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My DS7 has been pleading/bargaining/asking for a Wii daily for about the last 4 months. Grandma is willing to buy it for both our sons for their birthdays this year. My concern is regarding what games are available that don't include fighting and weapons and, if possible, that have some educational component. Do these exist? Any recommendations?

My other concern is that we limit how much it is used. We have talked with our sons about this and let them know that they would only be able to use it on the weekend and that they'll have to earn their time during the week (like we have them do for computer time already). Do any of you have any suggestions on how to keep Wii time (and whining for it) under wraps?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

That made me think! Wii Sports and Wii Fit are both non-fighting. Not EXACTLY educational, but not horrible. There are some snowboarding games. There's Endless Ocean (think that's the name), but I don't know how interesting it is.

For what it's worth, pretty much EVERY boy I know loves Wii Lego Star Wars, including my two (5.8 & 3.2), but it does have fighting and isn't educational.

We just don't let them play if they are getting addicted to it. We tell them if it's becoming that important to them they need a break since it is just a game and not that important in the grand scheme of things. It makes them annoyed and pissy for a bit, but then they get over it.

We don't have a Wii, but we did allow another console into our home. We've had it for 1 1/2 years, and we have very strict rules surrounding it. We only allow it for 1 hour every other week, and they have to earn that hour through chores. They do work hard to earn it, which I'm glad to see however I can't stand the behavior afterwards (and sometimes during!). We don't allow shooting games, and we don't allow violent games with fighting. We also don't allow them to play the games together because we have a 5 year age difference I know it would erupt because they have strong perfectionist personalities and I know if one does better than the other it would cause an issue. My 6 year old has issues with anything flying in the video game, because he's highly visual spatial and claims it's trying to get him. We just recently ditched Veggietales because it had flying objects, so he's down to a just driving, and snowboard games.

I have noticed some behavioral issues from both of them afterwards. My youngest will talk about the games incessantly for a few days afterwards.

I actually wish we had never gotten the console, and dh and I discussed getting rid of it today. Today was game day, and after each playing for an hour they spent the next 2 hours being grouchy towards each other and having short tempers.

I konw that games are popular, but they just haven't worked for us even with limits. We actually became tv free in January, and I have seen a huge difference in the kids since then.

Wii Fit Plus has a math-fact game where you have to bump things with your hips to add up numbers. You have to have Wii fit first and the balance board. There are many other very fun/funny games in the fit series.
Lego games are usually ok because instead of blood and guts the characters fly into pieces and come back pretty quick (although I can see how some folks would say that is in fact bad)

Lego Rock band could be good, no fighting, this is funner if they are familiar with the songs I think. (requires at least a microphone)
Cars has driving, two person competitions and no fighting. My ds9 still plays it from time to time with dd, but it is not his fave as it is for younger kids.
There are many downloadable games for around $5-$10 that are like the old fashioned arcade games. Also all the mario games seem to avoid out and out violence, but there are things that are indeed out to get you, so you have to gauge your own child's reaction to each. They might be able to sample play some of these at a store, and reviews online often include some screen shots of what action is involved.

My kids probably watch a bit too much tv and games, but seriously have too many other things going on to have it dominate. For our ds with some social issues, sometimes the games are a great way to get a kid over to play and then things segue into other games.
Best of luck whatever you decide.
One thing you might allow is sort of a binge when they first get it (shocking I know) they can get a lot of the anxiety over playing out of their system in 1 weekend and then limiting their time becomes less of a hassle.

Make him earn it. E.g., all homework, piano practice, etc. must be finished first. Or any chores must be done. Essentially, it's a carrot (reward/bribe?) to get him to do anything that he resists.

If necessary, limit it to the weekend.

We are growing a few young Wii addicts here, and I have every intention of using this to my advantage.

We like the Mario Party games and also Pokemon games because we can all play as a family and the activities are varied. Other favorites of the kids are Monkey Ball and Zelda Twilight Princess.

I find that they get really jazzed up about one game or the other and play like mad for several days and then they will go weeks without touching the Wii.

We have the Wii with Wii Fit board. We use it mostly during the winter time when our kids are indoors more than outdoors. Summer time it sits unused unless a friend stops over.

I like the games that are more active like sports and party games. This allows the kids to move and interact with each other. DS5 did get SuperMario for Christmas and we have played that as a family. DD11 loves a game where she is on a safari and has to take pictures of animals and plants, but I am not sure of the name. Another fun game for our family has been guitar hero and we can play together at different levels. Added bonus is that DD11 has been introduced to the music DH and I used to listen to. "Eye of the Tiger" is her favorite.

For DS5 Wii has been an earned reward instead of something he is allowed to play every day.

There is a Wii game called "Big Brain Academy." It is consisted of five areas: memory, analysis, number crunching, visual recognition, and quick thinking. There are different games and levels within each area. For some of the more difficult (expert or platinum) levels, even adults might find them challenging.

Thanks, everyone! These are very useful suggestions!

