My Wii Experience @ ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

My Wii Experience

I probably won’t buy any Wii if not for the Wii Games: Summer 2010 event which we accidentally ran into at the Mall. As a disclaimer, I don’t work for Nintendo nor am I a spokeswoman for its product. If you read my article “an interesting event”, you would know that I had a blast playing Wii, not for the games but for the dance and the sports. Actually, they function somewhat like games. I think that the scores actually motivate you to work out more and the competition with others pushes you to take that one extra step and work out harder. In addition, if you do not have time to run to the gym, you can still work out at home. I believe that I was sold the moment I tried “Just Dance”. My daughter and I had copious amounts of fun dancing together.

Since then I have been contemplating whether to purchase the Wii equipment. The thought of making the purchase has never escaped my mind. I am just trying to convince myself to the point that I am totally satisfied that the investment would worth my while. About a month passed the Wii promotional event, I looked up the internet and found Dell selling Wii at a discounted price $30 below the average selling price. The package comes with a Wii console, a Wii remote with Motion Plus, a Wii nunchuk, a Wii Sports game disc and a Wii Sports Resort game disc. I also found that a single Wii remote with Motion Plus was selling at $20 below the average selling price at the Target store. It is a huge investment for us even after the discounts. However, I have to say that I have no regrets.

Before I have kids, I lived an immensely active life. I went to the gym every day, spinning, swimming, playing squash or racquetball, or taking step classes or water-aerobics. In addition to working out at the gym, I also took dance lessons. Over the years, I have learned Jazz, Flamenco, Arabic Dance, African Movement, Tap Dance, and Modern Dance. I even tried out Tai-Chi and Yoga. It is hard to maintain that kind of lifestyle after the kids arrive. My time is squeezed and divided among the house chores. Being working parents, we do not have the luxury to go the gym every day. Weekend is about the only time we have to hit the gym or to ramble through the park.

I am pleasantly surprised to find the various benefit of owning a Wii. To name a few: It unexpectedly cuts down my children’s television time. Rather than my son gluing his eyes to the cartoons or excessively indulging himself in playing online games, we, as a family, are having fun competing with each other, exercising and sweating every day, without the downside of covering ourselves with mosquito bites. Furthermore, it opens the door for us to a variety of sports such as golf, tennis, baseball, bowling, canoeing, wakeboarding, table tennis, and power cruising, which we weren’t able to play due to time, ability, money or facility. The amount of calories you burn a day might not be much through this venue. However, it serves as a sound motivation for busy working parents like me who uses lack of time as an excuse not to exercise during work days.

All in all, I enjoy playing Wii Sports/Sports Resort and Just Dance with our kids. Our kids are full of stamina and agility and enjoy triumphing over their mom. They do need to understand that they cannot win all the time. Playing Wii with them gives me the opportunity to teach them sportsmanship and how to be a good loser.

On 9/02/10 in Minneapolis