Cooking Mama World: Babysitting Mama for Nintendo WiiTM is the first videogame to be released with a plush doll accessory to allow young fans of the eponymous ‘Mama’ to prepare for the responsibility of being a bit sister!
“There is a wide range of products available to help parents in their aim to prevent sibling rivalry: Babysitting Mama, books, dolls and games can all have a useful role in the preparation for a new arrival by encouraging kids to ‘copy mum’ and help siblings understand the needs and demands of a new baby,” commented Dr Amanda Gummer, psychologist and founder of research consultancy FUNdamentals. On the subject of sibling rivalry, Dr Gummer has highlighted the need for preparing children for the introduction of a new arrival in order to negate feelings of jealousy and other problems longer term. “Prevention is better than cure and parents can do a lot to help prepare older children for the arrival of a new sibling in a non-threatening, fun way.”
Dr Gummer’s key tips parents include:
Give children tasks that will encourage them to cooperate
Teach children about compromising
Give each child special time
Plan family activities that are fun for everyone
Lead by example
“After the birth – encourage the older children to help with the baby, keep an eye on them with the baby and encourage gentle touching and holding of the baby with you supervising. Point out that the baby seems to like them and show them how proud you are of them for being such a wonderful brother or sister. Encourage them to make memories to share with the new baby when he or shy grows up. Photo albums and scrapbooks can work well and the child will enjoy sticking in the pictures and older children can write descriptions to accompany them,” Dr. Gummer continued.
Playing along with Mama, players will have to follow instructions to carry out all the duties of a diligent baby sitter, including feeding the baby food, playing with toy blocks, changing nappies and helping baby take its first steps. The on-screen baby meter will display baby’s mood and show how well it is being cared for by giggling and smiling or crying.
Over fifty different challenges are available which can also be tackled in multiplayer mode, allowing two babysitters to go head to head to see who has the best handle on caring for little ones under Mama’s watchful eye.
With the plush baby doll peripheral, designed exclusively by Cooking Mama Limited, Wii owners place the Wii RemoteTM into a secure pouch in the doll’s back to bring it to life. Each doll is hand stitched; making no two babies exactly the same.
Cooking Mama World: Babysitting Mama is available now from publisher 505 Games, exclusively for Nintendo Wii.
