VICTIMS OF THE Wii FIT.

I have made peace with the Metal Monster by banishing its twice weekly intrusion into my life. If I choose, I allow it in once a month for interest's sake and nothing more. Life is much better this way and I'm a happier and more balanced person. I can get on with enjoying life, good food and wine without streessing about what the numbers will say.

But its funny how it just cant be avoided to the extent I truly desire. Earlier this year our boy acvhieved something very significant that was very challenging for him and that he'd struggled with for several months. We had promised him a reward of his choice when he achieved this feat and true to our word he was allowed to pick what he wanted.

Well he chose to have a Wii Fit as other family members had recently purchased one and we had all had fun with it together over Christmas. So what does the Wii Fit do? As well as providing some amusing training (some good some total rubbish) it does a "Body Test" where it measures your centre of gravity and weighs you. Yes you enter your data about height, age etc and when you stand on the balance board it weighs you and reports your weight and BMI.

Our son loves it and I admit that it has been educational in terms of what it means to be underweight (nobody has that problem in our family!!), the correct weight, overweight ( we have family in this category) and obese (and in this one too!!). It has made him more aware of the importance of being active and eating healthy food which is a good thing.

So I should just get over the fact that every fortnight we all do our body tests to see where we're at. Our son is "ideal weight / BMI" and so am I (although I've just dipped below my ideal BMI so was scrutinised about that!!) but Peter recorded "overweight" after the Christmas celebrations. Well the issue couldnt be brushed under the carpet as our son fully expects that he will lose weight to achieve a reading in the ideal range.

So a goal had to be set. Peter boldly says "yes I'd like to lose 3 kilos":. Our son records it on the Wii Fit but the new weight still registers in the overweight category. Not good enough dear. Our son keeps adjusting the weight down until it reaches the ideal range. I think it got to 5 or 6 kilos that Peter had to drop to get in his ideal range. 

Peter is appalled. I look at him with wide, innocent eyes and dare him to let our son down by saying or implying that being in your ideal weight range is not important. Nope!! Suck it up baby and start working on those kilos. You want to set a good example for our boy.

:-) Magda

PS He is making good progress though. Steady and slow wins the race for him.