Video Games: The perfect hobby for a growing family?

A few years ago for Christmas, my mother bought me a Playstation 3. I must admit, I don’t use it for games very often, so essentially it’s a $400 DVD player
(which, happens to be a Blue Ray Player, even though I have no clue what that
means, but apparently it means it is very good) that gets used once or twice a
month.

So every few years I decide to buy a game to get back into video games. Ever since I was a teenager, the only really type of games I played were sports games, football and baseball mainly. So at my “peak” of playing video games, I usually bought two a year: that year’s Madden, and that years EA Sports baseball game.

After college, it sort of died out and I stopped playing. Even in college, I didn’t
play all that much, but that was mainly because of the fact I knew all my roommates were exponentially better than I was at every game.

So why get back into it? Why not? It’s a perfect hobby to have for a growing
family!

It’s a hobby I can do in the house- Unlike, say, a weekly poker game or basketball game, I can stay at home to “help” around the house when needed (my helping around the house typically is reminding my fiancée she should do the laundry)

I can pretend to have a conversation or that I’m listening while playing the game- My fiancée can tell me about her day, about the wedding, and all sorts of things while the only thing I really care about is getting out of the 8^th inning with two runners in scoring position.

If need be, I can pause the game to REALLY help around the house- If disaster strikes I am there to sweep in and help if needed.

It’s something my fiancée and I can do together- She’s already challenged me to a game or a home run derby. Like most men would, I politely declined, saying I didn’t want to hurt her feelings when I beat her, but the truth is I’m fairly certain she would beat me.

Now I need to find a way to avoid playing my fiancée and save my pride. Right now, I don’t have a second controller, but I don’t foresee that being a good
long-term strategy, as she’s already said she will go and buy one. All I can do
is hope her desire to play dies down, so I can play in peace, with my pride intact.

That brings me to my rhetorical question that she and I will now face: with a
toddler in the house, at what point, and how much, should he being to play
these video games? Of course, we will carefully choose the games, and times,
etc. In my next blog, I will talk about what problems a family faces with a
child, a PS3, and a 50-inch flat screen TV.

Matt Elder owns and operates i9 Sports, a youth sports league in Marlborough and Framingham. Their flag football and cheerleading program is taking registrations for its spring season, and plays every Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon, where they have a practice and a game all in the same day. No weekday practices. Visit www.i9sports.com today for more details.