If your children are anything like mine they probably want to spend every spare minute playing video games. My children think a day off from school, like a holiday, means video game free time from sun up until sun down. As parents, we sometimes have to curtail video game time to allow our children to participate in other activities as well. If you have adopted siblings that suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, like we have, then you know how difficult it can be to get them to transition to another activity. I also find it interesting how my children with attention deficit disorder, who can’t focus on school work for five minutes, can easily spend hours playing the same video game.

My sister is apparently running for the position of favorite aunt of the year in 2007. She decided to buy Guitar Hero for my children for Christmas. However, because she isn’t good at keeping secrets or withholding gifts, she decided to give it to them at the Thanksgiving celebration. I bet you can’t guess what my entire family including Super Dad did all evening.

It isn’t all bad, since it is for the Wii system the person playing stands up and dances while playing the guitar. Our boys all actually play guitar and I have heard that the game can help build actual guitar skills. As I am writing my blogs, I keep hearing “I want to rock and roll all night…” I feel as if I have been thrust back in time to the early 1980s. When I was a teenager, I certainly did not listen to my parent’s music. Therefore, I find it interesting that my teenagers know the names and music to nearly every song I used to listen to as a teenager.

For now, we only have one guitar for the game, so only one child can play at a time. At least they are taking turns. Another interesting phenomenon about children and video games I have noticed is that if they can’t play, they seem just as content to watch someone else play. The siblings of the player are sitting or standing, staring at the TV, not the person playing as if it was the most fascinating thing they have ever seen. Now how can someone with ADHD do that?

Who’s a Sibling in Adoption? Who isn’t?
Why should siblings be placed together?
Should Siblings Available for Adoption be Placed with Their Already Adopted Siblings?

Photo Credit 2007 Julia Fuller