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

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

How will you (or have you?) introduced gaming to your offspring?

I figure I'll ruin it for them. Sorta like how overzealous parents ruin Little League for kids.

Me: What the hell are you doing, Max Jr.? Playing a half-orc bard who specializes in using a club? And you put your drop stat in Strength? I HAVE NO SON!

 

[Mirth]

I figure I'll ruin it for them. Sorta like how overzealous parents ruin Little League for kids.

Me: What the hell are you doing, Max Jr.? Playing a half-orc bard who specializes in using a club? And you put your drop stat in Strength? I HAVE NO SON!

teh funny, TW

My son will turn 2 in January and I can't wait for him to be old enough to game....

 

[Silver Moon]

How will you (or have you?) introduced gaming to your offspring? Have you gamed with your kids?

Yes, by way of a kids game (details below)

Have you bought them gaming books of their own?

My oldest will be getting copies of the Players Handbook and Oriental Adventures for Christmas.

How old are they? How old is probably a good age to introduce them?

They are ages 10, 8, and 5. I started the current campaign as a solo game for my oldest but the other two listened in and each took over playing an NPC. I've also told my oldest that when she is in 7th grade I start running a campaign for her and her friends.

Would you be disappointed if they didn't have any interest?

I'm not going to force it on them, and it won't surprise me if some of them lose interest over time. Right now, however, they are enthusiastic to play.

The kids game developed as a spin-off of our weekly gaming group. Our campaign has been running now for 21+ years and several PC's now have children. They also adventured in the orient a year ago player time and brought back with them a bevy of hengeyokai teenage girls (who my oldest helped roll up and name). All of the children's characters now attend the school on Silver Moon Island.

Charaters
Li-Li, female Hengeyokai (cat sub-race) monk, age 15, played by my 10 year old.

Dan "Big Mac" MacLeod, male human apprentice fighter, age 11 (but already 6' tall and 200 lb), played by my 8 year old.

Rex, male lizardman wannabe fighter, age 6, played by my 5 year old.

Jai-Lin, female Hengeyokai (lizard sub-race), class undetermined, age 14, NPC.

Kriskrafts and I are playing two of the school's instructors, Jamie and Silas, both human fighters. The current adventure has the kids going off on their first overnight adventure. The adventure will consist of investigating a smaller island off from the main island. So far we've played over four hours just picking out the standard equipment for each character, with the kids getting a firm grasp of what each item is and how it is used. The next game will consist of the travel to the island and the first night there.

 

[jester47]

From personal experience, I will not introduce them to roleplaying games.

I can trace many of my social and academic problems back to gaming, and I don't want them to have those problems.

Now this does not mean that they will not play games, just nor RPGs or games that take up lots of time.

I will still play, and I fully expect them to ask why I have never introduced them to RPGs, and I will tell them about the difficulties in my teenage life that arose from gaming. This does not mean that I will say no RPGs, it just means that I will not teach them to play and I will not purchase books. They will have to use thier own cash for that and chances are they will most likely be introduced to it by their friends.

This way they get social and fiscal responsibility and a parent that understands they may or may not be like dad.

Basicly they will probably have to get a job to pay for the books to game. I plan on paying an allowance but I figure that the best way to do that is to give them enough per week (when they are teenagers of course) to go out somewhere and get dinner and a movie. Then take the min wage, knock off .50 and divide that into the amount I give them. This will show the number of hours I can extract work from them for the week (i.e. chores). Start the allowance at 10, and then increase it steadily until driving age.

Granted they are as fictional now as my D&D characters, so... maybe thier fictional mother will also have some things to say about how they are raised.

Aaron.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

From personal experience, I will not introduce them to roleplaying games. I can trace many of my social and academic problems back to gaming, and I don't want them to have those problems.

Tsk tsk, nothing sadder than a self-loathing gamer.

Seriously though, don't you think as someone who did it poorly yourself the first time around, that you'd have a unique perspective on how to do it right with another generation?

If your kid complains that he doesn't get to game enough, just say "I gamed twice as much as you did, and I had half the friends and did twice as bad in school (or whatever your issue was)." Then explain that those are the things that really matter in the long run, not some game.

IME there's no better way to make your kids pick up all your bad habits than to forbid them from doing things you do. All my friends whose parents smoked and wouldn't let their kids do it? They're all smokers now. All my friends whose parents were alcoholics are alcoholics now.

It's OK to be hypocritical to your kids (you DO know better than them) but you shouldn't rub their face in it.

I can trace many of my social and academic problems back to gaming, and I don't want them to have those problems.

