I’m a gamer (duh). I’m also a parent. My husband is also a gamer. We even named our son after a video game character. (His name is Gabriel Logan, and if you can name the game, kudos to you!) We gamed in front of Gabe a lot when he was an infant, but ever since he turned one and discovered the joys of TV, we’ve stopped gaming in front of him entirely. It may sound odd for a gamer parent to do, since wouldn’t we all want to get our kids interested our hobby?
Our answer (giant emphasis on our) is a resounding NO.
Now before you get all bent out of shape, this is not a diction in how to raise your kids. This is just about how we have decided to handle Gabe and gaming. Moving on…
My husband’s reasoning is that he wants to encourage Gabe to play with friends, toys, and enjoy the outdoors before he discovers gaming, because he most definitely will one day. In our house, there is no escaping it. We have a PS2 (two actually), GameCube, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and two PSPs. Once he puts two-and-two together about the strange black boxes, it’s pretty much all over. In the meantime, we try to encourage other things for him to do and continue to only game when either he’s asleep or away.
As for myself, the reasoning is far less noble. I simply don’t want to share my toys. I wasn’t allowed to game growing up, and dammit if I’m going to let my own spawn take away my precious gaming time now. Once he gets to the age where I really can’t keep the fact that I game a secret anymore, we’ll have to set up a compromise and he’ll have to know that Mommy always comes first when it comes to gaming.
I also don’t think kids should be allowed to game too early on in their lives. I have several friends who disagree with me, but I know how addictive games can be and how quickly children can become addicted to one thing. For example, Toy Story 2 runs in our house at least twice a day. When Gabe is four or five, I bet I won’t care so much. But at 2 going on 3? He can wait. He has his teenage years and twenties to waste in front of games–but only if he has good enough grades to earn it.
I know that gaming is something that families can do together, blah blah blah, but gaming for me is not about being social; it’s an escape. No one wants to continue parenting during their escape. Both honestly and selfishly, I’d rather go play in the park with Gabe than play some family themed shovelware.
Is this evil and hypocritical of me? Most likely.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to go put Gabe down for a nap so I can play a game.
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