The Millers

> Message: 22
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:12:27 -0000
> From: "billyandjoanne" <billyandjoanne@...>
> Subject: Re: game stuff for 6yo

> We have PS2 and my newly turned 7 year old has been playing it isnce
> we got it last year. Some of the games she can play without getting to
> frustrated are Croc, Spryo, Crash Bandicoot, Tarzan, Bugs Life,
> Dexters Lab, Land Before Time & Monsters Inc.
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hi. My daughter is also nuts for playstation. Her favorites are Spryo and
Sly Cooper.

And yes, for those of you who are wondering....from the post (The Whole
Video Game Thing...I know)...we are on week 5. Our 7 year old daughter
continues to play most of the time. We do see some other activities taking
place. She has now stopped (leaves the PS2 on and walks away) and will work
on a craft or other project. We find this kind of sad...the leave on part.
We think that she leaves it on for fear we might implement some rule about
it. It's a safety net. Even though we have not "schooled" for several
years. We still had some interesting control issues.

We miss her. With her new found PS2 freedom, we have found that when we ask
her to ride bikes with us, cook, read a book, play a game...that she makes
the choice to play the game. Right now, we are finding that our family
togetherness is suffering. She used to watch Survivor and Amazing Race with
us. Last night, the premier of The Amazing Race: Family Addition, she chose
to play the game instead. We are a sad mommy and daddy. We are continuing
to support her and hope that eventually she will want to hang with us again.
Any suggestions on dealing with our feelings about this?

Millers in New Mexico

Pamela Sorooshian

On Sep 28, 2005, at 8:55 AM, The Millers wrote:

> We are a sad mommy and daddy.

So - why are you not playing WITH her?


> We are continuing
> to support her and hope that eventually she will want to hang with
> us again.

Does she not WANT you to hang with her while she's playing?

> Any suggestions on dealing with our feelings about this?

Are you actually being rejected? Or are you feeling like her playing
PS2 games is something she has to do alone and you can't play too? Do
you have two controllers? Lots of games are more fun with more
people. You should see my kids - the PS2 is in our bedroom in front
of our king-size waterbed - so all three kids will be piled up - all
over each other - on the waterbed, cheering, waiting to play the
winner, giving pointers, playing together. I play too and they're
always amazed at how good I am (I played a LOT of video games in my
college years - have good manual dexterity for them which my kids
just don't expect from me - being OLD and all <G>). My husband plays
sports games with them - soccer and football - on the PS2. They have
their teams and all that - an ongoing competition.

In other words, I wonder if YOU are making this a solitary activity
because you aren't joining in with HER new passionate interest and
you're resenting that she's not joining in with your old joint
interests?

-pam



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

soggyboysmom

Maybe change your focus slightly - she -was- playing all the time.
Now - per your post- she does leave it to go do other things. There's
this whole big pedestal that the game has been put up onto because it
was 'off limits' so much of the time. Slowly by slowly that pedestal
will erode until the game is one -equal- choice among many. Maybe you
could bring her a snack and watch as she plays for a bit. Maybe even
bring a book or something with you and just be in proximity. My DH and
DS (7) both like to play PS2 games and computer games. There have been
times when I just sighed with contentment - with me sitting and
reading a book, DS playing one game on his laptop and DH playing
another game on his laptop, all of us in the same room. Just being
together allows for interaction and interchanges to occur - DS can pop
up and ask me to come look at something he's built or completed or
whatever. DH can ask me why I guffawed while reading. And so on. And,
since he's never had limits on his games, he is quite content (mostly,
depends on what he's in the middle of building or destroying) to pause
a game or save it and come watch a favorite show with us (like Who's
Line is it Anyway? last night where he saved the terrain map he was
editing in Age of Empires and came and watched then went back to AoE).
He knows he can leave it for a minute or a day and it is still there,
equally accessible, when he gets back.

--Deb

soggyboysmom

--- In [email protected], Pamela Sorooshian
<pamsoroosh@e...> wrote:
>Or are you feeling like her playing
> PS2 games is something she has to do alone and you can't play too?
>Do
> you have two controllers? Lots of games are more fun with more
> people.
There are some games my DS will ONLY play with more than one person -
for instance, the 007 games for the PS2 have two modes - single
player missions and multi-player. Single player things are more
about 'being Bond' and sneaking in to retrieve an onject or rescue a
scientist or whatever. DH plays those - mostly because they unlock
other characters and abilities. DS prefers the multi-player because
of the interactive nature of it. In circumstances when DH just can't
play (has the flu for instance, and I'm at work all day - I can
handle about 15 minutes or so of these type of games then motion
issues kick in and I get a headache to start with), DS will pick a
game that has computer controlled 'bots that he can play against
rather than play the single player option. Of course, he was quite
impressed with me when we play Hot Shots mini-golf LOL. I was so
proud of myself when DS deemed me 'qualified' to use the 'good'
controllers to play occasionally. <grin>

--Deb

Robyn Coburn

<<<<< We are a sad mommy and daddy. We are continuing
to support her and hope that eventually she will want to hang with us again.
Any suggestions on dealing with our feelings about this? >>>>.

I don't think I have any suggestions, but I do want to commend you for
acknowledging that they are *your* feelings, and not making the solution
about changing her.

I guess try and see this as an opportunity for you and dh to have some
quality bonding time while she is occupied. Do you have Tivo or something
similar? Maybe you can watch the show together at another time, and she
won't be placed in an "either/or" situation.

Robyn L. Coburn

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