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Hey Dad,

Hope you're enjoying the summer with your family. My son Sam (12) and I are getting ready to fly down to Florida today for a speaking engagement this weekend. Right now, I'm trying to set the house in order to alleviate some of the extra stress on my brave wife.

Actually, I just checked in on my boys, who are busy restoring order and cleanliness to the garage that they destroyed over the last week with all of their "projects."

My son Abe (6) was showing off the "table" he built for me to hold some of my tools. His face beamed as he watched my eyes pan across the splendor of the old door he had nailed three blocks of wood to as legs.

"Do you like it, Dad?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," I answered. "It's awesome. How did you know how to make that all by yourself?"

He smiled, humbly basking in the glory of his father's praise. I didn't say anything about the tools, scraps of wood, nails, and screws all over the garage floor.

This is the way things have been ever since we got home from traveling. The kids have been sawing, nailing, building, sword fighting, cap gunning, and "messing." They have to—because we told them they couldn't play their computers this summer. Gasp!

In fact, they have even been banned from their normal one-hour usage on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They balked a little when we announced it, but they haven't complained a bit since. Instead of blankly staring at their computer screens, they've filled their days with playing, creating, and enjoying the summer. It's been nice—really nice.

Dad, I talk to parents all over the country who are sick of their kids' computer/gaming addiction. So can I encourage you to "take the Gameboy by the horns" and declare a summer break from computers, video games, Xbox, and Nintendo Wii?

You may not be real popular at first with your kids, but they can deal with one month of "summer fun." If they can't, then that's exactly why you need to pull the plug for the rest of the summer.

So take the challenge, and help your kids enjoy their summer.

You 'da dad,

© 2007 Todd Wilson. Used by permission.

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