Nintendo DS

We finally caved in and bought Zach a Nintendo DS.

I really didn't like the idea because I hate it when kids go to restaurants with their parents and all they do is bury their noses in some portable game system, blipping and blooping their way through childhood in a virtual world.

No wonder so many kids have no sense of self and a distorted sense of what is right and wrong - they spend more time with Mario and Bowser than they do with mom and dad.

So why did we decide to get Zach a DS if I feel so strongly about this? Well, the reasons are two-fold: (1) If we know that we must control the kids' time with the DS and already have a plan in place to do so, it will be much easier to keep it from dominating their lives. (2) we owed Zach a big present for doing a good job as ring bearer for Auntie Peggy's wedding (see here) and we owed him a big present for being a ring bearer at Auntie Sophia's wedding (see here). Oh... wait... the reasons are three-fold if you include: (3) I wanted one.

Until recently, I didn't realize the DS allows you to play multiplayer games wi-fi with other units. Kerman and Todd both have a DS as well (as does Vicki) and so our next get-together will surely include some Bomber Man or Mario Kart. (We'll just have to make sure our virtual interactions don't interfere with our real-life social interactions.)