Parents often get a bad rap when it comes to video games. If they aren't complaining about how violent games are and then ignorantly buying their children the same games in the quest for pacifism, they're on a crusade to get their children to go outside and enjoy the real world. However, nothing you've seen, heard, or read before will prepare you for the latest parental concern regarding video games.

National Public Radio posted a commentary from Kelly McBride, a concerned parent, regarding her children's frequent use of the Wii. Rather than relishing the fact that the new toy has them off the couch and swinging their arms, Kelly worries that her children are equating the game version of the sports with the real-life counterpart; that is to say, the children are gaining "a false sense of what it's like to compete in the world."

The two minute commentary begins with Kelly outlining her dreams for fit children who come home sweaty and bruised after a game of pick-up baseball. She then proceeds to patronize her own children's new affinity for sports via Wii Sports. She mocks their sudden interest in these virtual sports and their so-called "exercise," despite the obvious physical benefits. She belittles their understanding of the real sports, only to widen her target to attack all the over-weight children of America and their newfound self-esteem before finally questioning whether or not these children will ever know the true sense of accomplishment that only reality can provide. As her commentary draws to a close, one can only think that her children's supposed self-esteem problems don't stem from their lack of interest in sports.

Her only plausible point—that a drop in self-esteem may occur should the children attempt the real sport and fail—can be quickly dismissed when you consider that such a drop in self-esteem would occur upon failing regardless of whether or not they first played Wii Sports. Rather than embrace the fact that her children are more active in their game-playing and may be pushed to go out and play the real sport, Kelly is more interested in placing the blame for her children's failures on the toy that is so cruelly depriving them of the natural inclination to go out and swing a racquet.

I find it amazing that the advances towards physical activity in gaming offered by the likes of DDR and the Wii are already being attacked by parents who are seeking to blame their own maladies on someone else. I'm honestly surprised that an argument against the exercise offered by the Wii even surfaced; if they weren't playing the Wii, they'd certainly be playing something else that had nowhere near an equivalent level of physical activity. Alas, perhaps my own investment and belief in the direction Nintendo has taken is skewing my interpretation of this commentary. What do you guys think? Does she have a point?