For the last time, no we don't have a video game system.

I'm beginning to feel like our house is the only house on the planet without a Wii, Nintendo, Playstation, XBox, or some other kind of stupid video game system  (NOTE:  the Short One did get a Nintendo DS for Christmas this year, but his usage of it is severely restricted).    Other moms look at me so strangely when the subject turns to video games and I say I know nothing about them because we don't have one.

"Really?"  (insert incredulous look here)

"Yes, really.   I hate video games, and it's just another reason for my kids to park their behinds inside and do nothing but sit.    They already watch too much TV, and I want them to play outside."

*blank look*

"Well...but...then what do they do for fun?"

Are you kidding me???    How on earth do parents these days manage to make it if their electricity goes out or the game system breaks or the TV goes on the fritz?   My kids read.   They play silly made-up games with each other (for instance:  the latest game they made up together was called "Boomerang", and it involved taking Bionicle pieces and putting them together to look like the aforementioned throwing apparatus and pitching them up the stairs.   It had a point system and everything.).   They play REAL games with each other.   They play in the backyard with the dog.

And that's not to say the Short One doesn't ask for a Wii or whatever often.   He does.   But I'm also beginning to wonder if Dr. Husband and I are the only parents in the country who can say "No."

As an extension of this...are we also the only family that doesn't have a DVD player in the car/van?   I have a girlfriend who has said she couldn't possibly live without her van's DVD system -- she uses it every single time she puts her kids into the car.   She has a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, and just had a new baby a few months ago, and apparently her older children need constant distraction.   Or something.   Anyway -- whether it's 2 hours to Grandma's house or 10 minutes to the grocery store, that thing is on when they're in the car.   Which leads me to believe there is some silly Dora/Barney/Wiggles/Blue's Clues/Yo Gabba thing playing in their house non-stop.


I swear...I think I'd shoot myself.

Why is it so strange that Dr. Husband and I TALK to our kids in the car?   We drove out to Montana and back from our home in central Ohio when the Short One was 2 and 1/2 -- no movies, no ridiculous kiddie music.  He had toys/books to futz with in the back seat, and when he wasn't in the mood to entertain himself, we talked, sang, or played road games.   Now that there are two kids and they're both a bit older, we play the alphabet game, the license plate game, the letter game, or the kids make up their own game for us to play.    The kids listen to the same music we listen to, and they can rock it out to Aerosmith with the best of them.

No wonder people hate road trips so much.  If I had to be strapped into a seat with nothing but Disney and Yo Gabba Gabba forced down my throat, I'd hate them, too.   Gotta make the road trips fun, folks -- and that means you might have to actually interact with your kids instead of letting the DVD player and video games do it for you.