To Wii or not to Wii, that is the question. At least at our house it is. Our kids wanted a Nintendo DS for Christmas. I told them that their father and I would discuss it. So, talks have ensued and Glenn came up with the idea of getting the kids a Wii instead. Currently, we don’t have any gaming system in our house, for reasons I will discuss in a minute. So, we both were opposed to the DS for the reason that it is too isolating. Our 7-year-old said, “Mom, Jordan (the 5-year-old) and I have discussed it and you would only need to buy us one DS and we could take turns.” Well gee thanks son, like we were going to buy you both one anyway. What planet does he live on? So, Glenn said he likes the Wii so that they could play together. And he, sacrificially, wants to get the sports package, because it lends itself to taking turns. (I am not buying that one honey, I know it’s really for you ;))

I am still not sure about this whole thing. I find myself in a bit of a philosophical conflict with myself over this issue. But before I get into all that, I will explain why we used to have a Nintendo 64 and it now resides at Grandma’s house. So about a year ago the boys got into playing the 64. They had a Mario game that the 5-year-old really likes. He is a Mario fanatic. He has a Mario costume that he currently wears, everywhere, including out in public. Yes, in public – it’s just not worth the fight. Anyway, so he got a little obsessive about playing the 64. It’s all he would talk about all day long and then he would literally pitch fits when I would make him turn it off. Yes, he is 5 and still throws fits on occasion (don’t judge me – that is a whole other post). So, I decided that maybe it would be best to get rid of temptation and send the 64 to grandma’s. Jordan threatened to move out, literally, and told me I was not his favorite mommy. OHHH! I knew I must have done something right then. He was literally like a crack addict about it. So, fast forward to now. My loving husband has now found online Mario games for him. And I must confess he is doing better about it all. But there are still moments of fighting about it with both the boys.

Now about the philosophical dilemma. I know most of you will really think I am a quack after this, but here it is anyway. In my perfect world, I would be one of those families who home school, live on a farm and have no TV. I know it sounds absolutely dreadful to most of you, but it is my secret ambition. Will this ever happen? Most likely not. My husband is a school administrator, it just doesn’t work with this type of lifestyle. Anyway, so I find that with this type of philosophy, I have a hard time convincing myself that the Wii is a good idea.

On the other hand, I live in the real world. My son goes to school with a bunch of middle class kids, all of which, he reports, have some sort of game system. Is it fair to not let him at least have this one thing? My husband says it is a compromise. I get that. We don’t want to take a stand on something that isn’t that big of a deal. We need to save the battles for the really big stuff. You know?

So, I still am not sure what we are going to do. If you hear me complaining about screaming and fighting on December 26th, you will know that the Wii won out.