May Have to Sign Up my Seven Year old for MineCraft Anonymous!

Well it’s Thoughtful Thursday….

What exactly is Minecraft to other kids?

No, seriously. I’m asking.

What is the goal of Minecraft to other players?

My boy. Isn’t he a handsome young man?

I get that you are supposed to mine for things, build things, and survive in the game against zombies, green square things that blow up, and spiders that are big enough to give me nightmares. That seems to be it’s intended purpose. Which sounds cool and kinda like a game about Legos.

Sounds like something I would have liked to played as a kid….
Okay confession, I actually have played a good bit and built a castle with a winding staircase and glass windows because I was curious as to what he was spending so much time playing. And I kinda wanted to atleast be able to picture all this stuff that he is incessantly talking about. Hey, I actually had a golden pick axe… for like two minutes.

The game does have a lot of promise to encourage imaginative play. It has several possibilities. It isn’t a bad game.

I mean look at this… There is alot of potential for good learning opportunities here.

This is amazing work and had to take enormous amounts of imagination. That is art.

Source

Yet my son spends most of his time on minecraft killing chicken, sheep, and cows.
Blowing things up with TNT.
Killing poor villagers by tricking them into holes or devising schemes to trap them with zombies.
And then…
 talking about it in minuet detail to me as he does it.

“Mommy, I just spawned a chicken….. blah blah blah” I kinda shut down around this point as the next part to follow usually includes TNT.

It this game a healthy addiction?
Is it better to let him roam around killing innocent farm animals instead of the aliens Halo has to offer?

I don’t really know.

What I do know is:

My son is addicted.
He thinks of Minecraft as his first thought in the morning.
He has withdraw symptoms when he doesn’t get to play.
He takes over the computer when he does play because the computer version is the best or so he says.
I have withdraw symptoms because he has taken over MY computer.

Which leads me to question whether I am bothered by his obsession with a game or the fact that his obsession outranks mine?

Would it make me a horrible mother to delete the game and tell him the new computer just won’t play it?
Ok I get it, lying to the kids is bad all the time.

Then there are the youtube videos. How on earth does every child I know, even though most of them have never met, know to watch the same silly minecraft videos on youtube? It’s kinda weird. Like a subliminal radio wave being sent out that only preteen, teen, and young boys can hear.

 WATCH YOUTUBE MINECRAFT VIDEOS!!!

So when he isn’t crafting himself, he is watching others craft.

Nipping the Minecraft Addiction

 (or just encouraging healthier use habits)

School work, reading, and all educational activities are to be completed first before any games.

He has to wake up, get dressed, and brush his teeth without the usual fight. I almost had him sign a paper agreeing to this one. Imagine, waking up and not having to fight to get children ready for school……. sorry got distracted from the wonderful image in my head.

Then and only if he meets all requirements can he can have some Minecraft time at an appropriate time slot.

We do have a list of demands when it comes to playtime:

In reality…

I really don’t know what to do about the addiction. I know that there are alot of kids addicted to this game.
It does have the basis for a good educational building game. It could be worse.

 I do think I like the Minecraft better than most of the other games that are out there.

At least this game has some value. Right?
There is some educational factors….. I hope.

It’s not like he is the only child addicted to this game at the moment. Which helps me feel not like a total waste of mommy space for letting him play every day. Doesn’t make me feel like Super Mom but at least I don’t feel like Super Bad Mom.

Yet, I wonder why does he feel the need to escape to this world he can control.

Does he feel as if he has no control in real life?
Should I let him have more control and choices?
or
Am I just putting way too much thought into my son’s wish to just play a popular video game?

Happy Blogging!