Everybody's favorite scaremongering rag the Daily Mail is at it again. Regular Mail scribe and middle England mom Rosie Millard has written about how a Nintendo DS "turned my delightful, curious and funny children into argumentative demons full of aggression." In the 1,000-word article, Millard laments that her blissful domestic existence was disrupted by her offspring squabbling over the console, and knows exactly where the blame lies: the "hideous" DS.So far, so predictable, but whereas we'd usually be irked by something like this, we actually found most of it amusing. For example, Millard unwittingly admits to purchasing pirated games ("The pale blue, £150 Nintendo finally arrived last November, fresh from Hong Kong, crammed with a 'bundle' of 20 games including Brain Trainer, Fifa 08, and Nintendogs"), while some of the language used is so ridiculously over the top and inflated that we couldn't help but smirk -- apparently, the DS encouraged a "mood [...] of anger, confrontation, pain and frustration." Eyes. Rolling.
Our advice, Rosie? Get a Wii -- they're lots of fun, and more suited to social gaming than the DS. As far-fetched as it seems, maybe you'll even crack a smile and have a go.
[Thanks, Matt!]
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
5-05-2008 @ 10:53AM
briancstrock said...
Good to know it isn't just parents in the US who will take any excuse they can get to blame their children's abhorrent behavior on anything but their own atrocious parenting.
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5-05-2008 @ 12:18PM
C.R. said...
4 kids and 1 DS? I have a brother and a sister and we all have one each. It was the same for the GBA SP. It wouldn't kill to get at least 1 more, would it? It's her fault that she's a pushover. I agree with her on the My Little Pony being hideous, though. And I suppose it did go to a good cause... but it was a bit too drastic, giving it away.
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5-05-2008 @ 12:22PM
C.R. said...
Another thing that irks me is how she gives us people from England a bad name! Making out we're a bunch of sad bids who don't like to game... I hate us sometimes.
5-05-2008 @ 4:21PM
rikki said...
"I'll admit, the Nintendo had its uses. I managed to achieve a longheld aim of getting a short haircut for Phoebe [...] She was so engrossed that she failed to notice the flashing blades and ended up with a wonderfully short crop."
What a wonderful woman. I can understand having rules and regulations on the hairstyles in your household, but resorting to deception to force a hairstyle on your ten year-old daughter is pretty cruel. Way to omit the part about how she cried inconsolately afterward, Mom!
...I can understand getting rid of the DS to correct misbehavior; it's fitting punishment, and my mother would have done the same and then some if I'd stolen a "restricted" toy from where she'd hidden it. But honestly, I think she's Doing It Wrong. The occasional biting and hitting I can understand, but on the whole a ten year-old and an eight year-old (and maybe even the five year-old) should ALREADY know how to SHARE.
Why do the bints always have to have so many kids anyway? I swear, it's as if the number of kids you give birth to is indirectly proportional to your intelligence and the amount of common sense you posess.
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5-05-2008 @ 8:21PM
elfgirl said...
its not the ds's fault- its poor parenting. any toy you put between them will cause a fight if they like it. and every family has problems. her kids can't have been little angels or argued about whos was whos- unless she never bought them toys
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5-06-2008 @ 9:19AM
Narcosynthesis said...
Seem to me that it is more her unorganised and limited use of it that annoyed everyone. Give kids a toy they enjoy playing and naturally they will want to play it as much as they can, and if that includes four kids and one toy then there will be fights.
Whats the bets that if she had set some solid groundrules then everyone would have been happy? Each kid gets x amount of time to play a day, or a day each or whatever. Then everyone gets a set amount of time and no fighting between them.
One other thing - she said she hid the console yet they still got hold of it and played it. Either they live with no rules and are free to do what they want and she felt the need to subvert them by hiding it instead of banning them from playing, or they are just unruly and undisciplined and ignore her requests and rules anyway. Neither shows her off as the mum of the year...
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5-06-2008 @ 5:35PM
Matdredalia said...
What really, really killed me about this article is how she talks about how she uses the DS to keep her kids quiet on the train, or to con her daughter into getting a short haircut.
I'm sorry, but if my mother had basically bribed me into getting my hair butched off into a style I didn't like, there would have been hell to pay.
This woman, who claims to value the arts, creativity, and self expression, apparently doesn't know what those words mean. God forbid she let her daughter have the haircut of her choice. I mean, of course, a ten year old girl could NEVER make a reasonable choice about her haircut. Sure, you can let her lose with a machine that costs £150, but choosing how to express herself through her appearance? Perposterous.
I feel so bad for her children.
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5-06-2008 @ 9:32PM
ladyofkrypton said...
Wow. She blames her own lack of parenting skill on something SHE bought. And to make it worse, she only bought one ds when she has 4 kids. I can understand if you don't have the money to get 4 of them. But don't blame the fact that you're kids are fighting over the one system ON the system. -_-;
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