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Five electronic gifts that are not video games
My kids think I’m a bad dad in our house on at least one score. I don’t let the kids play video games during the school week, and so far, we have not let them have a DS or other personal gaming device. We do let them play on the iPad, again on weekends. However, when it comes to video games, we mostly limit use to multi-player games on the Wii, which luckily are easy to find.
Many dads forget that there are still many electronic toys that captivate kids’ imaginations but don’t have anything to do with video. Here’s a list of a few that we like in our house, and still have the flashing lights, sounds, and movement to intrigue a ten year old.
1. Pinball – yes, pinball! It’s back among a lot of people as a classic game that works well for crowds and competition. There’s now a restoration market for pinball games, that were designed only to last a few years in a smoky barroom, but which can last a lifetime in a rec room. Maintenance is relatively cheap since the devices themselves are simple collections of wires, switches and cheap bulbs. For $500 you can pick up an old game that is fun to play and makes a great piece of modern art. We bought an completely refurbished game of High Hand and the kids, and their friends, love it! They are not maintenance free, but if you’re so inclined, can provide a decade of lessons in basic circuitry and a project for kids and dads to work on together. Most large cities have expert repairpeople if you need them.
2. Slot car sets – If you haven’t taken a look at these since you were 12, it’s time to take a look again. Now they are made with digital switches. That means you can have many cars on a 2-lane track. On our set from Carrera, you can have up to six cars, each with its own controller. With digital, the cars move from lane to lane at different switching points allowing for passing and intense action between cars speeding along limited real estate. The sets aren’t cheap, but about the same in 1980 dollars. Expect to pay around $300 for a good set that includes 2 cars.
You and your kids will be amazed how fun it is to watch the cars go around and around the track. Be prepared to squabble over who gets the “best” car, however, as well as a lot of jumping up and down as you chase cars that hit the turns a tad too fast. More cars and more controllers are on my own gift list for Christmas this year so I can finally compete with my 7 year old. He got permanent dibs on the Dodge Charger police car in our set while I have the surprisingly doggy Ford Mustang.
3. Remote control helicopters – These have been on the scene for about five years now, with the first ones completely unflyable. The early ones also had rotors that broke off during the first flight, ruining any father/child flying interlude and then costing at least a ten spot to repair. New helicopters, though, like the Military Thunder by Swann, use multiple flexible rotors that make flying a lot easier out of the box. With the older helicopters, I would wince every time my son took the controls, silently thinking, “well, there goes $30.” But this helicopter is really so easy a 7 year old can fly it (recommended age on box: 8 years). The secret is in the “twin counter-rotating coaxial rotors.” The instructions point out that you’d never build a real helicopter this way, but it does make a scale model that much more stable with less adjustments to “trim,” all while increasing lift. Kids love these helicopters! Good news, bad news is that you only get 5-10 minutes flight time with each 25 minute charge. Sometimes, though, dads like to limit break time from work or chores and this is a natural way to do it.
GreatDad Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.
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Beyond biking – three great rides for kids and dads
You don’t have to ride a bike to ride. And you don’t have to settle for the same old Razor Scooter. There are more options for kids that add new dimensions to the ride. Here are three of our favorites.
If you have big halls and flat surfaces, you have to try the Plasmart PlasmaCar. This little guy is just too fun. It’s powered on a flat surface by moving the the steering mechanism back and forth. While not explicitly made for adults, the car holds up to 220 lbs and I love riding it as much as my kids do. If you look at the Amazon link, you’ll find over 500 reviews for this car, and most of them 5 stars. It’s well made with fun styling and colors, and recent price decreases have made it really affordable at under $45. If you have the space, get 2!
We love our Jogo self-propelled Carving Scooter (from Trikke.com) as well.
It uses the same principle as the Plasmacar but in a scooter. It’s about twice the price at about $100, but while this one is made for ages 4-8, it’s a faster ride. And since it’s a scooter, the child is upright working out more muscles to make it go. To get an idea, see this video from a video contest run by Trikke. This film is of a 70 year old guy with diabetes and heart disease who swears by the Trikke adult scooter. When you see this, you might also have to get one for yourself.
