My kids are 5 and 7 yrs old. They have their own Kindle Fires, and they love video games. I do not love video games.
Don't get me wrong, I played them back in the '80s & '90s; I even had a ColecoVision, and later a Nintendo 64. I never saved the princesses in Mario Bros or Legends of Zelda, but I really was okay with that. I played the hell out of some Galaga, Donkey Kong, and PacMan at the mall arcade; but somewhere along the way I grew out of video games and that was okay with me. As an adult I married a gamer and grew to resent games, because it seemed that gaming (especially WoW, COD, and other multiplayer games) took so much time away from me, and then our kids.
So back to my kids, they have a few games that they absolutely love-Minecraft, Dragons: Rise of Berk, Lego Star Wars, and any form of Angry Birds. With the exception of the original Angry Birds I don't understand any of those games, and I haven't particularly wanted to understand. They try to show them to me, and explain but I am guilty of shrugging them off...but no more!
I am late to the whole podcast thing, but I recently (like last week) downloaded an app that makes it SUPER easy for me to listen to them. Now I basically listen to them all day while I work around the house, look for jobs, and work on my website. One of my obvious favorites is The Nerdist podcast hosted by Chris Hardwick. I am a nerd at heart (that's a whole other blog post, but let's just say that I am planning a Doctor Who sleeve and Star Wars sleeve or leg piece as future tattoos), and first started watching him way back when he hosted Singled Out, and then fell in nerd love with him watching Talking Dead (yes, I know he is happily with a gorgeous, nice woman...but I can still gush from afar). Listening to The Nerdist podcast is like having someone inside my brain, because the podcasts are fast-paced and at times seem to bounce around subjects, which is how my brain works.
Today's podcast was with Brad Meltzer, and I confess that I didn't know exactly who he was before I listened. I'd heard his name, but I'd never read one of his books (THAT will be remedied soon). There is so much to like about him, but it's a story from his childhood that really got to me today. He and Chris were talking about growing up nerdy in different parts of the country-Chris in Memphis and Brad in Brooklyn-and the differences in acceptance levels. In a small school in Memphis, Chris dealt with feeling outcast, in Brooklyn Brad felt more accepted...but then he told a story about his dad. Brad talked about how his dad didn't get his love of comic books, and he knew that his dad would rather he bought baseball cards. Instead of shrugging off his kid's passion for something that he himself did't understand, he fed. He talked about how his father would bring home comic books for him and how great it was that his dad "fed that little habit". Chris talked about how his parents fostered his love of comedy and video games, and how awesome it is for parents to be so attune to their kids that they will basically say "hey, i don't understand this thing that you love, but I'll support it and foster your interest in it" (my words....not nearly as good as listening to the story). All of a sudden it clicked in my brain, that I should be dong that instead of zoning out when my kids are excitedly telling me about something in their video game worlds. I might have shed a few tears upon hearing those stories and then deciding that I need to be more like their parents.
We do share some of the same interests, like Doctor Who (the 3 of us are doing DW themed Halloween costumes this year!), Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and even Supernatural; but they really LOVE video games. So from now on I am going to support their interests, even though I truly do not understand them. The last thing I want as a parent is for my kids to feel like I don't care about them or their interests. I want them to always want to tell me things, even the little things. If they are feeling like outcasts at school, I want them to never feel that way at home. Now if I could only get them to love podcasts.
