If you would like to feel less crap about how spectacularly unmotivated you were during the school holidays this year and consequently how much time your children spent being screen freaks and playing computer games then read this post on the merits of Minecraft. I, personally, wrote these holidays off as The Great Australian Heatwave Holidays When Every Parent Gets A Free Pass Because It Is Just Too Hot but none the less, this post helped a little. However, its notion that I “not mind” looking at my children’s incredibly boring computer game creations in an effort to enjoy the educational benefits of Minecraft was a bridge too far for me in good parenting. I have had my own experiences with gaming addiction, particularly when I was writing my thesis, but I live with intensely enthusiastic computer gamers and my rule is “that’s great for you but I am just so not interested”.
My kids, 12, 10 & 7, all love Minecraft, and generally use up their daily computer allowance playing it. They tend to use it mainly to build/create, in “create” mode, and treat it as a virtual extension of their Lego building. They have made amazing buildings and railways that tour between them. My son was so interested that we have been talking about civil engineering, and as a result he created a huge, fantastic bridge. His funniest creation is a building shaped like a ninja!
My son loves Minecraft and the only reason he hasn’t spent the whole holidays either playing it or asking to play it is that he was mostly at my parents house where it’s unavailable. We have rules about talking about Minecraft, namely, Don’t Talk To Mummy About Minecraft. Some things are more fun to do than to listen to.
I Love this rule! I need more rules like, Don’t talk to Wife about tedious details of work. :)