Thursday, January 20, 2011
Moms love the Wii
Since the Wii was released on November 19th, 2006, it has been a hit with families around the globe. According to Wikipedia, the game console broke the US record for best selling console in a single month in December 2009. And as of January 2011, Nintendo's Wii remains the leader in overall sales over Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
So, why do moms love the Wii? As a mom of three and a recent Wii convert myself, it wins first place in my book. Creating the Mii characters alone provides lots of fun; from eye and hair color to height and skin color, creating your own player is a snap. You can even add a mole to your right cheek or blue eye shadow to your eye lids. Then you can pick your Mii as the character for many of the games that you play.
My son's beloved "QT2 shoes" Mii is a balding, dark-haired, tall and skinny man who wears red lipstick. The kids have even made Mii characters for everyone in our family including one for Nana and Grampy. Grampy's Mii character (in case he ever comes up to play the Wii with us) is a true likeness with gray hair around the sides of his head.
But here are the main reasons I love the Wii. There are six primary benefits of the Wii game system in our household:
First, it gets my middle daughter out of bed (Hallelujah!). Even when loud dance music jams to get the rest of us boogeying into the morning, she lies dead to the world. But as soon as I whisper, "If you get dressed, go potty, and brush your teeth, you can play a little bit of the Wii this morning," she's out of bed like a rocket headed to space.
Second, it involves the whole family. Gillian Sharp of Riverside says that her three kids "love that Mom finally plays video games!" Lisa Heying of Riverside recently purchased a Wii console for her family. She says, "It has been fun interacting as a family playing the Wii."
In our family, it's hard to steal the Wii remotes and the Nunchuks away from our kids, but when Friday night hits, Hubby and I get our game on and the kids move out of the way. My husband always slams me at tennis and I generally pummel him at bowling.
Our littlest one loves the sword fighting on Wii Sports Resort and our two school-aged kids have conquered almost every level and episode of Lego Star Wars. Hubby has been known to stay up until 3AM playing Star Wars by himself, but don't tell his boss that.
A third pro for the Wii is that it helps my shy kids to connect socially. Just ask one of my kids about their level and episode on Lego Star Wars and you might not get them to stop talking. Shy? Not anymore.
My daughter loves to be Luke Skywalker and my son loves to pick R2D2 or Darth Vader for his character. I'm sure their teachers and friends hear the full report on a daily basis, but it's great to see them so excited and engaged.
Fourth, the Wii gives moms fabulous parenting leverage. Obedience has never looked so great in my house. I can now get my kids to clean up their messes within five to ten minutes. And homework gets completed enthusiastically and speedily.
Kristin Hoerger of Beaumont says, "The Wii is definitely a great leveraging tool. When the kids don't want to do their homework, even the mention of taking away their Wii privileges sends them into productive action."
My mantra is: "No Wii unless you... (fill-in-the-blank)." It's kind of like giving treats to puppies, but hey, it works! And it can also be used as a disciplinary tool, such as, "If you don't improve your attitude toward your siblings, you lose the Wii for a week." It's amazing how fast the kids start to share their toys or help one another out.
Fifth, the Wii has lots of family friendly game titles. The Wii's standard-definition display may not compete graphically with the other game consoles, but its extensive library of hundreds of appropriate kid titles gives it a competitive edge. Nintendo intentionally targets a wider family market as opposed to the hard-core gamers, which works well for us.
As a parent of younger kids, you still have to supervise game selection on the Wii, avoiding titles like "House of the Dead" or "Call of Duty" (which exist for the other two systems as well), but you'll run into less inappropriate material in general. For example, you can't buy the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series on the Wii. With the Wii, you will never have trouble finding a variety of fun games suitable even for young children.
The sixth prop for the Wii is that it gets your family moving. In an era where child obesity runs rampant and adults spend way too much time littering the couch with Cheetos and bean dip, the Wii provides good exercise options.
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are two games that come bundled with the console. And now users can purchase Wii Fit as well, which comes with the Wii Balance Board for traditional exercise options, such as yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. You can burn calories while having fun from your own home.
