video games

Yeah, I think we've all gotten stuck at video games for a time. We've been
told forever that they are evil. Fom money suckers to time wasters to brain
rotters. Be ye not afraid!! I have to giggle because I fought it for so
long. Problem was, the more I fought it, the more it became a holy grail to
my son (almost 9yo). When I realized that and began to let go, I began to
see all of the learning going on. Yes it took time. Yes he did little else
for quite a while. Yes I often had moments of panic. But we have reached a
balance. He loves his games. But unlike some of his friends who are limited
in their game play, he can walk away from it. It seems many of them can only
play in the car and away from home. So at park day there'll be a bunch of
kids all playing their hand held games (many are interacting with each
other) and Gregory's the only one who doesn't bring his to the park. In fact
he's only taken his out of the house twice. Both times at my urging because
we were going to be driving for quite some time. One trip he played for a
while. The other he never took it out.

What's he learning? Well, there's quite a bit of reading going on. Games
have *cheat codes* and *unlockables* that can be found online or in gaming
magazines. There are online forums for game users to share experience and
advice. He's doing a lot of research. He's also budgeting. He uses some of
his allowance to pay for an online game rental plan similar to netflix (
www.gamefly.com ). He saves the balance, usually to buy games. He's traded
old games at a local gaming store for store credit - he's saving for an
x-box or a wii. He even ebayed himself a gamecube system for $38! In the
games themselves, there are objectives to be met, widgets to be found, bad
guys to be subdued, allies to appease, etc, etc. There's usually quite a bit
going on at once. Allowing myself to enter his world for a while has been
wonderful. I'm learning about what he's interested in, I'm not putting down
his interest, and that keeps him talking to me about the games and other
things. It's been good for our relationship.

We are all big movie fans. There's something in DH & DS's blood that makes
them remember the smallest of details after seeing a movie once. It's
amazing to watch :) . Anyway, DS loves to get a new DVD and watch all of the
bonus material first. Talk about learning! He likes to watch it in a foreign
language and will often watch it subtitled in another language. He loves the
backstories from the commentary versions.

I'm having trouble getting to the details in my memory, but there's learning
oozing all of the place. You just can't stop it once you get out of their
way. It's a true leap of faith to let go of the notion of needing to control
our children. But our control is an illusion. God is in control. We just
have to let Him do His thing.