I agree - get it for him.
On preview, I’m deleting everything I wrote and will just say, “What Giraffe said.”
I really, really have to be the voice of dissent here, but let me preface it with the following; I don’t have kids, I don’t want kids, but I really do love kids. However, the main reason I feel compelled to comment is that I grew up with parents that started out much like CairoCarol, feeling the need to micromanage and micro-discipline every.single.thing.that.I.did. Thankfully, they soon realized that I was quite capable of self-regulating and backed it off in favor of a more authoritative style of parenting. Thank God! My aunt, on the other hand, kept up with this manner of overprotective micromanagement and her kids eventually went completely bonkers by the time they were teenagers.
Wow, sounds like your household is a barrel of fun! :dubious:
I’m just going to be straight with you; you think you’re creating a little Gandhi, but what you’re really doing is squashing this kid’s, well, kid-hood. Kids want to be kids - they want to play, want to have fun, and generally want to do their own thing for as long as they want to do it. This is how they work out their identities, interests, motivations, desires, and so on. Why put such arbitrary, prison warden restrictions on the kid’s life? There’s no better way to completely suck the joy out of any of his pastimes than to impose arbitrary and militant time limits, rations, restrictions, and so on. Why not just let the kid be a kid? You might be surprised when, since you’ve obviously raised him right, he actually regulates himself and doesn’t turn into a little video-zombie! But that means giving up the arms of control, and that’s a terrifying thing for the sort of parent that you are (made obvious by the nature of the post).
Actually, it sounds like he’s terrified of actually asking for a present because of the ensuing guilt trip and stern admonishments of, well, his parents. I mean, if I had a mom who considered a $3 allowance “insane,” I’d be terrified of asking for an actual extravagance like a Wii, if only for the guilt trip and recrimations that would invariably ensue.
It sounds like you’re creating an anxiety-ridden, anhedonic worry-wart rather than the well-adjusted little Gandhi that you seem to think you are. Sure, he may excel in school, but you’re creating the type of kid who’s going to use his success to write lines like “they fuck you up, your mum and dad” and so on. The whole thing reminds me of this Mr. Show clip (starts at 1:18).
Again, YMMV, with all due respect, and so on. It’s just that controlling, micromanaging parents really bother me.
I don’t really get the sense their kid is micromanaged. I think it’s a good idea to make sure a young kid isn’t plopped in front of the TV or computer for hours and hours a day without supervision – though I have to admit spending hours and hours a day on the computer got me to be pretty good with them…
It sounds like he has friends, he plays with them, he gets out of the house and does other things and enjoys them. What’s the problem in that? It’s possible to sincerely LIKE piano lessons (I hated practicing too, but I still liked to be able to play an instrument). And I was at least slightly conscious as a kid that my family’s budget was tight; more, I didn’t want to seem like a greedy kid. “I don’t need the ultra deluxe set of Lincoln Logs, Mom. The middle set will do me. And there’s no computer games I’m dying to have… well, except this one…” I was a constant irritation this way (and still am) because I hate outright asking for anything from my parents. It’s just a personal quirk.
I don’t know how far $3 goes in Cairo. I know that I had a $5 allowance at that age, which was mhrmrhhrm years ago – long enough that it was worth more than it is now, not so long ago that it was worth a LOT more than it is now. I had to work hard for that money, too, but I knew anything apart from candies and snacks at the store was something I could ask my parents for and be fairly assured of getting if I hadn’t been a little swot and it was a reasonable request. So “Mom, I want this new computer game” would probably ascertain it for my birthday. “Mom, I have no jeans that fit right” would get a trip to the store on a coming weekend. “Mom, I want a Nintendo” would be met with “You have a computer, you have games, what do you want a Nintendo for? You want it enough, save up for it.”
I’m actually fairly bad at handling my money, though – I tend to overspend on things like going out to eat, not always realizing that small amounts of money really add up and the balance on my account does not always reflect the reality of the money I actually have to spend. I’d base that problem on other thngs than my early allowance, though. 
If he’s been hinting at the Wii, sure, why not? I know I would have wanted one.
I think this is just adorable. That selflessness from a 9 year old on his birthday speaks very highly of all of you. 
I’d get him the Wii and not worry about him being spoiled. As others have pointed out, it’s not just wanting for nothing that makes a spoiled kid.
A lot of good points have been made, but this is the one thing that I wanted to address, because it sounds like you’ve got a very prejudiced view of video games in general.
There was a column I read about a year ago, I can’t remember where, in which the central conceit was how parents would have reacted if, somehow, video games had been invented before the novel. The author railed against this new scourge of “reading,” listing off it’s manifold evils as compared to healthy, traditional video games: it’s completely solitary, it’s non-interactive, it’s totally sedentary, etc. etc. It was a great article, and it made it’s point pretty well: it’s not the medium, it’s the message. Video games are not inherently less worthy than books, television is not less worthy than theater, music is not less worthy than painting. Video games aren’t going to rot your kids brain, no more than reading will, assuming you pay attention to what he’s playing, just as I’m sure you do with what he’s reading. Properly supervised, they can be just as beneficial as a good reading habit. I was about your son’s age when my parents bought me the original Nintendo, and they placed no restrictions on how much I could play it at all. Just as they’d done earlier in my life with reading, they introduced me to a lifelong passion. And unlike reading, it was one where I could make a decent career out of.
Don’t sell video games short just because they weren’t around when you were his age. They’re a new, vibrant artform, entirely unlike any that’s preceded them, with a potential that we can scarcely fathom at this nascent stage in their development.
