As a fellow female gamer, I’m honored to welcome your kiddo to our ranks. And as someone whose entire “I hate my mom” stage lasted for less than two weeks, maybe offer a little weight to the side of the scale where maybe you don’t worry so much that she’ll abandon gaming forever just because you love it. My mom and I bonded over reading - and even for those 2 long weeks of hating my mom, I kept reading. And I spent two days telling her about all the books I’d read once I got over my teenage ego. 💖
This feels familiar. I had many of the same thoughts when my daughter was little. She started playing Minecraft on the iPad when she was 2. She played her first game of Catan at 4. Now at 9, she DMs her own D&D games with friends. She is homeschooled (in LA), and has a lot of friends. She is kind, loves learning, and others have described her as enchanting. I decided to release my expectations of what she will be, and let her show me who she wants to be, while I support her. Who she is (and what she enjoys) is so much more interesting than anything I could have imagined. Gamers are doing something right!
I had this list of "cultural capital" that I wanted to give my daughter before "key milestones" in her life. Some of them were the hardest battles we ever had, but some, like Disneyland and France, were things that (gads, we were so broke) I had to get very creative to accomplish. Piano was a bust. I couldn't get her to do it. She suffered through my museum obsession and pretended to like art for me until I got her to admit it made her miserable... We compromised and I started to do things she finally admitted she wanted (yep, she's a people pleaser like me too). What worked? What didn't? We talked. A lot. Like what you're doing, she knew every day that who she was, who she wanted to be, was more important to me than "my agenda." THAT worked. That is what really really worked. Your instinct is telling you what you need. Trust it.
I remember looking at that GEEX thing when it was mentioned in the podcast... and even I didnt grasp it all- like the payouts the founders will get, and etc). I dont invest in things I dont understand. If they want to know my thoughts on a business plan, they can ask me (they haven't): but the jist of my comments would be that they should hide all of the crypto currency coin thing. Dont even mention it. You want to donate $20 to support your creator? great- you always have that $20 in your donation bank balance ready. This can be nothing more than a lower cost way to do that. Leave the entire coin concept out of it. The coin thingy could just be how the money is bookkeeped internally in their system (instead of them putting the $20 in a bank). As long as the donator always has their original $20 available for donating (no matter what - it does not down, does not go up), it would work well: the whole coin concept just serves to thoroughly confuse everyone (well, at least me).
Hello! First of all, I love the newsletters. This one made me think of a meme I've seen which said "Get your kids hooked on Pokemon and they won't have the money for drugs." I thought it was funny the first time I saw it but then I realized just how true it really is.
Gamers are different and in a lot of ways it's a good thing. I'm more nerd than gamer but I'm married to a gamer and have many gamer friends. All of my nerd/gamer friends are smart, honest, and genuine people. The ones that have kids are raising them to be nerds and gamers and from what I've seen so far their children are also smart, honest and genuine with kind hearts.
I do think boundaries are needed for games in age appropriate ways but I know you will never be the type of parent that lets games basically babysit your child.
Did you know there is a BTVS children's book? There's also a book called D&D ABC's and one for numbers. They are on Amazon.
There's the obvious: that she's going to like or not like whatever she's into at any given time. Just go with the good feelings.
Then there's that which goes without saying, but is being typed anyway: that you banged tons of gaming hours and still became professionally adept at an instrument. Enough-so to earn some rupees. I understand you're mothering through different approaches than those that were exemplified to you; experienced by you and your brother.
I discovered an awesome universal goosfraba.
I internally quote Paul Reubens as Spleen from Mystery Men. Sometimes it escapes me audibly in a crowd. Maybe I'm the guy who randomly spills "I feel carsick" -full lisp impression- while being stuck in line at Target for too long while my dog's in the car and I start worrying he's going to swallow something he shouldn't.
It makes me laugh.
Play the freaking games with her as often as possible. I'm sure she'll always remember loving it in the long run.
