Fess up Moms! Do you....

[giftedwith2]

Play video games with your kids? And like it? LOL! I am 4oy/o, work as a nurse with special needs kids, dress and live fairly conservatively-go to church on Sun etc. And I have found that I LOVE to play video games with my kids--- and sometimes I even play by myself long after their asleep!
I find this a little odd and out of character for myself. It's something I imagined 20 something singles and teenagers to enjoy- not someone like me! But I LOVE It! We bought a Wii a bit ago and I'm hooked. Rather than isolate the kids or make them less social(with me) it's had the opposite effect. My kids and I sit (or jump around the livingroom) while cheering or jeering each other. I get hugs, high fives and cheers from my children when I "score." I find myself tensely
warning the kids "look out behind you! Go faster!" while they play. I find it hilarious to watch them act out charade type moves with their Wii motes as they mime rowing, shooting, batting and steering. Video gaming has turned out to be another family activity that we can share laughs, conversation and friendly competiton over. Any other Moms doing this with their kids? Or alone? How do you find video gaming to affect your family interactions? Any games that have become family favs?

[Arduinna]

Yeah, we play together. We play with our dd and her friends.

[Emzachsmama]

Yep I play with the kids all the time....and yes I do play after they go to bed too!

[alima]

Yes, all the time. But I played video games long before I had my ds, I had an atari back in '82, used to bike about 5 miles a day to play frogger, was on the internet before it was the net (bbs's back in the '80's.) I'm a total and confirmed geek and have raised my son accordingly

Since gaming has always been such a huge part of our lives, it'd be hard for me to say how it has affected our family life. I plan on knitting ds a mario villain scarf and a pair of space invaders socks, does that answer your question?

[CAndMe]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm in college and when I go home my mom always wants me to bowl with her on the Wii.

[CharlieBrown]

No. wasn't raised with video games. It is hard for me to play the Wii with my DH.

[my2kidz]

To me, a wii is in a class of its own. I don't have one, but I want one! We have a playstation and my son loves it and I play on it sometimes with him. But I think the wii's are just so neat. bowling, tennis, golf, all the things I wish I could be out doing but can't. I know if I had one I'd want to play it all the time LOL

[MillingNome]

I can't afford a Wii but because I am blessed with four brothers, am able to share in theirs. And yes, it is quite fun. I don't play after-hours, just no energy. I do like playing a couple games though.

Don't feel too strange!

[giftedwith2]

Thanks for the responses guys! You've made me feel a lot better! It was also nice to run into a 60y/o grandmother in FYI the other day. She was looking for more indoor sports games for the wii to play at her home. She'd enjoyed playing with her grandaughters so much that she wanted her own! LOL! Yeah, I think the fact that this is a Wii makes a big difference in why I'm so hooked. We can be ACTIVE together and team up with each other. I've impressed my son with my tennis skills and I kicked butt playing boxing! LOL! "way to go MOM!" We've had other video game consols in the house for years but I've personally ignored them.My kids also rarely used the other types except in bad weather or when sick and cooped up inside. This is almost like having a virtual gym in our livingroom!

[sunkissedmumma67]

Yep, we have many old and all the new systems except for xbox! LOVE EM!

[Oriole]

We have a few game systems minus Wii, and we enjoy playing very much. *nodd*
Guitar Hero is our latest favorite, we also enjoy Amped (snowboarding), Car Racing, and Friends trivia...

[gabysmom617]

I'm not quite "there yet" with my almost 3 year old.

But Mario and Luigi were good buddies of mine long before my son came along, and I fully expect my kid to teach me on the latest games once he gets there. (I'll play while he's not there, get really good at it and then beat the crap out of him!! mwahahahahah!!!)

[graceomalley]

Yeah, my 11 year old whips my butt at bootcamp (eyetoy play on PS2). He drops to the ground and runs on the spot so quickly - I just can't beat him!

[FeingoldMomma]

Yeah, we play videogames in my house too. My now-ex and I bought a SNES when they came out, upgraded to the N64 when it came out (Donkey Kong was the impetus behind the upgrade), and then when the Game Cube game out, we upgraded to that one, since my son was by this time hooked on Mario. When I met the man who would become my 2nd husband, it was playing an online puzzling game. My son would sit next to me on the couch and watch and contribute as I puzzled. When the Wii came out, he begged for the Wii very hard. His stepdad and I made a deal with him... we would buy a Wii but he had to do all his chores, and save up at least half the money for it. He agreed, and has saved up most of what he needs. Just a little bit more, and then we'll take him to pick up the Wii. Then we can see just who kicks butt harder, the kid or the old folks. Bwahahaha!

[PancakeGoddess]

yep - the Wii is great, and my fave is by far mario kart. We play the gamecube version on the wii but the new wii mario kart comes out very soon

[mommy68]

We have a PS2 and a gamecube in our livingroom. I can honestly say no one in our house has touched either of them in over a year. When we do drag them out we will all play for a few days off and on until it gets out of our system and then go another year or more without touching them.

The video games just aren't that big in our house.

[Kapat]

We do!!! I love it, we got the kids a Wii for Christmas, and DS have a playstation2 and DD has a Nintendo DS, but that's for her personal use.

Our favourite game by far is Mario Party 8 and Mario Kart Wii, DS got it as a birthday present, we love it! We have a great time playing.

[SAHDS]

I am 4oy/o, work as a nurse with special needs kids, dress and live fairly conservatively-go to church on Sun etc. And I have found that I LOVE to play video games with my kids

Are video games restricted to a 'type' of person...?

We LOVE our Wii! All of our Miis are our friends and family, so it's hilarious when we play team sports and see who comes up to bat and who is cheering us on in the stands!

Our fam fav. is Mario Party 8. I've been a MP fan since I was a teenager so it's nice to be able to connect with my kids in that way. My DD and DS also love Mario Galaxy (GREAT, creative game - won game of the year too.)

DH and I are HUUUUGE RE fans. Actually, when we were dating, we'd play together. Now, we have RE4 and it's my FAV game. Obviously, DD and DS don't play that one.

Also the Wii is the only system we have. I'm not a fan of video games in general. Just to be solitary, sitting and droned out is scary to me when it comes to kids. With the Wii, it's more family oriented and more physical (I was so sore the first few days... sad). But, I'd never get my kids a portable system (Gameboy, or whatever).

[giftedwith2]

Nope... apparently they arent restricted to a certain type-and I'm glad to hear it! I'm the OP. I was only speaking for myself personally. I thought I was too "old" too conservative and too serious for video games and thoght them to be a favoourite pastime of younger age groups. It is after all an electronic TOY! LOL! I was not saying they "should" be restricted to any type but admittedly did not think I was the "type" to be interested. As I said I've been pleasantly surprised to find that our new system the Wii has actually turned out to be a great family time activity. I love it! I was just curious about how others of my generation or TPE feel about video game use and if I was an odd ball or if video gaming is now what family board game night used to be when I was a kid. P.S we STILL love an occassional game of monoploy or scrabble.

[mamalisa]

Originally Posted by PancakeGoddess

yep - the Wii is great, and my fave is by far mario kart. We play the gamecube version on the wii but the new wii mario kart comes out very soon

We have the Wii version and we all love it. Even dd who is 2 1/2 and has no idea what the heck she is doing has a blast being Baby Peach and driving the stroller. She drives it into walls, but hey, she's happy! I really love our Wii, we all play together at times when we would be doing stuff on our own, like rainy days or lazy afternoons. Now if I could just find another steering wheel.....