowadays also to adults, hey companies are becoming better to manipulate consumer behaviour!)therefore cultivating a passion for a sports is definitely the best!