Gametes In Love

Last year, for Thanksgiving my sister and her husband came up for a visit. Both are Pokemon Go players, and they asked for a day trip to Pier 39 so they can play. Shane and Griffin had played for a little bit, and knowing that Griffin was into the game I figured it’s a good way to spend the day. Unfortunately, Shane couldn’t come with us that day, so Pokemon Go ended up on my phone for that adventure.

Since that day, Griffin asked me to spin poke-stops, and catch pokemon as I walk between my car and the office.
This expanded to me progressively reading up more about the game, and strategies of play.
It also has grown to the two of us taking occasional drives out so he can fight gyms (and now Raids).

All this has given me an opportunity to interact with him at a lever other than homework nagging and screen-time negotiations. It’s been good for us. Shane and he have sports. I won’t catch up there, but Griffin and I, for now, have this.
En route to gyms we get to talk. It’s been nice! Yesterday, for example, we talked about storming out of the house when he’s angry.

I never imagined a video game can be an “in” to relationship building, but I’ll take it. Before Storm was born, I was Griffin’s “person”. Once his brother was born though, Griffin’s world became mostly about Daddy. I love that Shane and he are so close; but I want to know he can and would come to me too.

So yeah, judge my Pokemon Go playing — I’ve got something making it worth-while.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2017 at 7:23 am and is filed under Raising Schoolboy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.