kids and their video games

[jtsdad]

We try to balance things in our household But our boys love playing video games and we recently got them a Wii. We figured at least this way it requires the most activity of the video game players. We haven't bought any games for it, it came with a really fun sports game, we all love and makes us work up a good sweat.
Instead of throwing down $50 a pop for games we got the boys a gamefly.com account, set-up the parental controls which limits the boys to only renting games we approve of. It works like netflix, they get a new game evertime they send an old one back. It's been really fun for all of us to play together. Both me and my DW were never into video games before but it has been a fun family activity for us.

Anyone else play videogames with your kids? How do you balance you kids video gaming with more active pursuits?

[ajrsmom]

My son and husband have football battles. They play Madden 07 on my son's PS2.

I don't really play video games that much but I do play online computer games with my kids.

I'm going to look into gamefly. It sounds like something my DS might be interested in.

There are really one 2 games that he wants each year.....the Madden games and the NASCAR game. I have such a hard time spending that much money on these games, though!

I know that it could be worse.

My DD is 4 and for this past Christmas we bought her a V-Smile game system. It worked until May....just in time for her to fall in love with it and the quit working.


We haven't decided on what we are going to replace it with--not another V-smile, though.


We limit our kids to an hour a day--if that--during school months. Then if the grades stay up, they get more time on the weekends--but they are still not allowed to bury themselves in their video games and forget about the real world.

My DH works 3rd shift, which makes it hard sometimes for him to spend one-on-one time with my son. Playing this football game gives them time to connect.

[kathymac]

It seems like the videogame thing is more of a male thing. I have two DD's and they are not real into video games. There are a couple of games they will play on the computer - Harry Potter, The Sims - and we have an Xbox that they rarely play with. It seems like the Xbox gets played when they have friends over.

However, the problem we have is MySpace and texting. We have found that if we don't put time limits on their use, they will stay on for hours. They are allowed to get on for an hour at a time up to three times a day. We also limit t.v. time. We don't have a specific amount of time, but if they just seem to be "channel surfing", the t.v. goes off.

As teenagers, they are not outside playing, but they will find other more productive activities to fill their time - reading, drawing, practicing guitar, etc.

Kathy

[jtsdad]

I agree, time limits are so important with those things. As parents we must make sure they're not over doing it, whether they're playing video games, watching tv or surfing the net. There has been a couple times when I'd just go over to the the tv and pull the plug and tell them that's enough. Luckily they both are pretty good about not spending hours with it even if I'm not paying attention.

Gamefly has been really great they get 2 games at a time and when they get bored of one they send it back and get another in a couple days. We haven't bought a new game since we've been using it, not to mention, no late fees. They sell some used games also at about 1/2 the price as new ones.

Video games have been a male thing. Especially games like Madden and Nascar, BUT i think the Wii is really changing that, my wife loves it, and she is no gamer. the controls and the games are really amazing, totally different than other player, and much more group and family oriented.

[megrayau]

My ds has a Wii. He got it for Christmas, and paid 1/2 himself.
I enjoy it, but I also Like the Gamecube game of Mario Double Dash.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Video games have been a male thing. Especially games like Madden [IMG]images/smilies/weee.gif[/IMG] and Nascar,

My DH doesn't play video games and the only video game that I have ever played was a NASCAR game. LOL

When my children were young, I only allowed them to play video games AFTER they did their chores and homework. If they didn't keep their grades up or keep up with their responsibilities, there were no video games. It worked out well for the kids.

[Bilby]

We have PS2, the boys pay for their games, most often going halves. They are limited to playing only on weekends and school holidays and have specific hours to play in. Only ds2 has a game boy and he pays for his games.
I love to play CTR or Crash Bandicoot with the kids and have been know to spend time playing it on my own. We have the 4 player Buzz music and general knowledge games we often sit down to play after dinner on a sat or sun night.
The computer has time limits also.

[searching4]

My ds (13) would spend the whole day on his game systems, if I let him (I'm ashamed to say, that he pretty much has a few times ...bad...bad...mother!). He loves the Wii and Game Cube. He's more into the Mario and Zelda stuff than the physical ones. He does use the Dance Revolution (I think that's the name) one sometimes though. It's not just a male thing around here. His best friends are girls and they play just as much as he does!! There was a point in my life, about 10 years ago that I played the games a lot too (I especially like the old Donkey Kong games). I hardly ever play now. He bugs us all the time to play...I give in once in a while and play something like PackMan.

What kind of price does the Gamefly cost...if you don't mind me asking?