a review of the Wii Fit
We bought a Wii Fit over the weekend. It has been used for hours every day since. The older children use it as part of their PE. The younger children use it to burn off excess energy during these cold days. For mothers with active children, the latter alone is worth the small investment. When we could get the children to take a break, Clint and I have enjoyed it too. We love how it tracks the progress of each family member's BMI, weight, fitness age and progress. We plan to buy the Active Life Outdoor Challenge and My Fitness Coach (click links for video reviews) soon since it will give us more of a variety in activities.
If you are going to allow your children to play video games, this is the healthier way to do it:
"Research performed earlier this year by Professor Tim Cable at John Moores University in Liverpool indicates that using the Wii results in an average of 40% more calories burned, when compared to using traditional gaming equipment. The average number of hours children in the UK spend gaming each week is 12.2 hours; if that time was spent on the Wii as opposed to other more traditional video games, children could burn approximately 1830 calories per week! This is because the energy expenditure of using the Wii is 156% above resting, while the energy expenditure of using a traditional joypad is 60% above resting. Dr. Cable's small study was performed on boys and girls age 13-15 years of age, and concluded that the calories burned could result in a loss of as much as 27 pounds per year when played regularly." source
