Just One More Level!
By Paula Sirois – April 7, 2012
We’ve all done it. Dinner is cooked, the table is set and you’re ready to eat – but the kids are MIA. So you scream out the three words that mothers have screamed out since the beginning of time “Dinner. Is. Ready.” And for centuries kids have then come running from this corner and that to chow down. Not this generation. Today, instead of hearing pounding feet or seeing hungry faces at the dinner table, modern moms are met with a callback, a response to ‘dinner is ready.’ As if it even required one. Today we all hear “Okay, just let me get to one more level.”
What?
Levels?
What are these levels that are keeping dinner waiting? They are video games. The new and fancier and smarter video games of today offer more than just a faster stream of space invaders coming down a screen. Some games have dozens (or more) levels and each one offers new tools, tricks, rules and mesmerizing action. It’s not enough to catch X or arrive at Y, now you need to reach the next level. You must keep playing until you do.
What does this mean for parents everywhere? It means that instead of starting dinner on time or holding a real conversation with your offspring, or getting the kids’ full attention, you’re looking at the crown of their heads and hearing ‘sure, sure, just let me get to this next level’ or some variation like ‘but I can’t take the trash out yet because I’m almost at the next level’ or ‘I know I fell down while playing this game because I wasn’t looking, and I could possibly be bleeding internally, but I’m just about to hit the next level.’
So what’s a parent to do?
Sure we could take away the games. I know I have in the past. And they really do come in handy for quick threats – like ‘do that one more time and I’m taking away that silly game for a week!” But unless you’re prepared to act on your threats each and every time, it won’t work. The first time you give in or fail to follow through will be the last time this works.
We could set boundaries and rules around game playing like you can only play after your homework is complete or weeknights are off limits. This seems reasonable until you catch them under the covers in their bedroom, lights off, and a subtle sound of ding, ding, zoom, zoom coming from the odd glow under the sheets.
Or we could find a way to live with (and take advantage of) this brave new world of technology that has stolen our children’s attention. Just like back in the baby days where you gladly played on the floor and banged pots and pans and Tupperware around with your infant and then later when you learned every word of Barney or Sesame Street, today’s entertainment means you’ll need to limber up those wrists and fingers and ask your kid for a tutorial or two. Before long you’ll be able to talk intelligently about characters, locations, tools and hints and you’ll be having engaging and real conversations with your kid once again.
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Tags: gaming, gaming levels
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Agree with this approach and have used it with my kids. Does a couple of things: helps you connect with your kids on a level they can understand, helps you keep up on what games they are into (especially ones that might be too violent), and maybe turn you into a “cool” parent if you can score enough points!