"Electronic envy: Last night by 6 yr old son burst out in complaints about the ''lame'' gifts he gets, and how it isn't fair all his friends have DS, Wii's, PlayStations, etc. and he doesn't. ... My husband and I were pretty hurt, and told him so, saying he has more toys than we ever did, we both work hard and don't have endless money, and that we prefer to play with him (outside, board games) than have him play video games."
My first thought was, "Man, I'm glad these luddites aren't my parents. These are probably the same people who hand out carrot sticks on Halloween." Then I remembered a conversation I had with Spencer a few months ago where I told him I didn't want a video game box at home when Olivia got older. It sounds a lot more lame coming out of someone else's mouth than my own. I suppose that video games are pretty much an essential component of a kids life and that if Olivia is interested, we should use it as an opportunity to teach the child to negotiate (don't ask for things by whining), help her understand compromise, use video games as an incentive for getting homework done, and set boundaries.
On the other hand, it does sound fun to exercise parental authoritah and tell the stories about walking to school in 5 foot snowdrifts and eating rats for lunch because I forgot my lunch money.
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