gilliangoddard

Well, my family of origin issues with my 8 year old son are definitely getting more
challenging. My parents live in a neighbouring island but we either go there or they come
here quite often. And now my son is refusing to go visit them. I understand why because
they are having a negative reaction to the straightforward nature of his communication
style and the fighting in his favourite game 'Pirates of the Caribbean Online'.

My best friend always says 'God has a sense of humor' and in this case she is right
because I was not supportive of video games for quite a while. And now I am getting hit
with similar statements to what I would think - although not say - when other people's
children were immersed in video games. Both my mother and my brother were trying to
engage me in this negative conversation about technology today. I didn't engage because
I was trying to organize a ride for my son, daughter and I since my son got very angry
about the negative statements and wanted to leave right away.

Anyhow, my 3 year old daughter and I, on the other hand, both enjoy seeing my parents.
They are amazing about other things that we have in common - Reiki, Toltec philosophy,
dietary choices, and much more. Right now going separate ways is doable because my
husband is in town.

Any experiences of this kind of 'different desire by children to interact with extended
family' thing? I really have no interest in changing my parents' mind about video games,
hairstyle, no-chores, and other choices in our household. But I guess that I am still
holding on to some lingering hope that they will treat my son with more respect. Anyone
had that shift take place? Any links to useful articles or posts?
Thanks
Gillian

P.S. Apologies for any fuzzy communication since I have someone on my lap waiting to
use the computer and someone on the sofa waiting to use it too.

Shannon

I started to write on many of the topics being discussed today but this one
won. Video games are much of our curriculum from the map reading of Spiro to
actual educational games. There are books out about how video games are
educational and curriculum devoted to making video games even more
educational but when dealing with family what you need is something short
and to the point. Here is a good article and to the left a bunch of related
information and articles about video games.



http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Video_Games_Educational/



There is even a related article that states that scientists say we need more
video games because they teach higher thinking.



Shannon



_____

From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of gilliangoddard
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 8:25 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Family of origin issues



Well, my family of origin issues with my 8 year old son are definitely
getting more
challenging. My parents live in a neighbouring island but we either go there
or they come
here quite often. And now my son is refusing to go visit them. I understand
why because
they are having a negative reaction to the straightforward nature of his
communication
style and the fighting in his favourite game 'Pirates of the Caribbean
Online'.

My best friend always says 'God has a sense of humor' and in this case she
is right
because I was not supportive of video games for quite a while. And now I am
getting hit
with similar statements to what I would think - although not say - when
other people's
children were immersed in video games. Both my mother and my brother were
trying to
engage me in this negative conversation about technology today. I didn't
engage because
I was trying to organize a ride for my son, daughter and I since my son got
very angry
about the negative statements and wanted to leave right away.

Anyhow, my 3 year old daughter and I, on the other hand, both enjoy seeing
my parents.
They are amazing about other things that we have in common - Reiki, Toltec
philosophy,
dietary choices, and much more. Right now going separate ways is doable
because my
husband is in town.

Any experiences of this kind of 'different desire by children to interact
with extended
family' thing? I really have no interest in changing my parents' mind about
video games,
hairstyle, no-chores, and other choices in our household. But I guess that I
am still
holding on to some lingering hope that they will treat my son with more
respect. Anyone
had that shift take place? Any links to useful articles or posts?
Thanks
Gillian

P.S. Apologies for any fuzzy communication since I have someone on my lap
waiting to
use the computer and someone on the sofa waiting to use it too.





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