Bad Parent: The Littlest Gamer
I turned my toddler into a videogame addict.
by Annie Bacon
May 19, 2009
First, let's get this out of the way: my husband and I are gamers. Not the kind who prefer their virtual lives to their real ones, nor the kind that dress up to go to conventions — but, still, a good amount of our entertainment comes in interactive form. I
work as a Game Designer (the videogame's equivalent of a scriptwriter), and, before we met, my husband worked as a marketing manager for a large videogame company. Ten years ago, he romanced me by showing up with a Sega Dreamcast (the newest gaming console
on the market at the time) and a bottle of wine. Since that day, we've spent many a weekend cozying up on the couch with controllers in our hands.
When our first child was born, we both took some time off to stay at home. For the first few weeks, our infant daughter napped peacefully in the living room crib while the television blasted out the sound of online car races and accidents as her sleep-deprived
parents played Burnout 3. As a going-away present from my colleagues, I got a Nintendo DS (handheld gaming platform), which soon became my daughter's favorite toy, the tactile screen providing a perfect playground for her stylus-thin fingers.
On her second birthday, she switched from handheld to console gaming, watching us play kid-friendly games on the Nintendo Wii. To our concerned friends, I joked that I would always be able to limit my children's gaming time with the final argument that "It's
Mommy's turn with the Playstation!"
I added that, as a gamer, I would be more qualified than most parents to supervise my kid's choices. With my knowledge of the medium, I would be able to guide my daughter down the virtuous path of interactive entertainment without falling into the quicksand
of car stealing and zombie killing. I'd be both the most responsible parent in the world, and the coolest mom on the block!
I also thought proficiencies my daughter was acquiring at such a tender age would be a great foundation for her teen years: while other girls become bored wall-flowers whenever their boyfriends organize a LAN party, my daughter would be able to "frag" with
the best of them. I wasn't giving her a bad habit. I was preparing her for a technology-driven world!
We spent hours running around in virtual worlds.When she also started playing by herself, we'd let her play half an hour of videogames per day. We'd let her choose between television and games, but the former seldom won out.
When I became pregnant with our second child, my energy level dwindled, and I found myself giving in more often to her videogame demands. After an hour spent dressing and undressing Polly Pocket dolls, I was more than up for catching a few stars in Super
Mario Galaxy.
Our daily half-hour soon bloomed into a full one. And as the months passed and my belly swelled, my will faltered some more and that single hour multiplied. My balloon-like feet high on a pile of cushions, we spent hours running around in virtual worlds,
kissing weird Japanese characters or gathering honey for Winnie the Pooh.
Then came Lego Indiana Jones.
That one we played as a family: my husband controlled the main character and our daughter and I shared "Player 2" duties. At that point, she was approaching her third birthday and becoming quite good at pushing buttons. I moved the character around with the
joystick while she pressed the "jump" button. As the levels progressed, she got the hang of the "use" button, which inevitably became the "fight" button. "Cartoon violence," said the packaging, to describe Lego men dissolving into smaller Lego pieces whenever
they got hurt.
"Who are we fighting?" my daughter asked one day as she repeatedly pressed the "A" button. I launched into a "Good versus Evil" explanation that would have made George Lucas proud. She nodded gravely, and then dropped the bomb on my mothering pride: "Mommy,"
she pleaded, "I want more bad guys to beat up!" She wasn't yet three, and had just tasted the joy of virtual attacks. What had I done?
About the Author
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Annie Bacon is a freelance game designer living in Montreal. She's also the author of the french youth novel series Terra Incognita and akidstory.com personalized books. |
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