…Than Sitting and Watching TV. Really!
Add one to the Duh Study File:
According to researchers in Oklahoma, children burn triple the number of calories if they’re playing a video game that requires moving about – such as some of the Nintendo Wii system games, than they do while sitting still and watching television.
These findings were published in the August issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.
While playing the games aren’t the same as getting outside and getting some good activity going, such as bike riding or playing tag, they may have their place in situations where children may not be able to …read more

I know many people think video games are a bad thing and that kids spend way too much time on them. Well a few weeks ago I bought a baseball game (video game) at Blockbuster for cheap, I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it but hey it’s a game right?
Last night the hubby and SoccerBoy decided to take it out of the box and try a game. It was great hearing them laugh, soon we were all in the room laughing and watch the two of them try to figure it out.
Today, I decided I’d try my hand …read more

The mother of one of the teen’s accused of beating a classmate unconscious on a videotape that later showed up on YouTube was arrested last weekend for assaulting her daughter. Hmm…where did her daughter learn it from?
In one Michigan county teens are being sentenced for minor crimes by other teens.
Fantasy violence in video games is actually a good thing.
Need some help to keep your kids safe on the internet?
Are you worried your teen never tells you anything? Start asking them questions to get the conversation started.
And here are some questions to ask your teens about trust.
Does your child’s school have …read more

Today I declared our house a video game-free zone. It had to be done. These video games have been causing nothing but very annoying screaming and yelling the last few days.
It all started out innocently enough. The kids were quietly playing a quick game before dinner and I jumped on the treadmill for a much needed run (ok, brisk walk). I was only six minutes and 36 seconds in to my run walk when I heard some grumbling coming from the room. I turned up my ipod and tried to ignore them.
But at just seven minutes and 17 seconds there …read more

My kids are smack dab in the middle of finals. At least they are supposed to be. They were supposed to have a couple finals on Friday. A few more today. And finish up tomorrow. But we got a couple inches of snow on Friday so school was cancelled. Today the temp was somewhere around -15 with a windchill closer to -30 so school was cancelled again. Assuming it doesn’t snow tomorrow (which it’s supposed to) they are just going to have a shortened day and forget about finals until after winter break.
So instead of staying up all night to …read more

The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) suggests 10 video games you should keep away from your teens (or younger) and 5 games that are ok for the teens.
Here are 10 tips to help kids get their homework done.
Do you know the new skills for parenting a teenage girl?
We all focus on the negatives of ADHD, but Micheal Phelps has shown that there could be some positive results of ADHD as well.
Teen documents her war with food on YouTube.
A 13-year-old Florida boy was arrested for disturbing the classroom by passing gas.
A bus driver in Massachusetts offered high school …read more

HPV caused 25,000 cases of cancer in the United States between 1998 and 2003, including anal and mouth cancers.
More and more kids are medicated today.
Twinkies are the latest in 100-calorie packs.
Bullies get pleasure out of seeing others in pain. That’s disturbing.
There is yet another study showing a link between teen aggression and video games.
An Idaho teen stabbed his mother because she wouldn’t let him get on MySpace. Really!?!
Miley Cyrus and David Archuleta are performing at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
The drinking age debate continues.
Five ways to prevent diabetes in your teenager.
Researchers found a link between the amount of sleep a child …read more

Life in my son’s world has been out of whack for the past two weeks. Why? Because he had misplaced his beloved Game Boy Advance SP. He has looked high and low in every nook and cranny he could think of.
Because I am a “mean” Mom, I told him that if he didn’t find it he would have to buy a replacement – whether it was a new GBA or a Nintendo DS, but I wasn’t paying for it.
This morning my daughter was getting a shirt out of the laundry room when she spotted the missing GameBoy. How it got …read more

As my kids move through the tweens, the toys are taking on a different level of priority and interest.
My son’s toy box has not been cracked open in a year.  His free time is consumed with playing hockey in the driveway, playing video games or building with Legos. Meanwhile, the Thomas the Tank Engine collection has been replaced with a love for electric trains like Lionel and MTH RailKing. Racing toy cars in the dirt has been replaced with racing cars on PS2, and playing with Transformers robots has been replaced with programming his own robot with his LEGO Mindstorms …read more