“Within a few months of buying Nintendo, my son lost his joyful countenance.” Meagan’s words captured my attention. Meagan (not her real name) continued, “After we got rid of the electronic game, I have a happy son again.”

As I listened, I had to concede that the electronic games also had contributed to some negative behavior in my own children. They didn’t obey me as quickly when they were locked into its hypnotic world. And at times, when I asked them a question, they uttered a distant “uhuh” as their fingers sprinted across the keys—mesmerized by Mario.

After purchasing Game Cube, I also noticed that our boys suddenly didn’t want to play soccer with the neighborhood children. In fact, all their toys immediately lost their lure. Even Buzz Light Year lay forgotten in the toy closet.

One of our sons noticed that every time he took the hand-held controller from his brother, it was wet with sweat. While engaged in the sedentary game, our seven-year-old son actually had sweaty palms. Recently, our youngest son even said that his palms were so sweaty he could hardly hang on to the controller. And after chasing Mario across the video screen for an hour, our son had a distant look in his eyes as if he had just returned from the Twilight Zone. His pupils were constricted to the size of a tiny pin prick.

A Surprising Response

Within that five-minute conversation with Meagan, she inadvertently challenged me to rethink our family policy about Game Cube. Later that evening, I told my husband about Meagan’s insight. After a brief discussion, we decided to purge our home of all electronic games. Surprisingly, our two young sons agreed.

The next day Game Cube, Game Boy, Mario, and all the costly accessories that accompanied the games were extracted from our home. But because our sons had purchased some of the expensive paraphernalia with their own money, I bought it back from them at a used goods rate.

Over the next several days, our boys began to dream about what they would do with their newly acquired money. Both decided to purchase digital cameras. And to our surprise, they have really enjoyed their new hobby, taking creative pictures.

Once again, our backyard resonates with the shouts of young boys engaged in a lively soccer game. And our boys are learning how to create their own adventures. Like Meagan, I now can say, “I have happy children again!” Mario mesmerizes them no more.