Stay at Home Mom.com

It is not always easy getting the perfect gift for a teenager. When the kids were younger there was an endless variety of gift options. They loved everything and toys were divided easily by age range and type. But what do you get a teenager.

This year I am happy to report that there is a product out there we can totally endorse. And it is very silly and loads of fun. It is, as suggested in the title of today’s post, Jane Fonda meets Twister. If you are a borderline baby boomer like me, or even a GenX er, you may remember the game of twister - left foot green, right hand red. And if you were in your late teens or 20’s during the 80’s everyone remembers Jane Fonda’s workout tapes. Now there is the best of both worlds combined in a version that even teenage boys will enjoy. Yes, I am talking about Dance Dance Revolution. It is hilarious.

You need a game system to enjoy this game but it is almost worth the cost of the game system just for this one game. Our teenagers have the Xbox system (have not plunged into the Xbox360 yet but that’s another story) and our younger kids play with the Game Cube Nintendo system. There is a classic DDR (dance dance revolution) game that is compatible with Xbox and there is a DDR Mario mix for the nintendo system. The game cube system is much more appropriate for younger viewers.

This is how it works. Instead of a traditional game controller that the kids hold in their hands, the game comes with a 4 foot by 4 foot pad that lies flat on the floor and is connected by a wire to the master game controller box. The wire is long enough that the players are not too close to the TV. Then, the player loads the software game into the game player and stands on the pad. Then old songs from the 80s come on with their original video if available and in front of that video is a cartoon character (as viewed from their back side) also standing on a game pad. There is also a series of arrows at the top of the screen. When the game begins the player must step on the matching square on their game pad as is indicated on the screen. Arrows come up from the bottom of the screen to give clues where the next steps are going to be and the player must step on that section of the pad when the arrows light up on the top of the screen. It is easier to understand watching it than it is to explain.

The game is fun enough just playing by yourself but the game can become really competitive (and one of the reasons our teenage boys like the game) when you get a second game pad so that two players can play side by side - and compete against each other for accuracy.

Another great feature of this game is the workout mode. So, when the kids are at school us mums can sneak into the playroom and turn on the game console and play DDR in workout mode and watch as calories are counted while we improve our eye / foot coordination.

It is filled with great music and its good clean fun. If your kids are younger you may want to consider the DDR Mario mix because the characters featured on the screen are the familiar and unoffensive Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi. The DDR classic character is a woman as seen from the backside who more resembles Jennifer Lopez in spandex dance tights. So, get ready for left foot forward and right foot to the side and pick up the speed as you go along - all to great tunes that even us old folks can enjoy.

The season is in full swing and no matter what you celebrate there are reminders everywhere that you could be celebrating more. Magazine covers, every commercial on TV, good intentioned friends and family asking “are you ready yet?”. It is hard enough to help our kids find the meaning of the season with so many messages coming at us from all directions.

This year I had started out the holiday season on sort of a downer with the images from TV of people being stampeded on the day after Thanksgiving trying to get that one holiday specially priced item. So, that put me in a little bit of a bad mood. So, this week we tried something a little different. We have gone out of our way to make sure we are spending our time around people that are positive. I did not buy an extra magazine with more ideas. I still have the magazines from the past 7 Decembers and haven’t tried half the ideas in those. We are making a concious effort to keep it simple. And the final key is that we have gone back to basics. I pulled out a couple of the kids “baby” books on Christmas. The big chunky cardboard types. And we are reading the very basic stories written in the most basic terms.

The biggest thing for me though was the first part of this equation and that was making a concious effort to surround my kids with people that can be positive. So, be picky about how you spend your time and energy this season.

On a side note: the most recent toy to be inducted in the Toy Hall of Fame was an empty cardboard box - it provides hours of entertainment long after its contents have been broken and dispersed throughout the toy box.