Good Times Playing with My Son
I thought that I’d add a bit to this topic. [See previous three articles.]
My own hero, Socrates, complained that the new tradition of writing things down would decrease people’s ability to remember things. Chess was called out (in Scientific American, a journal I like) as “a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements.” They recommended sports instead but later reported on the long-term brain damage caused by the violence in sports such as U.S. football.
The list of anxious sentiments of adults toward the activities of young people is very long. Every generation of parents appears to despair over the effects of new technology. Today we worry about social media and video games.
I’m a dad. In addition to weekly special-time sessions over fourteen years, I spent a couple of thousand wonderful hours playing video games with my son over the six to seven years leading up to high school. We had lots of laughter while scheming, solving puzzles, strategizing, and accomplishing difficult tasks together. We went through many games as the years passed by, because we both grew older and the games mostly got better. When high school started, our playing together faded, with friends taking my place, but the fun continued.
While our love for and concerns and thinking about our children are to be praised and supported, our fears and anxieties about their activities are really for us to discharge and shed.
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of parents
(Present Time 198, January 2020)