Wednesday

Santa, We Have a Problem...

Weeks before Christmas, there was a conversation at the North Pole like this:

Mrs. Claus: Santa, that Riley Stirman ONLY wants a Gamecube, and you know how his mom worries those things suck brain cells out. And when they aren't sucking brain cells, they're sucking money to get different games. What should we do?

Santa: Well, the Stirmans are good to limit such activities. All things in moderation should be fine...

So, Mrs. Claus begrudgingly let Santa deliver the Gamecube to the Stirmans. And all was right with the world.

Until yesterday morning, when I emerged from my bedroom at 5:15 A.M. to go to an exercise class and Riley was deep into a game, looking something like this:

Let the interventions begin.

(To answer all the questions I know this will raise: Riley set his alarm for 5 so that he could play. I let him play until 6, then sent him back to bed. And Gamecube was off for the rest of the day.)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

HA!!!! Just remember that the excitement will wear off after a bit. . .he will go through ebbs and flows of game cube worship. . .especially if his pocket book only allows so many new games every so often. :)

We have no such cube at our house, but the kids dearly love to watch their Daddy play a game of Risk on the computer. . .

Anonymous said...

Oh. . .and the main question I had was not about Riley. It was,

"What the HECK are you doing going to a 5:15 exercise class?????"

I'm assuming it was at 6:00 or 6:30? Heaven help!!!!

Anonymous said...

Ebbs and flows? Oh, yeah, Roxanne, you have no such cube in your house. :)

Our house was filled with fun and games especially on the day Dad brought home the steering wheel and foot pedals to go with the latest Gran Turismo game... even I got into that one :)

Seriously, we have packed all the games and sent them on vacation, up to Atticland, for weeks at a time. That's called Forced Ebbing and Flowing!

Tammy M. said...

We let our boys play the PS2 unlimited for a couple of days after we got it, just so they could figure it out. After that we have pretty much stuck to a one hour limit per day, only on days there is no school. If they want to play more, and we have time, like right now on break, they can read for more time, 1 minute of reading is equal to 1 minute of game time. Normally when school is in it is not much of an issue due to lack of time, so I don't mind letting them read for extra time during the holidays. They love it and it is something they do together.

Robin said...

I really like Tammy's idea! I'm sure you are quite capable of managing the situation, though I can't wait to read about just how as they happen. I have a 16 year old that has been up on all nighters with that game cube. No I was not happy and no he didn't sleep the next day! Now he limits his all nighters to week ends. School keeps him busy through the week.

Janice (5 Minutes for Mom) said...

did you get that picture off the book Playstation Nation? It is an alarming book - I reviewed it awhile ago.

I can't imagine getting up that early!

Holly said...

First of all, you go with the 5:15 class. The question is did he: get up that early because he thought you would still be asleep, or so that he could get several extra hours of play time planning to play all day?

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Tammy as well. He is on break too. I would just let him have fun. They return soon enough to school and all will change dramatically when that happens. The newness of it will wear off soon anyway.

Anonymous said...

There is an upside, it is a small upside but if you look hard you can see it.

You have control of what games he has access to. This means that you can be sure of what content he is absorbing. Compare this to time that he might spend watching TV which is harder to control the content on.

Also on the pocket book problem, there is some good news. With the new Nintendo Wii in stores, people will be upgrading away from the Game Cube games. Keep an eye out at video game stores and buy used games. Back when I was a video game fanatic kid, I would buy used games at Game Boys (3494 N 1st St). Be sure to sell back the ones he doesn't play anymore too.

Like I said, it's a small upside ;-)

I can't wait until Natalie is ready for one so I can rekindle my own video game playing addiction.

Anne said...

He must LOVE it if he's up at 5:15AM!!

And Nathaniel, Natalie won't like video games! She is only going to want to read and sing, and of course ride her motorcycle! So we won't need a game box thingy...

Jessica said...

Silly boy! My girls have a gamecube... I've never had to limit their usage... guess that is the difference between boys and girls! I'm impressed by his 5am abilities just to play!

Anonymous said...

Up at 5:15 to excercise and play video games? You are both in trouble!