How are you going to introduce your kids to gaming, if at all?

[Olive]

Roll for initiative...

 

[CanadienneBacon]

To the dude who thinks he doesn't have time for kids: there is no "good" time to start a family. If you wait until you're "ready," you may well find yourself an old man and who wants to start a family at the age of 50 or 60? My advice, learned by fire, is just to jump in with both feet. You will make it work, as will your wife, and your kids will be fine. You may even find that having children will force you to become more organized and efficient with your study and work time. That's how it ended up for us. If you're in law school now, I'm sure you'll probably want to put off a family until you're settled into your new job after graduation (don't newbie lawyers have to work something like 80 hour weeks, at a minimum?). By that logic, you'll never find the right or perfect moment in your life.

My husband and I game. We both DM and we both like dice, so there's a ton of that stuff laying around our bookshelves. My children are growing up around D&D. The 2-year-old loves dice and likes to sit on our laps and roll dice, calling out "16!" no matter what pops up. She already calls the core books "monster books" and seems fascinated by the art. She doesn't seem afraid in the least. We don't own a copy of the BoVD, on purpose. If I had such a book I would probably take extreme measures to prevent her from ever seeing it; ie: store it high up on a closet shelf and wait until after she goes to sleep at night to get it out and use it for anything. I am also somewhat cautious about describing violence and gore while she's about. I figure if the kids take an interest in gaming then I'll neutrally encourage them to continue, the same as I would for any other interest. I also have 16-month-old twin girls and they too display a great deal of interest in the dice. I think the most important thing about being gaming parents of young ones is to be careful about whom you invite into your house to join your game. Find kindly people who treat your children nicely and try to avoid angry mean people, but then again, that's maybe more life advice than it is parent advice.

 

[Altalazar]

To the dude who thinks he doesn't have time for kids: there is no "good" time to start a family. If you wait until you're "ready," you may well find yourself an old man and who wants to start a family at the age of 50 or 60? My advice, learned by fire, is just to jump in with both feet. You will make it work, as will your wife, and your kids will be fine. You may even find that having children will force you to become more organized and efficient with your study and work time. That's how it ended up for us. If you're in law school now, I'm sure you'll probably want to put off a family until you're settled into your new job after graduation (don't newbie lawyers have to work something like 80 hour weeks, at a minimum?). By that logic, you'll never find the right or perfect moment in your life.

I've heard that before, from many parents - almost everyone I work with has kids, and I'm older than average in starting, I'm sure. But though there may be no "good" time there is definitely a "bad" one - and now would qualify. Working 40-70 hour weeks, never being home at night until after 9pm, spending all weekend doing homework for law school - plus my wife works and travels for work, so she is only home Friday night through Monday morning pretty much every week. That just won't work for a newborn. Daycare does NOT go til 9pm, there is no family nearby that can help out, and I really must spend my weekends doing homework - I don't have any time at all to devote to a kid on this schedule. So I do realize that there is no perfect time - but I do know it would be irresponsible to have kids at this time. Which is why my wife, though she is now 30 and starting to feel the clock ticking, knows that we have to wait until I graduate.

But that is probably a bit off topic.

I hope my kids do take an interest in gaming.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Get 'em interested in D&D? No problem. 1) Make sure they know where your D&D books are. 2) Forbid them from touching them because they "might damage them."

I think that should do it...

 

[Rel]

But that is probably a bit off topic.

Wise nonetheless.

 

[Sam]

I've got three kids (11 & 4 year old girls, and an 8 year old boy). The two older ones like to play. We play in a simple setting where they are in a school (think Hogwarts) for adventurers and get sent on missions through magical doors (portals) to various dungeons and areas throughout the world. The 4 year old plays too, but she just likes moving her miniature around. Oh, and my wife plays, though she spends most of the time running the 4 year old's character in addition to her own.

I got them interested when I brought home the gold box Adventure Game in spring of 2001. I hadn't played since 1e days, though I've continued to enjoy the CRPG versions of D&D. The Adventure game got me and my wife (who wasn't a gamer at all until this point) hooked, and my kids really enjoyed it. Altalazar, I'm sure there will be a 4th (or 5th) edition by the time your pending kids will be ready to play, but look for the Adventure Game version that's available then. I can't recommend it enough for new players, especially kids. There are pregenerated characters with a limited set of information on the sheets, so there isn't this daunting amount of data being presented to any new players. I think the new D&D Basic is going to take the place of the Adventure Game, but don't take my word for it.

We don't play on scheduled basis, though we probably wind up playing once every three weeks or so. This will likely change and become more regular (and frequent) with the winter months arriving, and soccer doesn't monopolize the weekends as much. They do like to watch when my gaming group comes over on Friday nights to play.

 

[Dirigible]

Aren't the dice kind of a choking hazard?

Hey, maybe we need childproof dice... each one the size of a grapefruit.

To the dude who thinks he doesn't have time for kids: there is no "good" time to start a family....My advice, learned by fire, is just to jump in with both feet.

Image...destroying...will...to live! Must... resist... making.... joke!

edit: When I first typed this, the line was 'Image...destroying...will to love!"

Very Freudian.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Started off with the Adventure Game, and once they got beyond that, just started with some basic dungeons (those little pamphlet ones that came out with 3.0).

Then, on to:

• Sunless Citadel
• 1st ed. classic U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (thanks to the EN World Conversion library)
• 1st ed. classic U2 - Danger at Dunwater (thanks to the EN World Conversion library)
• 1st ed. classic U3 - The Final Enemy (thanks to the EN World Conversion library)
• Forge of Fury

Now, they're stomping their way through City of the Spider Queen, but we've only played that about 5 sessions since it started in the spring.

 

[Angcuru]

I was thinking the same thing. How do you keep the kids from choking on the dice?

 

[Theron]

Chessex sells dice made out of foam that are too big to fit into an adult mouth, much less a child's. We picked up a couple at Origins this past year.