Lynda Loveland: New addiction

We have several gaming systems at my house: Wii, Playstation 2, Atari and a couple of DS’s. My 7-year-old daughter and my husband are the chief users. OK, pretty much the ONLY users, until now.

My 5-year-old son hasn’t shown much interest, much to the dismay of his older sister and, in my opinion, my husband. Caiden’s world consisted of piles of superheroes and nothing else. The other day my husband bought him a superheroes game for the Playstation. His reasoning was it would help him read since you have to read different tips on how to get to different levels. (Between you and me, I wasn’t really buying it.)

After several failed attempts in the past, for some reason, THIS time, the game caught his attention. The lure of Superman and Batman fighting bad guys, with him in control, was too much for him. He was hooked.

He begged me yesterday to sit with him and watch him fight the bad guys. I was trying to make dinner early so Caiden could get to his soccer practice, but he was sooooo insistent and so excited. I gave in and sat down next to him. I told him I only had a few minutes because I needed to get dinner ready.

I noticed he was pushing the joystick back and forth furiously to get the good guys to run. I took the controller and said honey, all you have to do is hold the joystick to the side and they’ll run faster. See? Without skipping a beat, he took the controller back and said, “Mom you can go back to the kitchen and make dinner now.”

I guess I won’t be invited to that playdate again!!