Thursday, November 27, 2008

No to Nintendo this Christmas

MC wants a nintendo this Christmas.

And my answer is, as always, a big no.

She's been asking for one since the start of this year.

But I refuse to even consider buying one. And I wont change my mind in the near future, sorry.

Why would she need one? She said because almost everybody she knows have one. I know that nintendo is the 'in' thing for kids.

And I told her that she's special. Because she dont have one. And wont have use of one in the near future. I told her she would have more fun playing with her toys and playing with her sister and her friends than being alone in a cold corner busy tapping a small stick into a small mini tv-like game.

Why wont I not give her one? Because of stories I heard. And things I observed.

Of kids getting so much fixated in one that they would ignore even their bestfriends when they come over to play. Of kids being asked to take care of things at home and yet wont get anything done because of nintendo. Of kids forgetting their own things in some places just because they were busy with nintendo in their hands. Of kids' grades suffering because of nintendo. Of kids alone and yet seemingly happy with their nintendos as company.

I dont think having a nintendo is healthy; but that is my opinion. I know there are ways to break down the fixation with nintendo. But my way of doing it is avoidance.

Thus, I refuse to buy a nintendo for MC.

I said, maybe, I would consider buying one when she could already read, write and do her math. But that's still a maybe. And maybe is still a no.

P.S. As I was finishing this post, MC approached me with a brochure of game consoles. And she told me, 'mama, I am going to wait until I am in high school for my nintendo.'

10 comments:

lovelyn said...

Uy kawawa naman si MC. I was like you before. All that you've written here were also my reasons. But, you know, my husband who wants to play those made our son as his excuse to buy PS2 pa nung 2 years old palang si Lukie.

It had honestly help Lukie write well, read excellently and could add and subtract with two digits. I was even asked by his teachers when he was in day care why our son could already read at the age of four.

Before he plays he has to do exercises that I prepared like Math and writing (example) ba-be-bi-bo-bu the whole page. Or, we do spelling together. Most of the time(lalo na pag tinatamad akong gumawa ng exercises), he has to read aloud and finish a whole book before he plays.

Then we set the clock and time him with his games. Pag oras na, talagang time is up.

Its one of the RARE things that I submit being defeated by my husbands reasoning hahaha... he said we can't afford to stay hermits so we need to cope with technology(hmff, binasa lang nya yun somewhere else, feeling nya kanya yung words of wisdom). And he would not allow daw that his son would be left behind.

Well that's just for us, it turned out positive or we manipulated it to turn out positve.

Aba, nagblog na ako dito. Entry ko sana ito before ng birthday ni Lukie e... Sorry ha na carried away lang ako hehehe....

Pahabol pa, one thing good with Nintendo DS, they have so many mind games, puzzles etc... better than PSP kaya win ang Nintendo DS para sa akin.

raqgold said...

am glad that lukie's world turned better with those things. minsan hindi parating ganyan e. i dont cope up with technology so i dont know the difference between a PS2 or a nintendo whatever -- am sure there are good things inside those consoles but am still not convinced, hehehe. i would rather they work it out first with the traditional things such as books before they jump into technology.

Heart of Rachel said...

When I attend family gatherings, I often see the kids holding their Nintendo/PSP. Instead of playing together, the kids seem contented playing games on their consoles. Di na nga sila naguusap, pindot nalang ng pindot.

raqgold said...

rach, that's what am afraid of. i think playing together is better than playing alone together. nakakatuyo ng utak :)

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

mabait n understanding naman ng mga bata mo..........

maka hintay cla ng high school pa....

mabuti siguro........mabuti, share together or playing together, kay sa yon...........

alam mo na...........walang time sa family, talks together n being together.

kagaya din ng PC, bawat isa meron, double pa, kaya wlang time sa familya.............

I agree on this.

thanks for sharing...........

Anonymous said...

Hi Kengks! Naku sis I totally agree with you! You can see all those kids getting zombified stuck on their game consoles! It can be very tempting sometimes to keep the kid silent and stay put. But then again, it can really be scary. There are times that he gets to play psp kasi may psp ang sister ko. Pero that's it, he knows it's not his so if it's time to give it back and when mama says enough, then that's enough. Occasional playing is ok. At two years old he knows how to play the ratatouille game in psp and I don't even know how it works. It can be amusing but then again I could have him play with educational videos instead. The interactive ones like caillou.

I am not gonna buy him a game console ever. Naku it tempts me lalo na sale sa states and folks are there. pero wii ang pinabili ko for myself and wii fit for my physical goal to get down to finally getting in shape. I thought that it would be better kasi it can be a family game, interactive and you move around- no danger of being zombified. And that will be mama's. So he is not allowed to use it without mama's permission and if we're not playing together.

Grabe na kasi tlaga ngayon. People are so disconnected because of technology and it starts at a very young age.

Dami ko na chika! It's nice to be back here and read some of your posts. I actually was googling for the landmark of rowena's mini tarts in tagaytay. the hubby is set to officiate a wedding in tagaytay over the weekend and we hope to swing by. I have been hearing about rowena's tarts but haven't tried them yet. San ba malapit yon? We hope to spend the weekend there din to celebrate our 7th anniv. :-)

Take care and have a great week!

Anonymous said...

At least she's not throwing a tantrum because you said no. She's a good kid:)

But this is just the start of peer pressure...

raqgold said...

vk - yup, kapag may computer na nga nawawala na rin yung atensyon sa pamilya di ba? i know this that's why am limiting my PC use. such that i wont add those game consoles as i wanted to talk and see and touch my kids..

jennie - i am glad to know that you agree :D i mean, the kids could have their nintendo time but not when I still have a say about it. kapag malaki na sila and they have money to pay for it, well then go ahead. but until i could control it, i would. after all, i survived without those things and yet i enjoyed my life. and yes, enjoy your anniversary trip! kwento ha. sorry, but i dont know where rowena's tarts is.

joanne, you are right, peer pressure. but when you explain it to them, i guess, they do understand.

Anonymous said...

my son had lots of fun when he had a chance to borrow from his cousins sa pinas, asked to have one of his own, but after a while he forgot all about it na. hubby's thinking of getting one for christmas, pero i'm leaning towards "leapster". mas educational rather than pure games. check the reviews sa amazon:

LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System - Green

Anonymous said...

My eldest is not into it yet! he'd be happy to receive thomas & friends trains I guess!lol we gave them VTech laptop with Thomas design lasdt xmas but they played with it only for a short time.Now both thingies are just catching dust on the top of the cupboard.Sayang anda!hehe

When they'll be little older I might acquire Wii Sports.Well,let's see!kung agree yung ama;)