It is good to discuss the emotions, even what an adult feels, with the child.

What feeling does one get when winning? When losing? When tried so many times and still not winning/doing well?

What can we do when one is feeling that way?
How can we catch ourselves when we start to feel that way? What would you like to choose to do when that happens, etc.?

What if I'm not able to catch myself this time from getting very frusterated, is it ok? Should I try again next time?

etc etc

I vote for Endless Ocean and Big Brain Academy if you are looking for educational games. I totally agree that Endless Ocean is very calming. The music is very nice, and my son can now identify any fish he sees on the discovery channel or while watching the new series, Life. The diver even gets dolphin pals to explore with, and the game is very realistic. Our whole family loves Big Brain Academy. You can compete against each other or just against yourself as it keeps a record of your performance, like a report card.

My son is crazy about Lego Starwars, Lego Indiana Jones, and Scooby Doo. To me, they are not too violent. My son is very sensitive to scary things. BUT, I could see that these might be a bit violent to some. No blood, but there is fighting. I like the problem solving aspect to these games. Lots of abstract reasoning. My son has learned a good lesson in persistence from these games. I'm certainly not saying they are educational, but there are some good qualities to them.

My ds6 just said that Wii Sports is educational because you learn to play different sports. LOL These are good family games. We have had lots of fun with tennis and bowling especially. We all really like MarioKart as well, but it's definitely not educational. It's a driving game and is lots of fun for all of us. Good for working on visual spatial skills or hand-eye coordination? LOL

Wii fit promotes exercise and good health. We have this, and I hate to admit we haven't used it much.

We have to limit Wii time, or our son would become completely addicted. He has no self-control when it comes to Wii. It's the best reward and incentive we can use in our house, though! Ds6 is only allowed to play it once homework is completed and when he doesn't have another activity. If we see that it's causing bad behavior (which has happened in the past), we take a break from it for a while. These days, he tolerates it very well without behavior issues for the most part. He knows if we see any meltdowns when it's time to turn it off, he won't get to play for a while. We also provide opportunities to earn Wii time.

Hope this helps.

We buckled on the Wii too after about a year of begging and pleading. I kind of think if it's something they're THAT excited about, it's kind of best to let them get it out of their system. That being said, we do use a timer. My DS9 typically gets 20-30 minutes a day and loses the next day if he ignores the timer. Being consistent on timer use has been a life saver for us. He would otherwise be extremely addicted.

We don't have any "educational" games, but some of them require long term strategy and planning. And some of them are just fun. Even for me! I would watch the game ratings. I've been ok, with everything under the TEEN level. And we even do have one TEEN game I think is ok (Twilight Princess). I agree with the Boom Blox and Harvest Moon recommendations.

We go a bit the other way and just don't worry about how much time he plays. DS is 7 and DH is a gamer, my brother is a gamer and a web designer and my dad is a computer programmer. It's in his genes to be a gamer too :-) I also found that the more I try to control it, the worse his craving for it is. If I just leave it be with a basic "homework first" rule, he often chooses other things.

For games, we have Boom Blox and Boom Blox Bash Party, MySims Racing, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Fit, Wii Sports, all the Lego games and a few others. I don't let him play anything with guns or violence but the Lego games are so unrealistic that I don't worry about it. I also find the puzzle-solving requirements of the Lego games to be more challenging than most others.

The hardest puzzle game we've played is Zack and Wiki's quest. DH had to get cheat codes online because the logic puzzles were so hard in a few places!

We primarily play family games together and DS rarely plays Wii alone. He has his Nintendo DS for that.

As for the educational component, I have a reluctant reader who is self-taught and was purely inspired to learn by Pokemon games on the DS. I refused to read the directions to him- if he wanted to play he had to figure it out. He jumped 3 grade levels in reading in just about a month... I credit Pokemon :-)

Yay Pokemon!! All four of my kids are fans. This is one game I have never minded. We even have a file of Pokemon that everyone in the family has drawn and given attacks and levels and such since DS9 is hoping to someday design his own game with a new region. It is also a game that keeps their interest but never leads to arguments. Everyone helps everyone - tips for where to find a special pokeball or best moves against a gym leader.

The other nice side for Wii is that Netflix feeds through it. We use netflix extensively for homeschooling and you can use the "watch instantly" feature on the Wii to watch your movie on the TV.

Enlighting discussion. Thanks folks!

Shari, what's on Netflix that you use for HSing? I'm curious...

DeeDee

In addition to sports games & netflix (I think we have seen every episode of Mythbusters available), my kids like Wii Music & Ultimate I Spy.

I'll have to check out some of these games, thanks!

As for keeping the gaming in check, we do a token system. They earn tokens for being good, playing nicely, doing as told, etc. In return, they can redeem their tokens (3) for 30 minutes of Wii. It's worked really well with DS5 because he was trying to play it ALL THE TIME and this way he has to "pay" for it and it makes him think "do I really want to play that much?"