Love the newsletter! I think just thinking about whether things are good or bad is more than a lot of our parents did back in the day. I don't mean that they did not care but there is just soooo much more options now that it makes it harder to decide what the right thing to do is (there is no right thing to do!) Within certain sects of society, ala some private schools, gaming may not be mainstream, however I truly believe so many things are not only more mainstream but will become mainstream in the next 20 years. I am 47. I grew up on Atari, Intellivision, Collecovision, (sorry for all the mispelling, I'm too lazy too look anything up right now lol) Sega, Nintendo, Playstation, and Xbox, as did most in my age group. There are a lot of kids my age who had parents who never understood and simply said the answer was to "just go outside and play." I guarantee the same parents of kids with that new fangled invention the TV said the exact same thing. Well, as all of us who grew up living that pixilated life are becoming the old ones. Although we will be definitely yelling and telling someone to get off our lawn about something we are fighting to change I guarantee, with all the hubris a Gen Xer can muster, it will not be about video games. Tangent alert: Remember the time when if you had tattoos or dyed hair you could only work at Tower Records or maybe early Hot Topic. For all the things people wanna say about how they think we are spiraling down to the ultimate demise of our civilization, I believe we are doing pretty damn good! Anyways, I am glad you are playing video games with her. One, like you stated, you are going to do other things as well and she will choose what she loves to do. That will also change over there years. I still play video games, Far Cry 5 was epic, but I don't play like I did when I was a kid. Not that I don't want to, but I have other responsibilities (damn adulting to hell!) that have to be done. But to those who hate on video games and say the kids are lazy and fat and should be outside like we when our parents would send us out at 9am and not let us in till 5pm, I say, "Were you playing with us?" "Did you try and spend quality time with us?" or was playing outside no different than a kid sitting by themselves on a game for hours. So many kids play with their friends online too! My daughter is a junior in high school. We moved her freshman year from Kentucky to Colorado. Rough for that age group, but she still plays Minecraft or GTA or whatever the new game is with her friends. Couldn't do that outside lol. What playing games with your daughter will do is create a bond. My dad never played outside with me or video games with me. I play with my 26 year old son who lives in Virginia. Damn right we have fun playing Battlefront II or some of the greatest two player co-op games like No Way Out or Suggestion Alert: It Takes Two. Your doing fine Felicia. We are all doing fine. Well maybe not Karens. Nah, they are doing their best too. Love everything you do. And I think the world need's a sequel, with everyone envolved, for Dr. Horrible. Where are they now, what are they doing. See ya!
Great going.. You are helping your little one in developing higher brain function,better hand/eye coordination, and having fun with mom! A triple win in my book.
I went to public schools, where I was bullied, ostracized and developed mental health problems so severe the military kicked me out during a time of war. School might not be the social adjustment balm you hope it will be.
As a result of my mental issues, I am plagued by persistent thoughts of death. Video games have provided the only relief I have ever felt. Therapy failed, medications failed, but something about figuring out how to blow zombies up with exploding rum barrels makes me feel better. Too bad the town burned down, but my character saves lives, not livelihoods. Anyway, video games offer a practical benefit; twenty years from now, we will likely be slaving under the yoke of alien overlords with intense elemental resistances and stupid high armor ratings. The only people who will be able to resist are people who learned how to combo by playing video games. You have a moral obligation to lead your daughter to gaming. Humanity's future depends on it.
As a fellow female gamer, I’m honored to welcome your kiddo to our ranks. And as someone whose entire “I hate my mom” stage lasted for less than two weeks, maybe offer a little weight to the side of the scale where maybe you don’t worry so much that she’ll abandon gaming forever just because you love it. My mom and I bonded over reading - and even for those 2 long weeks of hating my mom, I kept reading. And I spent two days telling her about all the books I’d read once I got over my teenage ego. 💖
This feels familiar. I had many of the same thoughts when my daughter was little. She started playing Minecraft on the iPad when she was 2. She played her first game of Catan at 4. Now at 9, she DMs her own D&D games with friends. She is homeschooled (in LA), and has a lot of friends. She is kind, loves learning, and others have described her as enchanting. I decided to release my expectations of what she will be, and let her show me who she wants to be, while I support her. Who she is (and what she enjoys) is so much more interesting than anything I could have imagined. Gamers are doing something right!
I had this list of "cultural capital" that I wanted to give my daughter before "key milestones" in her life. Some of them were the hardest battles we ever had, but some, like Disneyland and France, were things that (gads, we were so broke) I had to get very creative to accomplish. Piano was a bust. I couldn't get her to do it. She suffered through my museum obsession and pretended to like art for me until I got her to admit it made her miserable... We compromised and I started to do things she finally admitted she wanted (yep, she's a people pleaser like me too). What worked? What didn't? We talked. A lot. Like what you're doing, she knew every day that who she was, who she wanted to be, was more important to me than "my agenda." THAT worked. That is what really really worked. Your instinct is telling you what you need. Trust it.
I remember looking at that GEEX thing when it was mentioned in the podcast... and even I didnt grasp it all- like the payouts the founders will get, and etc). I dont invest in things I dont understand. If they want to know my thoughts on a business plan, they can ask me (they haven't): but the jist of my comments would be that they should hide all of the crypto currency coin thing. Dont even mention it. You want to donate $20 to support your creator? great- you always have that $20 in your donation bank balance ready. This can be nothing more than a lower cost way to do that. Leave the entire coin concept out of it. The coin thingy could just be how the money is bookkeeped internally in their system (instead of them putting the $20 in a bank). As long as the donator always has their original $20 available for donating (no matter what - it does not down, does not go up), it would work well: the whole coin concept just serves to thoroughly confuse everyone (well, at least me).
Always appreciate your stuff. Thanks for doing it.
Hello! First of all, I love the newsletters. This one made me think of a meme I've seen which said "Get your kids hooked on Pokemon and they won't have the money for drugs." I thought it was funny the first time I saw it but then I realized just how true it really is.