The Wii has been a great fit for our family. Share some thoughts about your family and the Wii. We'd love to hear from you. :)
So, why do moms love the Wii? As a mom of three and a recent Wii convert myself, it wins first place in my book. Creating the Mii characters alone provides lots of fun; from eye and hair color to height and skin color, creating your own player is a snap. You can even add a mole to your right cheek or blue eye shadow to your eye lids. Then you can pick your Mii as the character for many of the games that you play.
My son's beloved "QT2 shoes" Mii is a balding, dark-haired, tall and skinny man who wears red lipstick. The kids have even made Mii characters for everyone in our family including one for Nana and Grampy. Grampy's Mii character (in case he ever comes up to play the Wii with us) is a true likeness with gray hair around the sides of his head.
But here are the main reasons I love the Wii. There are six primary benefits of the Wii game system in our household:
First, it gets my middle daughter out of bed (Hallelujah!). Even when loud dance music jams to get the rest of us boogeying into the morning, she lies dead to the world. But as soon as I whisper, "If you get dressed, go potty, and brush your teeth, you can play a little bit of the Wii this morning," she's out of bed like a rocket headed to space.
Second, it involves the whole family. Gillian Sharp of Riverside says that her three kids "love that Mom finally plays video games!" Lisa Heying of Riverside recently purchased a Wii console for her family. She says, "It has been fun interacting as a family playing the Wii."
In our family, it's hard to steal the Wii remotes and the Nunchuks away from our kids, but when Friday night hits, Hubby and I get our game on and the kids move out of the way. My husband always slams me at tennis and I generally pummel him at bowling.
Our littlest one loves the sword fighting on Wii Sports Resort and our two school-aged kids have conquered almost every level and episode of Lego Star Wars. Hubby has been known to stay up until 3AM playing Star Wars by himself, but don't tell his boss that.
A third pro for the Wii is that it helps my shy kids to connect socially. Just ask one of my kids about their level and episode on Lego Star Wars and you might not get them to stop talking. Shy? Not anymore.
My daughter loves to be Luke Skywalker and my son loves to pick R2D2 or Darth Vader for his character. I'm sure their teachers and friends hear the full report on a daily basis, but it's great to see them so excited and engaged.
Fourth, the Wii gives moms fabulous parenting leverage. Obedience has never looked so great in my house. I can now get my kids to clean up their messes within five to ten minutes. And homework gets completed enthusiastically and speedily.
Kristin Hoerger of Beaumont says, "The Wii is definitely a great leveraging tool. When the kids don't want to do their homework, even the mention of taking away their Wii privileges sends them into productive action."
My mantra is: "No Wii unless you... (fill-in-the-blank)." It's kind of like giving treats to puppies, but hey, it works! And it can also be used as a disciplinary tool, such as, "If you don't improve your attitude toward your siblings, you lose the Wii for a week." It's amazing how fast the kids start to share their toys or help one another out.
Fifth, the Wii has lots of family friendly game titles. The Wii's standard-definition display may not compete graphically with the other game consoles, but its extensive library of hundreds of appropriate kid titles gives it a competitive edge. Nintendo intentionally targets a wider family market as opposed to the hard-core gamers, which works well for us.
As a parent of younger kids, you still have to supervise game selection on the Wii, avoiding titles like "House of the Dead" or "Call of Duty" (which exist for the other two systems as well), but you'll run into less inappropriate material in general. For example, you can't buy the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series on the Wii. With the Wii, you will never have trouble finding a variety of fun games suitable even for young children.
The sixth prop for the Wii is that it gets your family moving. In an era where child obesity runs rampant and adults spend way too much time littering the couch with Cheetos and bean dip, the Wii provides good exercise options.
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are two games that come bundled with the console. And now users can purchase Wii Fit as well, which comes with the Wii Balance Board for traditional exercise options, such as yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. You can burn calories while having fun from your own home.
The Wii has been a great fit for our family. Share some thoughts about your family and the Wii. We'd love to hear from you. :)
Labels: family, game consoles, moms, Wii
