Nintendo Wii

[OllyGol]

My 4-year-old is addicted to the Wii. he cannot wait to get back from nursery to play it and will happily play all afternoon if allowed, even bolting down food and forgetting a pudding to rush back to it. Is this bad?!!!!!!!!!!

It is a bit yes. He should be playing, reading, colouring etc aswell.

Dd2 likes the NDS, but she is not allowed to skip food or other activities for it.

Why is it bad, not is it bad!

If he is dedicating that much time to playing wii how is getting enough exercise or enough time for other developmental activities?

hahahaha
Good one!

what is he playing on it.. my ds 5 gets bored in about 10 mins flat !!

wii sports resort and wii sports. he moves about a fair bit playing it.

My 4 year old DS is obsessed with his Wii. He would happily play all day, and it allowed me to get on and do stuff. I can't say I was OK with it, a little uneasy, but the peace it brought was heaven sent.

Until I noticed that he couldn't focus on anything else, and that he was practically incapable of playing with anything else. His tantrums when I told him to stop were spectacular.

I decided, when I was watching him play on it about three weeks ago, that it had to go. He was twitching and manic playing it..I decided that in all likelyhood it was frying his brain!!!

Anyway, fast forward three weeks (I put it out of sight and told him it was broken) and he's a different child, he PLAYS, he pretends to be a rocket, he notices his brother more, he draws...it's unbelievable.

My advice? Put it out of sight and don't let him use it anymore. You might be amazed at the difference!!

That is really interesting. I don't think he can focus on anything else, He goes to nursery OK but anything else at home is out of the question and he too throws tantrums when told to stop. I am hoping that with the better weather we will get out and do more outdoor things as he is an active boy but I am certainly thinking about taking your advice! Thanks!