Dinosaurs and Video Games

Friday, hooray!!

Fridays aren't nearly as excited as they used to be when I was younger. But I do enjoy getting to Friday because I know that there will be very little homework, if any, and no homework makes my afternoon so much more enjoyable. (As soon as M got old enough to do her homework without a "pulling teeth" atmosphere surrounding the whole experience, B took her place. I have to call on every drop of patience I have to make it through one homework sheet with that girl!)

This morning I was doing some volunteer work for J's class, typing up letters that the kids wrote to ask their parents for a pet dinosaur. (His class has the theme "Dinosaur Dig" for this quarter.) Anyway, I had a sneaking suspicion that I would recognize J's letter right off the bat, and that somehow he would bring video games into this letter, even if it was supposed to be about dinosaurs.

I guess I do know my son a little. Here is his letter:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I like how you give me money. I know that you let me do things. I like going somewhere and you go with me. I like to play video games and you let me. But something is not right. I want a dinosaur! I’ll call him Littlefoot. He’ll be nice. I’ll let him eat one tree for breakfast, two trees for lunch, and three trees for dinner, and teach him how to play video games. Can I please have a dinosaur?

Love,

J

Well, if he got a dinosaur and taught it to play video games, we would have some serious scheduling issues around here. Since B is now clamoring to play every day as well as M and J, one video game system or another is being used just about all the time nowadays. (And yes, Terence and I both play too-- I guess we are just a gaming family. Even K has been insisting on having a controller to pretend he is playing also.)

I do wonder what J's teachers must think though. The girls come up with a variety of things to talk about and write about at school, but J brings video games into everything. His journal entry last year said something along the lines of "I'm doing my homework so I can go play video games" nearly every day.

Maybe he'll grow up and become an editor of Game Informer magazine or something. Who knows?