Received Gift of Wii.. Recs for Time Constraints and Highly Active Games

First have a time where there are no games at night. It should be at least an hour before bedtime. I have found video games are too stimulating at night for kids and they have trouble sleeping. During the week you may want them to work towards rewards for playing. Ex. get chores done and they earn 10 minutes of play aside from whatever time you put on their play. Or keep playing to weekends only or after HW (7yr old) is done.

I also have a wii sports and a 4 yr old and it is very active! we use it more when the weather doesnt permit us to play outside! As far as time constraint the game itself does frequently suggest you put it down and go out to play. rather than put actual minutes on a game you may want to limit the # of games they play. i suggest that because of the different ages of your kids. it may be harder for the 4 yr old and take them longer to learn than the 7 yr old. or let the 4yr old play while the other is doing their homework. just some suggestions!

I highly recommend Dance Dance revolution. It's super active and fun and your kids and you will love playing it. It's a nice rainy day activity. Enjoy

My girls (ages 6 and 4) love wii fit. they jog together & play hula hoop. I hae to say hula hoop is awesome. I am sore after a few turns. Here is a game that is not phyically active, but mentally active. it's called "big brain academy". Kind of like brain surge on nickelodeon, but for wii. I got it at Kohls and was under $20

Good luck!

My son was 10 when he got the Wii. He has taken to the sports games, MLB Baseball, Madden Football, NBA Basketball. He could play these games all day, if I let him and he is a kid who loves to be outside playing. I have put severe time limits on because this has become a constant source of arguments. My son is allowed 45min on school days, this is only after all chores and homework and sports practices are complete. On the weekends he is allowed 2hrs. He gets up early so this gives me a little sleep in time. You can monitor usage by looking at the messages on the menu screen. It tells you how many minutes of what game have been played that day. It's been the answer to lots of arguments. As to the activity levels, it varies by kid. My son will stand and use his whole body to play his games. I've seen kids and adults who have figured out how to get the motions down sitting down. :-p

I hope your family has lots and lots of fun!
S.

Hi JM,
My kids are 10 and 14, and we've never done a game system, because the amount of money it would cost would not be balanced by the amount of time I'd have allowed them to play (to me, you'd have to play at least an hour a day to justify the cost). Think of it as the same as television or computer time, how much screen time in total do you want to allow in a day? The 7 is old enough to decide how he wants to divide his time, if you allow an hour of screen time per day, he may want to spend all of it on the Wii and none watching television. I'd just suggest remembering that even active video games aren't a substitute for playing outside. I have a rule about good weather days, on a sunny spring/summer/early fall afternoon, no t.v. - I would do the same for video game systems. It's also fine to have the very occasional "unlimited" day. I find that if it's a snow day or one day over school break and I tell my son he can have unlimited t.v., he actually watches much less than I would have anticipated and it isn't on all day
Good luck

Hi. I have a 7 year old and we have a few game systems(hubby). My son is only allowed to play weekends and it is time limited as well. We all love Wii because of the family active games but they can definintly be addictive. When my son has winter break or days off from school he gets an hour a day. He knows it's not a replacement for outdoor activities and he is still expected to read and other regular activities as well. Enjoy the Wii it is really fun. A. B