You can see more videos on the kids’ version at Trikke.com. Trike makes all kinds of cool
Finally, with a slightly different mechanism, is the Rockerboard. This scooter is again twice the price of the Trikke (about $200), but the mechanism is clearly a lot more sophisticated and it works on a different principle. Here you are shifting your weight backwards and forwards to power a motor that uses a set of small pulleys and gears to turn a rocking motion into fast speed. The Rockerboard can be used as a regular scooter, but the real fun is riding it using the rocker board and getting some speed. The Rockerboard handles really well and I guarantee you’ll be the talk of the farmers market (as I was) if you cruise into the crowd on your scooter. This is also a “toy” you’re going to have to fight to share with your kids.
Have you tried other alternative vehicles? Motorized bikes and trikes? Let us know in comments!
GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.
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My son is reading – oh, no!
My 7 year old son is reading aloud! I should be so proud. Yet, he is reading the prose of Super Baby Diaper 2, another semi-literate installment in the Captain Underpants series.
I cringe at every sentence beginning with “Me want…,” and yet I’m glad he’s reading something other than those other puerile Scholastics “classics,” the retelling of Star Wars by Lego characters.
At the same time I’m hearing him read aloud, I am reading an opinion piece in the Saturday Wall Street Journal Review (my favorite section of the week) on the power of memorization of poetry and prose (“How Memorization Makes Words Live“). Memorization has become an ante-diluvian concept in our internet-ready world, looked on as backward as bothering to learn the multiplication tables. Yet, I believe, as the author does, that poetry is learned in a different way when you carry it around with you, ready to jump out at the strangest times and with the most abstruse connections. Popular music does this the same, at least when it’s written well. The lyrics of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Joni Mitchell are for me as close as the words of Frost, Yates, Eliot, and Prévert. Kids can find their analogues in modern music (God knows where) to understand the power of holding words inside themselves.
And this is where I connect reading to money. In posts long ago, I’ve pondered the use of allowances. As the wise Harvey Beck, of ActiveAllowance.com, once told me, the way parents give allowances is often a reflection of their political and economic beliefs. Some parents give an allowance for doing jobs around the house, connecting cash with work. Others communicate that the family is like a commune; every person does their jobs and an allowance is part of the bargain, but isn’t paid for getting the work done. Still others may just pay for specific tasks. We give our kids an allowance responsibilty-free,which I suppose reflects the effect of living in San Francisco for fifteen years. The kids get money for some tasks, especially those associated with work experience and things I’d rather not do myself, like stuffing envelopes. But the real money-maker for them is in reading and poetry. $2 for every “real” book they finish and $2 for every poem over 20 lines. Motivated kids could make a mint that way. Instead my son is happily reading “Super Diaper Baby 2, The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers.” Go figure. He’s done the price/value correlation and has decided that entertainment trumps industry, at least before noon on a Saturday.
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Movember comes to an end!
So tonight, my kids helped me cut off my mustache and they are glad to have their dad back again. I just turned 54, so the facial hair that gets you into bars when you’re 19, is not what you want to make you look older when you are, in fact, older.
But the family had fun with the process since they can’t remember the last time I grew my beard out, which about 2004. A friend of mind didn’t’ recognize me at my local coffee store, so I guess I know what to do if I ever need to really go incognito. I might opt for Groucho glasses instead though since the scratch/itchy thing is for the bird.
Bald faced plug: the Dad 2.0 team has already reached over $17,000, but it’s not too late if you want to help out the cause. 33,000 men will die of prostate cancer and the nearly 8,300 men who will be diagnosed with testicular cancer this year. Several important men in my life have died of cancer in the last few years, at least one because he didn’t go for an exam when he had serious symptoms. I’m doing this to raise awareness of men’s health.
If you can, take a moment to support the cause at http://mobro.co/GreatDad. Even $5 is helpful!
Philips Norelco is matching $15,000 for our team so they deserve some thanks and credit. They sent me the shaver you’ll see in the video I’ll post tomorrow (gotta do that whole YouTube uploading thing). They did ask us to let everyone know that there is currently a $30 holiday rebate underway for the
SensoTouch shaver: http://www.upgradeyourshave.com/?origin=|mckv|sIL5aiqBI&pcrid=8513465214|plid
It’s usually $199, so that’s a nice saving if you have another Movember sufferer in the house who is keeping the ‘stash until 12/25.
GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.
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Laptop making you infertile?
Add it to the list: no more laptop on your knees if you’re trying to have a baby.
A new study, published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility by researchers from Argentina and the U.S., found that semen samples placed a little more than an inch under a Wi-Fi-connected laptop experienced more DNA damage and mobility issues than regular sperm. The samples were taken from 29 healthy men with an average age of 34.
I would think the heat alone would be a warning sign, but this is even worse.
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