So it's a slow Sunday morning around the house. The wife's tending to some stuff and I'm looking after the kids. The boy, 3, seems fascinated with the Wii.
You see, we recently moved, and the Wii, along with most of my toys were in a separate part of the house, not accessible to him. But now it's there, calling to him.
So I said, sure son, let's race. I pop Mario Kart in the system and hand the steering wheel over to him, hoping finally someone in this house will play video games with me. He's excited at first. He sits in my lap and we steer for a bit, then I give him control and he's stuck. Loses interest. Alas, 3 is too young. And it gets me to thinking, should I even allow/encourage him to play? I shudder to think he'll be a rotund video game player, and not a fort-building, tree climbing boy who can't wait to hop on his bike after doing homework in a few years. This is the Geekfather's dilemna this week.
Well, if your son is not that interested with Wii, just let him be. And he is too young for that, as of his age, let him just play with educational toys first. Time will come wherein he'll love wii.. It's such a great gaming system you know!
Posted by: NCAA 11 Rosters | June 08, 2010 at 08:47 PM
Mine didn't start on console based games until about 7 or 8. That said, we didn't have a Wii with it's "simple" controls, so maybe a bit earlier is right.
I did get mine started at three (or even younger) with Jump Start Pre-School. It was my "I need a break!" go to software for years. PBSKids.org also has some games for pre-readers. Lots of "color picking" and "match this" games.
Posted by: mcsey | April 07, 2009 at 08:29 AM