Fathers with Kids Who Appear Out of Nowhere to Grab a Control Pad and Ruin Your Game

It’s hard catching a little me time when you’re a father. Especially when you’re a gamer and a father. It’s great, it’s rewarding to spend time with your children, but it’s also great to take a break. When your break happens to involve a hobby your children love things can get complicated. Here are some gift suggestions to help simplify your life.

TV B Gone

This wonderful gadget makes sure you’re in control no matter who has the video game controller. Just press the button and the TV goes dark. Problem solved.

($19.99)

Nerf Vortex Praxis Blaster

Next time you see a child in-bound, eyeing the controller resting in your hand, pull out this pump-action, disc-spewing blaster. Just make sure you aim low, you don’t want to have to interrupt your session of Skyrim with a visit to the emergency room.

($24.99)

Dance Central 2

There’s only one way to settle things when stuff gets out of hand: Dance off! Fortunately, Dance Central 2 has your back with a built in two-player mode. Forget harsh words or quick hands, let’s see how can get down.

($49.99)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Sometimes the best solution is to just hand over your console controller and beat a hasty retreat. Especially if you’re retreating to your “office” computer to do a little undisturbed “work.” And by “work” I mean playing “Skyrim“… Skyrim. This life-absorbing, dragon-battling, shout-shouting role-playing game offers plenty of places to run, explore and play. The best part, on a PC it’s easy to kick the kids out under false pretenses.

($59.95)

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure

It doesn’t always have to be a struggle between you and your offspring when it comes to gaming. Sometimes there’s a happy medium. Take Skylanders for instance, this may look like something you’d hand off a controller over, but it’s actually a ton of fun to play, especially to play cooperatively. The toy figures actually track your character’s stats too, so you can tuck yours away in your bedside table drawer when you’re not gaming together.

($69.99)

Kinect

Here’s the ultimate solution to your grabby kid, no controllers. Kinect’s motion-detecting games let your play without the need to hold anything in your hands. Of course that means your children can just jump up and down in front of you. You’re going to have to check out another gift guide for solutions to that problem, sorry.

(149.99)

You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

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