Video Game — Me Not

Even before I had kids I was not a fan of video games. Personally, they make me extremely motion sick -- especially now that the graphics have gotten so realistic. But that isn't why I don't like them. I see too many people get lost in worlds that don't exist. I have had friends who have lost relationships because they came second to a video game.

So when I had kids I had a very strict rule: No video games allowed in my house. It worked for eight years, until one day -- yesterday -- it didn't. See, there are only so many things I can control. And what my fiance does when he leaves the house is not one of them. If you haven't picked up on the hints by now, yes, he came home with an Xbox 1 for Justin, our oldest, and himself. He said it was for both the kids, but Easton is 2, and all he cares about is his stuffed bear, whose diaper he changes. No, no, no -- this Xbox was totally for Justin and himself.

So I said fine, y'all can have it -- but I have rules. Of course, the first rule was housework and chores are to be done before any sort of video game playing. This was very understandable to everyone. And the second rule was they can't get so wrapped up in the game that they take out that they lose me and or waste all their time playing it. Again, another understandable rule, and both agreed to it.

Fast forward to last night. Chores are done, Easton is in the bath and all of a sudden I hear Jordan downstairs yelling and freaking out. Like a good fiance, I holler down to ask him what is wrong and he tells me that his team is in 400th place and he is mad because he can't take shots at anyone and everyone is shooting at him and he can't get a shot off -- and I am paraphrasing because only half my brain heard him since the other half of my brain didn't care.

Once he calmed down, I asked him if he needed a support group for his crappy team and he glared at me, abruptly ending the conversation.

So my question is, how in the heck do you keep a grown man from getting lost in a video game? And how do you limit time on it without looking like a crazy loon of a person? I enjoyed my video game-free house and now it's gone ...