Picking Oranges, Pulling Weeds, and Paying Mortgage.....Oh My

We received a Wii on Christmas from my husband's parents, and it has been a blast for the whole family. My husband and I have struggled in the past with the amount of time and exposure we allow our children to have with video games. We currently own a Nintendo 64, an XBox 360, three DS Lites, and now a Wii (personally my favorite).

Just to provide a little background history; we began "using" video games with our oldest child, Jeff, when he was around 6 (now 12). Jeff has vision in his right eye ONLY, due to a cataract that killed the nerves in his left eye. He had surgery when he was 31 months old, and steps were taken to restore his sight, but all attempts failed. Jeff is quite a survivor, though, and has adapted beautifully. That said, we began to notice that his hand-eye coordination left a little to be desired. My husband and I decided to try Jeff on a handheld game system, I believe it was a Leapster of sorts. We noticed right away that he definitely had a knack. To this day Jeff can pick up just about any game on any system and master it within a fraction of the time it would take you or me.

When we bought our original XBox, my husband and I actually purchased it for the two of us to have "date night." We don't have a regular babysitter, nor the funds to eat out, so we figured we could play a game when the kids went down and have some fun. However, we soon discovered that he was not the gamer I was. Bess him heart. He was good, don't get me wrong, he just didn't enjoy it. The games tended to frustrate him instead of relax him. So the XBox became family property and ultimately the kids' box.

Bear with me, I am going somewhere with this..........

With each added game system added, the time spent on video games increased, and essential things, like reading and chores, decreased. I don't blame my husband, nor my children for this. My husband was at work, and the kids only do what I tell them. ...... HA HA HA HA HA! Sorry, let me wipe the tears from my eyes, I just cracked myself up. Okay, anyway, it was MY fault. I was allowing it. It seemed easier than hearing, "Mama, will you...." or "STOP!!! I had it first!" or my favorite, "There's nothing to do...." The fact is, the more time they spent on the games, the more trouble I had, and the more I had to intervene.

Alright, let's fast forward to present day..... We have a few games for the Wii that are only enjoyed by the children, but for the most part, we have a lot of family games. Our (mine and the kids) favorite game is Animal Crossing: City Folk (we'll call it AC). AC is only a one player game, but you can have up to 4 "files" on which to play. Your character lives in a fictional town, which you get to name, with about 10 animal neighbors. The town has a general store, tailor, coffee shop, museum, and town hall. Each character gets to furnish their own house. You are not employed, per se, but you are able to earn money by a variety of means: picking fruit and selling fruit, catching and selling fish, just to name a few. You must pay off your mortgage in order to increase the size of you house, donate money to make major improvements to your town, or plant flowers and greenery to make it lovely:) In addition to this, your neighbors talk to you and respond to the ways you talk to them. (Be rude and they may move, or nice and they may stay.) So......I have a house, and each of the three kids have a house. What we do, could affect the other players.

While watching one of the children play recently, I realized what a great teaching tool this game could be. For instance: Jackson, my 10 year old, likes to leave clothes, fishing rods, and furniture on the ground around the town. Jackson doesn't like to pick weeds either. Periodically, weeds will appear. You do not get any gain or reward for picking them, however, not picking them will cause negative results. I was explaining to him that we could not get a good "rating", for our town, if we had trash and weeds all over the ground, and that what he did affected the rest of the townspeople. Then it hit me......our fictitious AC town is like our REAL house; if you trash your room, it affects your brother (roommate) and your mother (Landlord).

Hmmmmm, let's see how else we could use this game. Let's try Jeff. Jeff likes to hit the animal neighbors on the head with a net which infuriates them. This action causes the little guys to move away from our town. That can be an issue if someone else in the family was friends with that animal. Worse yet, it leaves the door wide open for another animal resident to move in (maybe someone mean). Ugggghhh, say it isn't so! When I asked Jeff to stop, he said, "Awww, Mama, it's just a game." Is it, or does it actually shed light into their true character? Well, it is just a game, but I am finding they play a lot like they live. You see, this game is an opportunity for them to build friendships in a very safe environment. Though the relationships are not real, and the children know that, the animals respond according to their efforts.

Now, what about Abby, the 7 year old? Abby loves to play and is generally very kind to everyone. What I see with Abby is that she is lazy. Abby doesn't want to work to help out the effort, she just wants the reward. She's not concerned with her mortgage, even though it is her debt. I have used this to teach the obvious lesson of accountability.

You see, whether you are teaching your children from textbooks, worksheets, DVD lessons, field trips, or a video game, the message is the same; Don't waste any opportunity to hold your children accountable and teach them the Truth of God's Word. What a blessing to have my children home all day with me! There are so many "teachable moments." I just pray God will continue to allow me to see them, and not miss them out of my selfish need for a few moments of silence.

Thank you Animal Crossing for allowing me to remind my children that; "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God!" I Corinthians 10:31