Look, I don't know you personally, but from my experience, people who did poorly in school would have done poorly no matter what their drug of choice was. Ditto for being anti-social; some kids are just wired that way. When you blame a game, or music, or comic books or whatever, it minimizes your personal involvement in your own fate and welfare. It says to the world, "Thousands of people can play D&D/listen to Judas Priest/read Superman without any negative repercussions, but not me."

 

[jester47]

Tsk tsk, nothing sadder than a self-loathing gamer.

Seriously though, don't you think as someone who did it poorly yourself the first time around, that you'd have a unique perspective on how to do it right with another generation?

If your kid complains that he doesn't get to game enough, just say "I gamed twice as much as you did, and I had half the friends and did twice as bad in school (or whatever your issue was)." Then explain that those are the things that really matter in the long run, not some game.

IME there's no better way to make your kids pick up all your bad habits than to forbid them from doing things you do. All my friends whose parents smoked and wouldn't let their kids do it? They're all smokers now. All my friends whose parents were alcoholics are alcoholics now.

It's OK to be hypocritical to your kids (you DO know better than them) but you shouldn't rub their face in it.

I think you misunderstand. Where you are sugesting being a facilitator to gaming and a guide to moderate the habit, I am simply saying I will not be a faciliatator, but I will guide to moderation should that be somthing a child of mine decides to do.

Don't get me wrong if they play I will be proud and I am not going to stop them. I will even let them use the house and the table. But it is somthing they will have to decide to do and learn on thier own. If they do than hey I might game with them from time to time. But I am not going to put it in thier hands. They are not going to grow up in the subculture.

IMO its more complicated than the soundbyte that you presented. I do not see this as forbidding them. Its a free will thing. The less I facilitate the more free will they have. I probably will give the books as Xmas and birthday presents, IF THEY ASK, but I will not intentionally push them, overtly or covertly, towards gaming. I want them to find it for themselves if it is thier destiny to find it.

So I am not being the "do as I say not as I do" hypocrite parent, I am letting them be who they want to be. Actions speak louder than words, especially when raising a child.

Aaron.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

How do you keep the kids from choking on the dice?

My husband and I are of the "watch every move your children make" school of thought. Plus, by strict discipline, our children no longer reach for items on the table, nor do they go in the kitchen unescorted, etc.. Children are VERY smart, and even little babies under the age of 1 can learn boundaries. We've never had trouble with our little ones and the dice. But, you're right, dice are a potential choking hazard. That's about as off topic as it gets, I guess.

Kids are going to gravitate, to a certain extent, to things they see their parents doing. It's natural. As for how to introduce your kids to gaming, just play around them. Let them sit on your lap and toss a die or look at the books. I don't think there is too young an age for the introduction, nor do I think you can force your kids to love the game they way you do. I also don't think that rpgs have the social stigma that they had back in the 70's, 80's, and even the 90's. Lots more folks are playing these kinds of games now, from a broader segment of society.

 

[Rolzup]

A friend of mine games with his kids. GamED, rather, as both of them have gone off to college at this point. Based on how things turned out for them, though, I'm actually looking forward to gaming with my own children eventually.

I've really never seen a father and sons get along as well and as closely as these folks do. They respected him, they listened to him, but they had FUN with him as well.

RPGing really is something that families can do together. And it's a good way to spend time with your kids, get to know them.

Rolzup

 

[Rel]

I forgot to mention one thing in my earlier post...

I've actually been attempting to start teaching my 2 year old the symbols for numbers using dice. I'm starting with the d6 and I let her roll it and encourage her to say the number that she rolls (these particular dice are the ones with the numerals, not pips). She hasn't caught on immediately (she IS 2 after all) but she definately enjoys the "game" for a few minutes and I think it will ultimately be a great educational tool regardless of whether she ever takes to gaming or not.

I know that D&D was something that I learned a lot from. By the time I was 12, I spoke fluent Gygaxian.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

How will you (or have you?) introduced gaming to your offspring? Have you gamed with your kids? Have you bought them gaming books of their own? How old are they (the kids, not the books)? How old is probably a good age to introduce them? Would you be disappointed if they didn't have any interest?

My daughter wants to play so bad, she can taste it. She's 6, so I bought her some of the WizKid Clicks stuff to play with. We do Marvel Clicks. Mostly, she got the itch by just watching Mommy and Daddy playing, laughing, and just having fuuuun. Show kids that it's fun and acceptable. Chances are, they'll want to do what Mommy and Daddy do just so they can join in the fun.