In anticipation of our upcoming 18 hour road trip to Florida, I broke down and agreed to buy a portable video game system for my kids.
The man at the video game store put three different consoles on the counter, the least expensive of which cost $75.
My boys stared at the system that cost $200 and started to drool.
While the man told me more than I wanted to know about video game graphics, I felt my mind wander to the possibility of walking out of the store without a video game system at all.
"Don't you have anything less expensive?" I asked.
The man shook his head.
"What about that thing?" I asked, pointing to a small object on a shelf behind the counter.
"That's an old Game Boy system," the man said wrinkling his nose. "But you don't want that. A dog chewed on the outside and the screen is scratched." He held it out for me to inspect. "I just keep it around for people to test games."
"That's exactly what I want," I told the guy. "I'll take it!"
The man looked confused until I gestured to the Game Boy's new owners. One was making farting noises on his arm; the other was jumping up and down on one foot.
"I have to go to bathroom soooooooooo bad!" he cried.
The man offered to sell me the contraption for $40.00 but because of the bite wounds, I was able to talk him down to $20.
The Game Boy made it home intact. It survived the afternoon and somehow managed to live through dinner. About an hour ago, one of my sons accidentally dropped it on the driveway.
"It's all over!" they wailed in unison.
"I only got to play it once before it broke!" cried the twin that didn't drop the Game Boy on the driveway.
My only regret? Not buying the $200 console.
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Hi...just blog hopping tonight. Thought I'd say "hello". Aren't you glad you got it for $20 instead of the original price?
Oh, the joys of parenthood! ;)
Ah... have fun on that drive!
You need to blog for 'traveling with kid ideas'. Bet your readers have grand ideas.
That Gameboy survived a dog, but not a trip to the driveway? My brother's even survived the washing machine once... Yep, too bad you missed out on the $200 one ;)
I don't know why but I just feel the last comment about feeling bad about the $200 one was a touch sarcastic.... :)
As a seasoned parent (ahem) I say dig around your couch cushions for spare change, return all clothing items with tags on them for the extra cash...sell plasma if you need to...but GET THAT NEW GAMEBOY SYSTEM HOWEVER YOU CAN before you start that trip. Also a portable DVD player if you can. This is a situation where you just throw money at the problem and de-program your kids later.
Besides, psychiatric treatment (your own) can be very expensive; you don't want to end up in therapy after a long ride with bored children.
If you put a donation button on your blog, I'd be glad to contribute to the GameBoy for Sanity fund.
Oh, they just would have spent the whole trip fighting over it, anyway. I always find it helpful on long car trips to have a stash of small toys that I dole out at regular intervals. Cars, dolls, coloring books and crayons, cheap sunglasses, disposable cameras, lunch at Burger King for the toys that come with the meals, etc. The dollar store is a great place to find good toys, the weirder the better - it keeps them entertained for longer. :)
kids books on CD, loaded on an MP3 player, can be broadcast to the whole car. Frog & Toad, Froggy, Mike Mulligan, etc. Borrowed from the library.
Hand held games - don't forget the headphones - the beeping and background music will push you to the edge of your patience.....
Also be sure to plot your route based on where there is McDonalds with the playground.
I have never understood why parents by young kids expensive games! Good for you on going with the cheapest one! My aunt bought her 7 year old son a PSP for Christmas and it was shattered before the beginning of the year.... although she is making him pay for the new one since he didnt take care of the first one. She actually didnt buy the new one until he had saved up over half. The new one is actually surviving pretty well considering!
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That's kind of how I feel about getting expensive toys/clothes for kids. They can enjoy the expensive stuff when they're old enough to take care of it responsibly. Same for expensive clothes. They can enjoy them when they stop growing so darn quickly!
My best friend's son gets "vintage" playstation systems and games from me for birthdays, Christmas, and even for his elementary graduation. Notice how I said systems? Yeah. Their cats broke the first system I got him. Just $25 got him a "new" PS1 replacement system, more games, special controllers and a memory card. Way better than paying mega money for a recently released system that can be broken just as (if not more) easily. :)
We have three of those and an older model - all yardsale finds or craigslist. And I refuse to get the newer models for the same reasons. The 7 yrold is requesting an iTouch from santa this year. hahahahhaahhaha.
no.
Try craigslist...I bought 3 of the same systems you bought for about the same price! Last year we had a 14-16 hour drive ahead of us the games were a nice change to movies!
You are a genius, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
Well, at least you are only out 20 bucks instead of 200. Good luck on the drive.
Sounds like something that would happen at our house. Good luck on your drive!
gotta love stupid electronics. loosing $20 bucks is nothing, and maybe just maybe it's a lesson to be learned, when kids are begging for other little gismos, "remember the game boy that didn't last a day?" I'd say.
my daughter is trying to finagle me into buying her a new barbie after I just got her one for previous good behavior. the next one is going to be hard won with all her pleadings and cajoling. ahh kids gotta love em
I was just going to say I know how you feel! However I bought my son a DS and it survived many falls even off the second story in our home. When I bought the DS I also bought a cover for it that Nerf makes. They sale it pretty much where ever DS's are sold they are about 15 bucks and are a life saver!
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