Fortuitous?

Last spring, JM worked his tail end off for a Gameboy. I knew I needed to get educated on them quickly. So I went to the local Game Crazy, and said to the guy, "Look at me. I am not a gamer obviously. Give me the scoop on Gameboys, and all that."

He gave me the scoop, which I will give you. Gameboys are not being made by Nintendo anymore. BUT! Because they were around for so long (10+ years, which is eternity in game world), there are thousands of games out there. Nintendo is doing more of a phase out than just plain quitting making them. Gameboy games are definitely child friendly, and many many can be found that are not violent, somewhat educational, etc.

Nintendo is replacing the Gameboy with the Nintendo DS. It has a stylus to it, will play all Gameboy games, and has an appeal to the adult market for two reasons. The children's games are much harder to find in the DS's. Also, recall the commercials where the guy is exercising his brain by playing Brain Age. They are word/math games that studies have shown keep us sharp. I have a side note to that at the end of this post.

Anyway, I chose to let JM get a Gameboy because that seemed more age appropriate. He worked a lot of chores, washed cars, took out garbage, and worked. He got it last May. Little brother BH was jealous, and a friend gave us a very old version that seems to work okay for him.

As JM's birthday came closer last fall, and especially his reading skills were going through the roof, I found a deal on a Nintendo DS, bought it, and hid it until the time seemed right. Well, this last Thursday, on JM's birthday, guess what little turkey (BH) got mad at a game, and threw his brother's hard earned Gameboy on the floor? You can see the results in the above picture. Cracked screen. Also makes a funny squeaking sound when games are in it. Well, the time seemed right to give the DS, that kind of answered that question.

Luckily, JM was a little out of it on his birthday. He was bummed, but also feverish. On a healthy day, he would have been mad (rightfully so!) and cried.

Later that afternoon.....I had BH hand JM a Nintendo DS game for his birthday.

JM immediately says, "But MOM!! I don't have a DS!"

Me: "Really? You sure?" I hold up the DS box.

Score! Suddenly the busted Gameboy went away fast.

I have been looking on ebay for a used Gameboy just because we have a good supply of games for them, BH definitely plays with them, the older one we have is hard to see the screen, etc. From what I have seen, I can probably get a Gameboy, with a handful of games, for half the price of a new one. I'll keep you posted!

Side note:
When I stopped working and stayed home with the kids, I noticed something that kind of freaked me out. I was suddenly not sharp anymore. I forgot things easily, lose things, and just have a general hazy intelligence feeling. Freaked me out! I am normally a fairly sharp tack.

At that time I read an article that said many people feel that when they are over 30 (hush!) and that an easy way to combat that is to play handheld word/math games. I just so happen to love hand held games and had/have a Boggle and a Scrabble game. I play one of them for a few minutes before I go to bed now. Guess what? Basically, I don't feel so stupid anymore. It does work. I really recommend this if you feel this way. Do you need to go buy a $100 Nintendo DS and a $30 Brain Age game? No. Just find a little $10 game at the back wall of the Target toy section. Pick one you like.