The (Video) Games We Play

My boys love playing games on my iPod touch. I have to set a timer or they would play for hours. What games could cause scenes like this?


Only two: Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. I had the free version of Angry Birds on my iPod and the boys begged me to buy the full version for 99 cents. I held off for awhile but finally gave in and then made a profit. I told the four big boys if they each gave me $1 then I'd buy it and they ran off to get their little wallets.

It wasn't until a day or two later that Wesley asked why I needed a dollar from each of them if the app only costs 99 cents. Jerry told him it was for wear and tear on my iPod. And how true that is! I have to recharge it twice a day just to keep up with them.

JD is pretty much banned from playing with my iPod unless I am sitting right there because he posts weird things to my Facebook status or deletes applications in about two seconds. I don't know how he does it. A couple weeks ago I found out he had the iPod when he posted the following to Facebook and I just happened to see it pop up:

How sad is that?! He was in the next room and I found out what he was doing because of Facebook! Guess I won't be asked to write any articles for parenting magazines anytime soon.

Hayden especially loves to play on the iPod. It's his post nap wake up routine to sit on the recliner and play a few rounds. Ask him about it sometime. He'll go on for several minutes about levels and birds and all sorts of stuff that won't make sense to you if you're anything like me! Even when he isn't playing he still thinks about the game. Here is some recent artwork...

"Angry Birds" by Hayden, age 5
and the real Angry Birds (below)


"Cut the Rope" by Hayden, age 5
and the real Cut the Rope (below)

I thought his drawings were so funny that I sent them to Roz at school (since she's the one who got them hooked on Cut the Rope). She showed them around the dorm for some laughs. Thankfully, the iPod costs enough that I'm not even tempted to buy one for any of the boys. We are trying to maintain a mostly video game free/limited TV home for them. I'd rather they read a book! We have no Wii or Xbox or DS systems.

When I say we don't have any video games Wesley always says we do. Here is what our video game system looks like:Pac Man, Bosconian, Dig Dug, Rally-X, and Galaxian on a plug & play joystick are the extent of our "gaming system". Well, that and the iPod. And after seeing how addicting the games can be for them I'm glad we've opted out of anything more serious than that!