Gamers are different and in a lot of ways it's a good thing. I'm more nerd than gamer but I'm married to a gamer and have many gamer friends. All of my nerd/gamer friends are smart, honest, and genuine people. The ones that have kids are raising them to be nerds and gamers and from what I've seen so far their children are also smart, honest and genuine with kind hearts.
I do think boundaries are needed for games in age appropriate ways but I know you will never be the type of parent that lets games basically babysit your child.
Did you know there is a BTVS children's book? There's also a book called D&D ABC's and one for numbers. They are on Amazon.
I'm thinking you can calm your worry makers.
There's the obvious: that she's going to like or not like whatever she's into at any given time. Just go with the good feelings.
Then there's that which goes without saying, but is being typed anyway: that you banged tons of gaming hours and still became professionally adept at an instrument. Enough-so to earn some rupees. I understand you're mothering through different approaches than those that were exemplified to you; experienced by you and your brother.
I discovered an awesome universal goosfraba.
I internally quote Paul Reubens as Spleen from Mystery Men. Sometimes it escapes me audibly in a crowd. Maybe I'm the guy who randomly spills "I feel carsick" -full lisp impression- while being stuck in line at Target for too long while my dog's in the car and I start worrying he's going to swallow something he shouldn't.
It makes me laugh.
Play the freaking games with her as often as possible. I'm sure she'll always remember loving it in the long run.
Love the newsletter! I think just thinking about whether things are good or bad is more than a lot of our parents did back in the day. I don't mean that they did not care but there is just soooo much more options now that it makes it harder to decide what the right thing to do is (there is no right thing to do!) Within certain sects of society, ala some private schools, gaming may not be mainstream, however I truly believe so many things are not only more mainstream but will become mainstream in the next 20 years. I am 47. I grew up on Atari, Intellivision, Collecovision, (sorry for all the mispelling, I'm too lazy too look anything up right now lol) Sega, Nintendo, Playstation, and Xbox, as did most in my age group. There are a lot of kids my age who had parents who never understood and simply said the answer was to "just go outside and play." I guarantee the same parents of kids with that new fangled invention the TV said the exact same thing. Well, as all of us who grew up living that pixilated life are becoming the old ones. Although we will be definitely yelling and telling someone to get off our lawn about something we are fighting to change I guarantee, with all the hubris a Gen Xer can muster, it will not be about video games. Tangent alert: Remember the time when if you had tattoos or dyed hair you could only work at Tower Records or maybe early Hot Topic. For all the things people wanna say about how they think we are spiraling down to the ultimate demise of our civilization, I believe we are doing pretty damn good! Anyways, I am glad you are playing video games with her. One, like you stated, you are going to do other things as well and she will choose what she loves to do. That will also change over there years. I still play video games, Far Cry 5 was epic, but I don't play like I did when I was a kid. Not that I don't want to, but I have other responsibilities (damn adulting to hell!) that have to be done. But to those who hate on video games and say the kids are lazy and fat and should be outside like we when our parents would send us out at 9am and not let us in till 5pm, I say, "Were you playing with us?" "Did you try and spend quality time with us?" or was playing outside no different than a kid sitting by themselves on a game for hours. So many kids play with their friends online too! My daughter is a junior in high school. We moved her freshman year from Kentucky to Colorado. Rough for that age group, but she still plays Minecraft or GTA or whatever the new game is with her friends. Couldn't do that outside lol. What playing games with your daughter will do is create a bond. My dad never played outside with me or video games with me. I play with my 26 year old son who lives in Virginia. Damn right we have fun playing Battlefront II or some of the greatest two player co-op games like No Way Out or Suggestion Alert: It Takes Two. Your doing fine Felicia. We are all doing fine. Well maybe not Karens. Nah, they are doing their best too. Love everything you do. And I think the world need's a sequel, with everyone envolved, for Dr. Horrible. Where are they now, what are they doing. See ya!
Great going.. You are helping your little one in developing higher brain function,better hand/eye coordination, and having fun with mom! A triple win in my book.
I went to public schools, where I was bullied, ostracized and developed mental health problems so severe the military kicked me out during a time of war. School might not be the social adjustment balm you hope it will be.
As a result of my mental issues, I am plagued by persistent thoughts of death. Video games have provided the only relief I have ever felt. Therapy failed, medications failed, but something about figuring out how to blow zombies up with exploding rum barrels makes me feel better. Too bad the town burned down, but my character saves lives, not livelihoods. Anyway, video games offer a practical benefit; twenty years from now, we will likely be slaving under the yoke of alien overlords with intense elemental resistances and stupid high armor ratings. The only people who will be able to resist are people who learned how to combo by playing video games. You have a moral obligation to lead your daughter to gaming. Humanity's future depends on it.
Games are awesome! I think having something in common, something you can bond over with your kid..for the rest of your life is... PRETTY AWESOME!
🏴☠️🐻