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Clinically obese and obsessed with his Xbox. We found a vehicle to get my 11 year old sons weight in check !

Joe is my 11 year boy whom since the age of 8 has followed in his father's footsteps and loved TV and his games consoles; he has an Xbox, a DS and a Play Station. From a very early age this kind of technology had captured Joe he was utterly enthralled by it. At first I didn't mind it all that much. I was very aware that it was a sign of our times, this technology is prevalent throughout society and we can't ignore it. But eventually over a period of time it seemed to take over, it was all he wanted to do. I was so wrong letting him sit and play games and watch TV all day long. My son is my life, I adore him and I believed in allowing him play on these games and letting him do everything what he wanted was showing how much I care. It couldn't have been further from the truth.

I have begun to regret giving into and letting Joe have the consoles. Kids need discipline and I had been an irresponsible parent by letting Joe do whatever he wanted. Over the past 12 months he hasn't done much other than play his games consoles however I don't think it was his fault - our parents should put restrictions in place shouldn't they, I would say this was mostly my fault. Guilt was my problem, I felt bad for having to go to work and bad for not being able to take him to school and collect him. Maybe many mums feel these emotions. Sometimes I think Joe played on this a bit, he isn't devious boy but kids do play on parent's emotions and they are clever enough to try to take advantage, even more so when it came to putting pressure on me to let me do whatever he wanted. As a result of consoles and TV and with giving in to him, he became gripped and had gained 3 stone in weight due to sit playing and inactivity. I was so upset, I had let this happen. My son's well being was compromised by me. I couldn't work out how to put it right at first but I understood that I needed to find a way.

Some tough love was required which appeared to make the situation better but our home became an disgruntled place for weeks. Joe conformed to the new rules. We took time to do more things together and Joe squandered no more than an hour a day on his consoles. He complained a lot and it he kept telling me he was fed up. He was having withdrawal symptoms; it was as if I was depriving of a drug. Each Saturday we would go bike riding and on Sundays we would go for walks in the park which was superb, we both really liked it. Although this amount of activity just wasn't sufficient and whilst at home Joe still spent his time relaxing around the place.

It wasn't happening, it wasn't right. What should I do to encourage? He needed some incentive. I wanted to reawaken his zest for life, give him back his enthusiasm. What could I do to get him active again? I searched for so long, spent ages on the net that my eyes became weary. I felt drained sitting in front of the monitor. I had a rest and my mind went back to when Joe was a little boy. He totally loved playing outside with his cars. Full of energy he would race around with such vim and forever with a smile on his face, golly how times can change as he certainly wasn't happy now. I looked at handset from the games console and picked it up. What was there that was like this but without the monitor to sit infront of? Then it came to me. When I was a child I watched the boy from next door messing about and attempting to fly his radio controlled helicopter. The control was wireless just like on the games console. Yes it was technology minus the screen. It was a technology that you would have to move around about the place to use. Could this be the answer? I got immediately back on to the internet to find out more.

There were so many radio controlled toys to choose from - Helicopter toys, radio controlled boats, radio controlled tanks, radio controlled trucks. Joe loved cars as a child so I ordered an electric radio controlled tank. When it came I gave it to him. He smiled switched of his game and got it out of the box. He charged the battery and then went outside with it. He was gone for hours.

Joe really likes to play with his tank and since that day he is getting much more exercise and fresh air and is steadily losing weight. Joe is out in the park putting his tank through its paces and builds obstacle courses for it in the garden. His friend has got one now as well and they are always mending and tuning them after they have been out on routine patrol. I am pleased that Joe is more energetic and loves his tank and I am very content that he spends a lot less time on his games consoles and watching TV. He does still play on his consoles but not nearly as much. I have had a play with Joe's tank and surprisingly I got the hang of it they are pretty fast! I have come to welcome technology and I realise our contemporary world but we are none of us obsessed by it any longer and I believe we have managed to find the balance thanks to radio controlled toys.

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