Welcome to Cthulhumom Games – a blog about my experiences raising a child in a gamer family.
This month was a little harder to write. It took me a while to figure out why, but I eventually did (ummm…duh). And it wasn’t just one thing. The thing is I typically will write something when the idea strikes and as a result have a few posts ready to release at any time. I’ll pick the topic that feels right, clean it up and post it. So, why was it so hard to come up with a topic this month? I have two in the bank right now – one about going to parties and one on the age ranges for games. Now the second isn’t near ready to release – it needs a lot of research, so I’ll give myself a pass on not releasing that one. So why not release the post on going to parties? With summer arriving there will be many gatherings and I’m sure there are those who are curious how we manage a full day of gaming and partying.
The trouble was neither felt right for me at the moment. And I couldn’t figure out why. After thinking about it I realized that with the craziness of working seven days a week and trying to maintain our house there hasn’t been much gaming in my life. I think the only game we played was a version of Sentinels of the Multiverse on a tablet that we passed around. And that only happened because we had an early day back at the hotel after a faire day. In case you were not aware my husband and I are half of a Shakespearean parody troupe named The Mad Mechanicals. This is our busy season. So during the week I spend more time doing laundry and trying to keep the house in order. Which leaves little time for gaming. No wait, I did make one “weekly” game night and we played – ummm…Sentinels of the Multiverse. So, not a lot of variety. I did get a game of Myth in (which happened after I started writing this post) and that was only because I had an unexpected day off of work due to Yog having an unexpected stomach bug. As you can see, for someone who usually plays two games a week, I have had a drastic drop off in play time. What games I have managed to play, save one, were a matter of happenstance.
Then there is the other issue. Since we both work full time, when Yog is awake and we’re home together, we try very hard to make that family time, doing activities together. However, Yog has declared that she does not like games. At all. As I have addressed before I knew this was a possibility. I don’t want her to be carbon copies of my husband and me, besides if she has her own interests it might help us discover new things. So it’s a good thing. But it does make it harder to play games when one member of the group you’re spending time with absolutely refuses to play a game. And as all parents know – pick your battles. It’s just not worth fighting over with her. However, once again, no games with the child means fewer topics. On the upside, I’ll get to focus on games for me. How my husband and I get to play is just as important in our lives, if not more important (for our sanity anyway).
Another time suck was that Yog also had her fifth birthday this month, and being the over achiever mommy that I am I spent a lot of time trying to make cakes (yes, cakes, one for
the family party and one on her birthday – note I already admitted to being an over achiever), buy presents, and spending her birthday with her. While I loved every moment of it, that left less time for the needed chores, and no time for games. For her birthday my sister bought her a board game. Not just a board game, a Frozen themed board game. Like many children her age, she is a want to be Elsa. Also like many children her age, she needed to be taught how to say “thank you” even if you don’t like the gift. Instead she opened the gift and told my sister “I don’t like board games”. *sigh* We told her what the proper response was and she did thank her aunt. But stood by the “I don’t like board games” line. Adamantly. The way only a young child can. Sometimes you have to admire their tenacity. The game is still in the shrink wrap, where it will remain until, well, I just don’t know.
What does any of this have to do with raising a child in a gamer family? Sometimes games take a back seat to the rest of life. And that’s ok. The game closet will be there patiently waiting for my return. And when I revisit I shall do so with a vengeance. In the meantime I guess I just needed to remind myself that a dry spell due to circumstances does not define me. I am no less of a gamer because I choose to get a few hours of sleep between busy days rather than squeezing one more activity into a day. As I say almost every month we have been very lucky to have supportive gamer friends, so it’s not often that we have trouble finding a way to game. I know a lot of you have run into issues with either not being able to find time or not having a group that understands the interruptions that will occur when a child is in the room. Let’s talk about them and find ways to make gaming happen for you, even if that is only once a month.
Until then – Happy Gaming!
Cthulhu Mom Games 