My son is visiting Grandma – it’s a 10 day trip in the summer. Grandma and Grandpa have a farm and he gets to do all sorts of things that he doesn’t get to here at home. They also have a lot of acreage and I learned last year he was able to drive a Gator – a motorized vehicle that happens to go really, really fast. At 8. With other kids in it, but under the watchful eye of Grandpa. Thankfully Grandpa is a safety nut when it comes to the kids. (Although, he does operate large chainsaws shoeless…) Does that sound like a safety concern? I’m not too worried. I grew up riding my bike without a helmet. I’m confident he is safe. A couple of his cousins are also visiting the farm so he is on a long term playdate. He is having fun and its a nice chance of scenery and pace for him.
Grandma emailed informed me that the kids have been playing World of Warcraft together and immediately I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. She asked me if it was ok in that email and I felt apprehensive.
Isn’t that silly? First of all, they are playing in a far more social environment than I ever did – all three of them in the same room. I can imagine them all laughing and having fun around a table. Like pen and paper days, but with the laptops out.
Also – I have let him watch me play WoW before (when he was younger) and he has a SWTOR character that we play together (I liked the story style for him, as well as him having to read and make choices with the wheel..) and he has a WildStar character as well – but I am always there by his side playing so I can filter content, see what he is doing, and see how (if) he is interacting with any adults.
Probably just a trial account, anyway.
I haven’t written much about him, but I have two articles where I did – one that was fun when he was in his questioning phase (and 3 years old – so 6 years ago! And another where I questioned my own parenting skills by letting him see Left 4 Dead game play at the age of 5 (jury is still out on that one). What other 5 year olds LARP a zombie apocalypse?
At the end of it all, after much thought, I was fine with it. Weird to think it may be time where we could actually play together, instead of looking over each other’s shoulder and if that is the case – do we get two subs? Is it WoW, or a different game? Maybe we should F2P something together first.. he loves Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.. damn, he doesn’t even have a gaming computer or laptop. Will Mom let him use hers for his gaming? Will SHE be okay with all of this?
Funny, being a gaming parent of a gaming kid (who is a Minecraft junkie..) is it time to let him take the leap to a MMO player?
Mixed feelings of apprehension and excitement – this could be fun.
After much thought I emailed Grandma back saying it was ok, but I had to ask a very serious, important question that could shape the future and was critical for me to understand and know about my own child.
“What class did he pick?”