Dateline May 02, 2008

Belleville, Ontario

We all want to retire, but often we don’t know what were going to do with the time once were there, and once there we often languish in a world of boredom, forgotten and put aside by the world around us. But retirement isn’t always the world we have come to expect, have been told it will be, or the fun it should be.

Video games have taken flight In the world of entertainment, so when you picture a group of people sitting around playing video games in preference to enjoying a warm, sunny day, your youngsters or kids’ most likely pop into your mind, not a group of elderly individuals, laughing and playing around the television.

Welcome to Quinte Gardens in Belleville, Ontario, where recently senior citizens at this retirement spot have been having fun, getting exercise and socializing while playing on Nintendo’s Wii gaming system. While virtually rolling bowling balls down a lane, pitching and hitting a baseball, and even throwing a few good rights and lefts to keep boredom at bay, while they wait.

A therapeutic method that has seen an increase in use in recent months to help rehabilitate individuals suffering from the affects of strokes and brain injury, create fellowship and friendship around the retirement home, and even help the motor skills of retired individuals, it’s an amazing all around activity that will give them the desire to enjoy life, and yes live longer.

Reports have the old folks having more fun around the retirement home then they have for years, I guess the cards, and shuffle board will get put away for awhile, maybe for good, now that the Wii has taken hold.

I may head down to the retirement home here in Prince George, and see if there are any sports fanatics around the home, maybe we should all buy one for a retirement home around our hometown and deliver it to them.

I’m sure your grandchildren would enjoy spending more time with their grandparents, now that they have another mutual interest to keep them together.