Last week I asked what to do about Emma's increasingly random late night wake-ups. Seventy-two percent recommended that we only check on her if it sounds important such as she had a nightmare or Andrew is crapping on her new Rapunzel doll. Only eighteen percent thought we should rush to her side no matter what. Obviously these people love their kids more than their sleep.
Currently, Lisa's instinct is to still rush to Emma's side. On the other hand, I like to wait a few minutes before deciding if I need to check on her. Lisa and I have reached a slight compromise though. If we hear Emma cry and Lisa starts to get out of bed, I'll awake from my slumber and articulately say, "Eeeh grrr naaaaah!" which basically means in 3am language, "Wait a few minutes."
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Lisa and I both believe in moderation with our parenting. It's okay if you expose your kids to a little television, a little dessert, and a little Showtime softcore original programming as long as you don't over do it.
Andrew has discovered through YouTube videos and my cell phone the magical time-sucking wonder of video games. If the kids behave, we'll let them play one game on the phone. It's usually something silly like a fireworks simulation game, a matching game, or Andrew's favorite, a racing game.
I have been a video gamer as long as I can remember, and I have been very discrete with my gaming. As a matter of fact, I have never played a video game in front of the kids. I have also never played a video game in front of Lisa because she always walks out of the room for fear of my gaming rage and subliminally becoming a geek.
Just recently, Andrew has started to talk about Cars video games. He has seen a couple of Cars games at Target and Best Buy, and he always says, "I want this for Christmas!" I also have a Wii hooked up in our bedroom, and Andrew asks what the Wii controllers are. I don't want him to know that it's a video game controller, so I lie to him and tell him it's Lisa's vibrator.
So what do you think? Should I allow Andrew to play an occasional video game on the Wii or PS3? Or is this just a gateway drug that will lead to World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, and no girlfriends until the age of 26?
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