First, thanks to everyone for giving me so much to think about … although VC03, you are reading too much into too little information. Our son is full of joy, so even if we are “micromanaging” him, which I doubt, it seems to be working well for him. You’d really need more information before coming to that judgment, though. For example: I said he doesn’t watch live TV, not “we don’t allow him to watch live TV.” It’s Cairo. Most of the TV is in Arabic. What’s he supposed to watch, Al Jazeera? I thought the info about his interaction with media/electronics was useful context regarding a Wii, that’s all.
And now, an update: we decided he could have a Wii this summer if he pays for part of it, continues his good attitude toward chores, and his overall grades don’t go down. When I told him this, he said “oh, thank you, but that’s not really necessary … I’ve been reading about it, and the graphics aren’t really great” (and launches into a technical discussion of the merits of the Wii which loses me, since I’m not knowledgeable on these things).
So we talk, and it becomes pretty clear he is doing the “little Gandhi” (if I may borrow the term) routine; he wants it, but is too saintly to say so. (I thought at first maybe he wanted a PS3 instead, but no, he says the Wii is better.) I assured him it was alright, and he ended up with a radiant smile looking about for some chores to do as a sign of his devotion to meeting his part of the deal.
Well, there is NO WAY I can convince a bunch of strangers that we are not somehow twisting our son’s psyche here. Personally, I would be a little suspicious myself that a kid was being too severely disciplined/restricted if I heard a nine-year-old was behaving that way. But honest, we are not the parents from hell, we are pretty nice to him actually. This is just the way he is right now. While he is not perfect, he is growing up and becoming more mature by the day, and he has a good soul.
Now, I just hope we can get a Wii this summer. I hear they are hard to come by?
As long as you limit his use the way you do all the other brain-burning stuff that can suck out a kid’s soul, I say go for it. You sound very reasonable with regard to this kind of thing.
Video gamers make good surgeons. Don’t let it get out of hand, but all in all more video games might be good for him.
Don’t worry too much about all this goodness - he’ll be a teenager soon enough.
StG
Pretty hard. If you have relatives in the States, you might ask one of them to keep an eye out for one and stash it for you until you get here, otherwise there’s a good chance you won’t be able to find one before you head back to Egypt. Or you could pre-order one now, and have it shipped to friends or family in the states. Betting on being able to find one in the stores is chancey right now.
Yup, I am actually fairly in favor of moderate computer game-playing. It’s good for reflexes, relating to one’s peers, and all that. (Hey, back in ancient history when playing Pacman in video arcades was popular, I was the neighborhood champ. I’m not kidding - teenage boys clustered around me to watch me play.)
In fact, I largely agree with what **Miller ** said. Not to say I don’t favor books over computer/video gaming to a certain extent – it is hard for me to believe that playing Diner Dash for an hour has the same value, in terms of my son’s development, as an hour spent reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Certainly there is less to discuss and share afterward.
But that doesn’t mean my son, and others, can’t do both. Besides, CairoSon has good taste in his choice of games. Right now he is fascinated by RPG Maker, in which he designs (on a basic level, of course) his own games. I think that’s excellent!
If that seems inconsistent with anything I’ve said earlier, it is just that I view gaming as extremely seductive. I can see where it could easily replace reading in a child’s heart. What I fear is not so much that he will play computer games as that he will lose the joy he now has in reading. That would be tragic.
There’s also another factor to consider: The Wii is freaking awesome. You might end up playing it yourself. It also doesn’t promote a sedentary lifestyle… I regularly break a sweat after playing Wii Sports for awhile, and I’m a pretty skinny, not too-out-of-shape guy.
And information technology people. Most IT geeks probably played video games as kids- most probably still do play computer games. The handwriting thing wouldn’t be a problem then, either- we almost never write anything by hand that anyone else has to read 
There are both books and video games of widely varying levels of educational value. Playing a video game like Civilization or Europa Universalis would probably have more developmental value than reading something like a Harlequin romance novel.
There are people who enjoy both gaming and reading- I’m one of them.
Word.
Wii > PC because PC = solo experiance. Wii is a social interaction (the OP does like to pay with her son, right?). Wii = fun afterdinner family time and possibly even neighborhood kids over to the house after school playtime. It will make him the envy of the neighborhood and your house the hub of Fun for months to come.
And if you have a really bad day, challenge him to Boxing.
My vote: Get him the Wii. I don’t see any reason why not, and they are fun. I got my kid (11) one and he sounds much less deserving than your kid, all told. It’s much less sedentary than other computer games. I recommend tennis.
you’re kid is unrealistically, bizarrely well-behaved, experienced, and mature for his age. Not that I’m saying he isn’t, but whatever the nice men in white coats did to him at a young age seems to have worked for the better. Sarcasm aside, I applaud you if you’ve really managed to raise such a great kid, but make sure like above that he doesn’t grow up to fast and that he has all that time to goof off.
Just make sure he makes friends, and has a good time. Just because he’s an ace musician, a well-read scholar, and a philanthropist at age nine doesn’t mean he’s a well adjusted social creature. I would, in fact, encourage him to use the Wii to get his friends over, and use it to expand his social horizons, the ability to be social is at a crucial stage in those years. I would encourage you to not hover over his social interactions or be the safety/workaholic parent who spends too much time scheduling their kid and worry-worting over him and his friend’s activities. Keep an eye on 'em for sure, but offer them lemonade when they go out to play, not lectures on safety.