Wii Makes Kids Exercise
Kids Burn Calories with Nintendo Video Games and Wireless Controller
Jun 28, 2007
Are you tired of looking at your couch potato children with blank stares and joysticks clutched in their hands? If your family owns an older Playstation, Xbox or Gamecube, your bleary-eyed children are probably reduced to globs on the couch over the summer months or stationed in front of the video screen during after-school hours.
There are solutions to the couch potato syndrome. Send them outside or buy a Wii.
Bring on the sweat!
“Sedentary lifestyles are often to blame for overweight and obesity, which is the second leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. (USDHHS, 2001). While video games have historically been identified as the culprit of inactivity, new interactive video games make participants break a sweat.” [Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 2005]
The Wii Sports disk that comes with the Wii console has many games that make children and adults burn calories. Children sweat as they swat, swing, hop, jump, and sway while they play the games. Many games require a player to stand up, not sit planted on the couch.
The wireless hand held controller is attached to the wrist with a band. Gamers definitely want it tightly secured to play the Wii Sports games because they need to simulate motions of bowling, pitching, batting, throwing, etc. The games also require players to have room to move. Riding the back of a cow requires the player to hold the controller sideways. Trying to run over the scarecrows on the screen while sitting on the back of a cow can make the player move all over the room.
Family fun
The best part is that many of the games are ones that the entire family will enjoy. The Nintendo Wii commercials show entire families playing the games. Elders play with children and giggle. This is not propaganda or an illusion. People of all ages can pick up a controller and have instant success. There are even educational games, such as Big Brain Academy that allow anyone to test intelligence and improve scores.
Pros to buying a Wii
- It makes gamers move with wireless controllers and has Internet connections.
- In addition to the fun games, there are the channels: Disc Channel to play GameCube games, Mii Channel to create characters used in the software, Photo Channel to view digital photos from SD cards, Wii Shop Channel to use Wii points to download games or goods, Forecast Channel to check the weather and News Channel to view the news.
- The price $245 which is cheaper than PlayStation 3 $599 or Xbox 360 $399 [WalMart online 6/27/2007].
Cons to buying a Wii
- Trying to buy one may take time. One family spent one-month scouring southeastern Ohio stores trying to purchase one.
- New games generally cost $50.
- The Wii is another game console that eventually will become obsolete.
If you cannot make your children play outside, at least make them move when they play inside. The middle childhood set, grades four through nine, will have a blast playing the games. Actually, most ages will enjoy the games. Parents will like seeing their children up off the couch, and the whole family can laugh with and at each other.
