I absolutely love this thing. We got it because our winters are far too long, and my kids really don't like playing in the snow that much. Plus we needed something more interesting than me telling them to jog in place for 30minutes straight. The kids love it, too. My daughter rocks the stepper, and loves to 'ride' a bike around town. My ds loves the hulu hoop contest and it really makes him sweat. I think the Rhythm Kung Fu is awesome. BUT- when you start up your mii (little person representing you), it weighs you, then changes your mii to approximate your weight. Fine for dh and myself- I don't care, I'm in my thirties. But both of my children are overweight, and I don't think my 9yo really needs his mii to look like an apple. It was a huge blow to his self esteem, and far from making him work harder it made him NOT want to do it at all. Thankfully, a lot of talking to him has mostly alleviated that, but ds is now a bit obsessed with weighing himself. If I had realized that the Wii Fit people felt the need to do that to children, I probably wouldn't have bought it at all. Just wanted to pass that info on to other parents.
Oh wow. We don't have one, but I was thinking about getting one for myself. I think seeing my mii looking like I look now would be a blow to my self esteem also. No way it would motivate me to use it at all. Whoever thought up this feature has obviously never struggled with their weight. I'm so sorry your son had to be upset by something like that. Is there any way to override that?
Good to know. I can blow it off, but I'd be very concerned about dd11. We are naturally built like football players and weigh a lot more than what our clothing size lets on. Thanks for the heads up!
When I was pregnant with the baby, I didn't have a scale. So when my midwife needed to weigh me, I used my Wii Fit. Talk about a HUGE Mii! HA! On the other hand, I have never considered letting my kiddos do the body test. They rarely do WiiFit. They prefer Outdoor Challenge (scroll down for screen shots).
I never thought of that! We have one...and my daughter's was slightly pudgy but not bad. yeah...the Mii really doesn't need to be that way. I get the idea but I can see how to a child that would be hard.
Yes, your weight does change the appearance of the wii. I was very slim as a child, and I can remember the pediatrician telling my mom at every visit, "She is badly underweight." My parents even had adult friends who made fun of me, calling me, "Fat Carol". I was very self conscious about it. My DD has the same issue. Thankfully the pediatrician, has never said anything to her about her weight, and she hasn't been teased. The grandparents bought a wii for our kids for Christmas, and don't you know the wii told my DD that she is underweight. :roll: After that, her cousin who was visiting, and is a little overweight refused to play the wii. I felt bad for both of the girls.
How often do you weight yourself using the Wii Fit program? Is it something you do weekly that would show a change in the character you see on screen? I think in general many children are overweight but what a way for them to see it... nothing like scar their self-esteem. Scaring them into weight loss isn't a good way to do it... one would think you would see the opposite effect (like anorexia or bulimia, etc)
You can do body tests every day if you want to, although the unfortunate thing is that it doesn't really tell you how much you've lost unless you know where to go(it tell you your BMI instead, which is a bit too vague for kids imho). Ds has lost 6 pounds (yay!) but didn't know it until I checked and told him. I'm not sure if the mii will change. I sure hope so.
A friend of mine got a Wii Fit after she had a very successful gastric bypass (went from around 400lbs to around 250lbs) She has a great outlook on life, so she laughed it off when she stepped onto the scale and it actually groaned! Really? To me, that is the part that goes too far. I can handle a portly Mii, but groaning when I step on the scale???
It groans when I step on as well, or says, "oh!" in this sort of surprised voice. And it told me to gain 2lbs so we just find it amusing. I can see where it would be insulting, though.
I wanted a treadmill.. top of the line or close to it.. and I bought it. I also wanted a Wii Fit, mostly because we needed the balance board for a few other games we have so I bought that too. I have used the treadmill like 4 times... for about 10 minutes each.. it tells me I have to RUN since I have short legs and walking 4 mph just isn't going to happen, for 20 minutes to burn 150 calories. I can turn on the Wii fit, do a few rounds of hoola hoop a few of the step thing that is like DDRish and then 30 minutes of the step where I can turn on the news and watch it while I step and I burn 400 calories in like 45 minutes... and the best news..... IT'S FUN!!! I really wish I would have bought the Fit before the treadmill... but we have the treadmill downstairs in the gym room with the weight bench, the all in one weight machine, hubby's speed bag and what ever that other big bag thing he has down there to beat up on, oh and the elliptical that I also don't like.. it's another one that is hard for my short legs.
To be "fair" to the wii fit..(and we only have the original, not the newer versions), It's not intended for kids. My kids enjoy it, too, but my oldest was really taking to heart the "goals" it was setting. Stupid goals. It took several conversations, with DH & me both involved, to get through to my son that the program was not written to take children, especially growing children, who all grow at different rates, into account.
She might have been exagerating a bit for effect. I wonder if it was because she put on a few pounds since her last weigh in? I had gastric bypass a couple years ago and lost about 100 lbs, but I'm still considered obese. What's a girl to do? I've never used the Wii Fit myself. We have a Wii and I always thought I'd use it, but it turns out I prefer volleyball or to pound the pavement even during the midwestern winter. So glad I didn't invest in the eliptical now, too.
I have had it say the surprised "oh" to me too, and I'm 135 pounds. It's an electronic gaming system! If it was an actual person, I would be offended, but a piece of equipment?? Nope!
On the one hand I would be mortified if it moaned, groaned and snickered at me because of my weight but then on the other hand I've heard of so much success with weight loss using this system (and true that's it's an electronic gaming system). I have the treadmill downstairs as well (but I don't use it as often as I should). Learned very quickly that when you set it to do a 'program' NOT to adjust the initial speed because it seems to slow... it starts you out slow because 5 or 6 minutes into it, you speed up. Adjust that initial speed and you'll be running sooner than you want to be just to keep up :lol:
I agree with you and as an adult, I would probably be able to brush it off. (well actually, it would probably bother me, but I would deal with it). But as a child, it would have bothered me a lot.
This is just sick and wrong. No kid needs that kind of pressure. I didn't know this about the Wii so I am going to look out for that. My kids don't spend as much time on it as they did when we first got it. Ds plays golf alot, but the wii fit got old quick!
I agree- and it's easy for me as an adult to just raise an eyebrow at the sense of humor of the makers. But not for a kid. I love the thing, and the kids do too, so I'm not saying it isn't fun. I'd much rather do stair step aerobics following along with miis than staring at some super fit woman in leotards. I love the runs around the virtual park as well. The games are really amusing, and because they are GAMES you feel like you are accomplishing something instead of doing a mindless exercise. But I just think they could have left the plump miis out of it. They don't add to the program at all. To be honest, our country has really gotten to the point of victimizing overweight people. A very good friend won't go to her doctors until she looses an unhealthy amount of weight because she's sick of the lectures. I make dh take our kids because I'm tired of the looks I get and the inference that we eat canned food and chips all day long. A gaming system designed to help you lose weight and get more fit should be the LAST place to make us feel judged. That's like going to an aerobics class and having the instructor make comments about how fat you look. And I weigh 118lbs... it isn't something I'm used to dealing with, so maybe it's harder for me to brush it off. Just unacceptable to me. You don't help people by making them feel small and ugly to start.
