You Have Died of Dysentary!

When I saw our local library had Just Dance Kids yesterday, I grabbed it and convinced the boys to have a dance party with me. They loved the kid-friendly music, especially Yo Gabba Gabba's 'Get the Sillies Out,' and all three of us had a blast movin' and groovin' before bedtime. If you've never played Just Dance, it's phenomenal in that it can provide a cardio workout, but, even better, is beyond hilarious when Mini-Me and The Wubster are involved. Mini-Me has started singing along to the songs even though he doesn't know many of the words and The Wubster, despite being lean on years, can easily defeat fully-grown, rhythm-challenged adults when he really focuses on shakin' his groove thang (or when he stands still and watches...the game doesn't use exact science).

In the early '80s, my video game experience was a far cry from the techno-wonder that is the Nintendo Wii (and an even farther cry from the 360 or PS3). In our house in Little Rock we had a converted carport family room where my parents kept a moon-sized console television for (as far as I can remember) the sole purpose of Pong:

Image Found Here

After moving to Dallas and, I believe, leaving Pong behind, we upgraded to an Atari 2600 and, eventually, a Commodore 64 with it's wondrous tapes and cartridges:



Original images here and here

There were a number of different video game/computer systems after the C64, including the NES that's currently resting in my garage, waiting for a new power pack so I can teach my kids how to shoot ten blockheaded ducks in less than 30 seconds despite being bullied by a giggling mutt or that it's good to use your head to earn money, especially if there are mushrooms involved.

Somewhere, there's also an original Nintendo Game Boy with the greatest game ever...Boggle. That's right, I consider a word game far better than any Mario, Metroid, or Zelda games. My sister, mom, and I spent hours one family vacation in the late 90s passing Boggle back and forth in the van, around our campsite, while waiting for food in restaurants...much to my dad's frustration. And all these years later, not much has changed, except we're now battling each other at Words With Friends on our iDevices.

While I don't want my kids to play video games at the expense of playing outside amongst the dandelions and clover, I certainly appreciate their educational and entertainment value, especially as part of family fun time.

If you'll excuse me, I need to go practice my dance moves. I wouldn't want to embarrass my kids when I chaperone the elementary school mixer.