A little vent

OK, time for a little vent. Not really one about the kids though. More about a game.

You see I took Christmas as a time to give Tom family oriented gifts. The kids got him a board game. I got him a new game for the Wii. Since we all like to play the Wii together I picked out a Mini Golf game that looked fun. And it is. It's tons of fun. We all really like it, the kids can play on their own, and I'd say we've already gotten my $40 out of it.

So here's my beef. The game is rated "E" for "everyone". Family game right? Yeah it is. It's quite cute. If you get a par or better on the hole your character does a little dance. The daddy character does these silly things, and generally falls down. The mommy character is somewhat flirty and has cute little dances. The daughter character will twirl her club like a baton, or spin around and fall down. The little boy turns his fingers into 6-shooters and "pows" you. That's my issue. Really? That's all we can find for the little boy? He "pows" me.

I know, I know little boys will be boys. Still, does a mini golf game have to encourage it?

Cool thing about the game is you can earn different clubs to do new tricks. Yesterday the kids were playing and each wanted to get a new club. So Erin got the Dinosaur club, and Jeffrey got the Knight club. It's a golf club that looks like a knight on his horse with his jousting spear out. I figured the trick would be something "knightly". No. Upon achieving a great score on the hole, the young boy wields his knight club like an automatic rifle and "pow pow pows" the competition. He then sheathes his club like a sword. What on earth does that have to do with knights? It really bothers me. More than the 6-shooters with the hands does.

My guy is hyper, and crazy, and refuses to listen but he's also loving, and sweet, and influenced by the things he sees on TV. So today he's taking all his toys and wielding them like automatic weapons. I've explained to him that kind of behavior is not acceptable. We don't "pow" our friends. I expect in a day or two it will wear off. I'll change the club back into the train one that Choo-Choos around the screen, or maybe the fairyland one that makes a silly troll plop down on the screen.

But in a game that's rated "E", and is advertised as "A Hole in Fun", I'm a little disappointed that they couldn't come up with other ways for a little boy to celebrate a good putt than to "pow" the competition.