Wii Day a.k.a. Parenting Advice To Take Or Leave, But It Worked For Me!

You may recall that Nicco loves Mario. Borderline unhealthy obsession, if I'm being truthful. For a while, he would play a game or two (or three or four...) with his daddy when the daddy got home from work. It got to the point where he was so excited for Patrice to come home just so he could play Mario. He started to figure out some of the more tricky moves and how to manage the controls himself, so Patrice was happy that he didn't have to play the whole time, he could just step in and help out if it got too tricky and frustrating. That was kind of nice, but the problem changed...he started playing during the day. He knows how to set everything up himself and he would be sneaky about it...like playing without the sound while I was in the shower. It wasn't just that he was spending too much time on electronic stimulation, he was lying and deceiving! And the worst of all was the attitude I got when I suggested time was up and he had to turn off the game. It was nasty. His little body and mind got so worked up and he became so ugly and unpleasant, and it made us all ugly and unpleasant. I refuse to live in a home where our emotions and the atmosphere are dictated by a stupid game.

So I started restricting him to two games on the daddy's two home days. That worked for a while, but then the compulsion/obsession came back. I told him instead of two games on two days, it would only be one game on one day. When I said that, Patrice gave me a kind of warning and skeptical glance and said "we'll have to talk about that." When the kid went to bed, my husband said "I don't think that is a good idea. It is just a tease and I think it will make things worse." We talked about it and decided that we would let Nicco have one Wii day a month. One day where he can play all day if he wants, taking food and bathroom breaks.

Nicco and I went through the calendar and chose one day each month. He didn't complain or argue or ask to play on a non-wii day. Over the course of the month, he would ask me the date and tell me how many more days it was until April 18th. Sometimes he told me his plans for Wii day, like which game and which level he would play, so there was still an element of obsessive behavior, but nothing compared to what it was before. And, the anger and bad attitude almost disappeared. He's only 5, so I don't expect perfection from him. He's allowed his moments. But overall, our home was a much more pleasant place to be.

So, April 18th finally arrived. He ate his breakfast and set up his game. He played for a couple of hours and took a good break while we took care of some other house and yard obligations. He ate his lunch and played a few more games. He took a break to play in the pool, then played another game before swim practice. On the way home from swim he told me, "this was the best wii day EVER! All I can say is thank you." He played two more games before dinner, then one last one before bed. He put the game and controllers away pleasantly and without being told. I told him what a good boy he was for taking care of his things at the end of the day. He said "since I was such a good boy on my wii day, does that mean I can play a couple more games tomorrow?" I said no, because tomorrow isn't wii day. The next wii day is May 15. He said "Oh yeah, I forgot." And that was that. No fighting, no arguing, no complaining, no slamming doors or hitting parents. It was so nice.

We found a solution for our little game obsessed boy, and we are all much better for it.