Arcade

7/7/23

Today we went to the arcade. Like many modern amusements, including water parks and scratch-off tickets, this type of frivolous entertainment would have sent my parents into a paroxysm of tears. I speculate that my dad's mannerisms are the result of the following cocktail: 50% puritan ancestry, 20% Irish famine, 20% sensory processing disorder or other neurodiverse condition, 5% rebellion against his father, and 5% his desire to simply be hiking or mowing the lawn instead. I am my father's daughter, but I've learned to appreciate some frivolity over time.

I gave each child a pre-paid card, and we had a talk to manage expectations ahead of time. The kids love the virtual reality games, and they did two of them together. I took a video of them shrieking with laughter; there was some sort of manic-looking rabbit throwing shit around a virtual kitchen, and another had a rollercoaster, pyramids and a weird-looking hydra. B & C were so loud that they drew the attention of both other patrons and the disenchanted teenage staff. Somehow C acquired a boatload of tickets during his subsequent gaming. He carefully picked out several small prizes, and then let his sister buy several items. They had an absolute blast, and he was extremely proud to be the generous brother.

Growing up, I maybe watched 2 -3 hours of tv the entire week (only one of those hours was allowed outside the weekend). We never had cable and we never owned a video game console. As a parent myself, I struggle with monitoring screen time. My approach to tv is sort of like my approach to diet: monitoring in microunits, whether those are calories or minutes, doesn't work for our family. Did we do an activity outside the house? Did we engage in some physical activity? Have we socialized? Have we read? Great. Have some screen time. I think particularly for parents during the pandemic, parents with neurodiverse kids, parents struggling to balance work and family, screen time can be a lifesaver. And I also want to teach my kids the value of rest. Or, the inverse: I don't want to shame them for needing to slow down or doing something for pure pleasure. I think there's also a bonding element to pure entertainment; growing up, I never knew what my friends were referencing when they talked about popular tv shows or video games.

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3 hours later. Jesus take the wheel. Right after that pithy little post about how I was nailing parenthood and screentime, C had a huge meltdown.