It came as a gift a couple of weeks ago from my brother-in-law to my 4-year old…LEGO Star Wars for PS3. I thought it was a sweet gesture at the time. Deacon is unlike his other two brothers, he loves the action and the good guys vs. the bad guys. My oldest son doesn’t like confrontation and is all about the dinosaurs, reptiles, and other animals. Deacon likes Spiderman and his newest attraction…Star Wars. Which I must admit I was excited about seeing because I absolutely LOVED Star Wars as a kid. I’m still a little upset that my brother sold his Darth Vadar case with all the figures for $5.00!!!! Painful. I can’t wait till the boys are old enough to watch and appreciate the films. I used to watch them over and over…Loved that Han Solo. The combination of Star Wars and LEGO made me smile. Now my little guys can enjoy it in an age-appropriate fashion.

My husband has graciously taken the role of teaching Deacon to play the game, and Deacon is actually pretty good at it. Now I am a firm believer in monitoring time spent playing video games. My husband, not so much. He doesn’t seem to realize how much time he has actually sat in front of the screen. It’s a constant argument in my house. “Hun, you’ve been playing that game for an hour.” To which he replies, “No, it’s only been 20 minutes!” Well, it might feel like 20 minutes, but I’m the one who’s been watching the clock mister. From the moment I pick up Deacon he is already asking to play his game when he gets home. He’s obsessed. He plays, then I call him down for dinner. Then he plays more with dad. Then he is called down for his bath, PJs, and teeth…all the while DAD is still upstairs playing, “Dad’s unlocking new worlds mom!” 5:30PM to 7:30PM DAD is playing LEGO Star Wars. It doesn’t set a good example.

Now I get it, it’s addictive. I played the game with Deacon over the weekend and time went by quickly just trying to get R2-D2 to jump to the landing with help from Obi One Kenobi and the FORCE. It’s time-consuming. However, now that video games have been introduced to the house we need to set some rules. What is the appropriate amount of time for a child or adult to play video games? I need to break out the egg timer for both father and son. You know I want a turn to play too!