Don't ask me why, but for some unknown reason I had a lapse in judgement in November. I was perusing the Walmart website, looking for good deals on Christmas presents, and I saw that there was a Wii Bundle that included the new Super Mario game and an extra controller with the game console. Normally I would have glanced at it and moved on without another thought. However, it being the holiday season, I was feeling a bit charitable and may feeling a little too nice. I gave in and bought it for the kids.
I know what you are thinking. Yes, I can be a pushover at times. The kids had been begging for it and when asked what they wanted for Christmas they always said a Batman castle (check, got it) and a Wii (uh-huh, keep dreaming, or so I thought). So when I saw the deal, I thought that it would be an awesome surprise for the boys on Christmas morning. And, of course, it was. They were so excited and played on it as soon as Bryan got it hooked up.
But here is the problem...Rix and Bryce turn into MONSTERS when they play it (as Grandma and Pompom can attest to). They fight, they get frustrated, they blame each other for dying, they cry...you get the idea. If they don't get to play, they cry. If it's time to get off (because they've played for hours) they scream and throw fits. If I take the privelege away for said screaming and fit throwing, they get even madder and cry even harder. I've tried limiting their time (like only letting them play for an hour a day) but it doesn't seem to help. Whenever the Wii comes out, so do their monster attitudes. Besides completely selling the stupid thing (or just throwing it out the window) what can I do?
Oh, and to make matters worse, the Wii is all Rix thinks about. If he's not playing the game, he's thinking about playing, asking me to play, or pretending he is playing. He talks about it, about the rules of the game, the tricks he has learned, and the levels he has completed. If it's not time to play the Wii, he will sit in front of the TV, saying he is going to wait there until it's time to play, refusing to play with his other toys. If he can't play the Wii, he is asking to play the computer, his Didj, or the Xbox. Help! I didn't know it would get this bad! We had the Xbox before, but he only played Sonic, and he was dang good at it, so it wasn't really a challenge. I think he wants to play the Wii so much because it's a challenge for him, and something he thinks he can win (which, by the way, is super important to Rix).
Please, I am actually asking for advice here. Okay, I'll be honest. I'm begging for advice!!! Do chore charts work? Where they can do work in exchange for minutes on the Wii? Should I take it away until they are older? I would like for them to play it, but how do you teach them to play without the drama?? Thanks for helping us solve our Wii little problem!
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Wii Little Problem
Posted by Celeste Pearson at 10:40 AM
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6 comments:
I have no advice. But, I will say this. Thanks for changing my mind about buying one!
(Oh, but something I do~instead of putting the kids in time-out, I put their toy in time-out. I say, the Wii needs to sit on the simmer-down-stool!)
I would take it away for a while and then have a little "family meeting" (remember those?!) and let the boys know that they can have the Wii back under these rules: no crying, no getting mad, etc. And then use Cathy's idea about using points to play for so long or exchanging their points for an allowance or something. Olivia is only allowed to play at quiet time and I always tell her, "You can play one more game and then it goes off" and if she gets mad or upset, then it goes off immediately and she can't play the next day. I hope you find a way that works for your boys!
cut off their thumbs.
I love it..."Wii" little problem. I type this as my boys play Mario and Roman is crying :)
We only let the boys play on Sundays after church. Sometimes they can earn Wii time if they are exceptionally good. I've thought of adding Wii time as an incentive to their chore chart but I'm afraid that's all they'll choose to do, so I haven't done it yet. If Rix wants to sit in front of the TV and do nothing until he gets to play, let him. He'll get bored of sitting there for awhile and he'll learn there are funner things to do than sit in front of a blank tv.
If my boys do play and they start crying, we give them one warning and then it goes off. They can cry all they want but they've started to learn and if one starts crying, the other is like "stop crying or we won't be able to play!!!"
The only advice I can give you is what works at our house. My kids cannot play any electronic games on Sundays through Thursdays. It is not that we are perfect or anything, but we just figured that on weekdays, there was homework, chores, school, family time, reading etc that needed to take priority. By the time Friday afternoon rolls around, I don't care that they are in front of the tv because all of their homework, chores, etc is done. I go out with Dave for my relaxation, so I figure that they deserve doing what they want to too. Playing during the week is just too traumatic. They always want more time and it always ends up being a power struggle. It just wasn't worth it to me to be the mean parent all the time. So, we ( Dave and I) just decided that was going to be the rule. The kids balked at first, but it only took a day or two for them to realize that we were serious. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
I have no real-life experience with this, but I do have some experience from my babysitting years. :) Anyway, my suggestion is to get a timer (digital, egg, whatever), and set it next to the TV for a certain amount of time (say 30 minutes). When the timer goes off, so does the Wii. To earn more time, they can do chores, homework, or have good behavior. Give minute values to the good things they do: finish a homework assignment = 10 minutes, remembering to say please and thank you all day = 5 minutes, helping mom unload the dishwasher = 2 minutes, etc. Whatever you think they'll be able to understand and grasp. I also agree with Kelli when she said to let Rix sit in front of the TV waiting for his Wii time... he'll figure out that it's not very fun. Hope that helps! Let us know how it's going!
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