Thursday, January 17, 2008

Parenting pitfalls

I guess we're just really starting to find out what parenting is all about. Our eldest, Jack, turns 11 this year and moves onto secondary education.

I'm also increasingly finding myself having to raise my voice to him which I really can't abide. I know it's just his age, he's obviously getting more aware of the world and pushing his own boundaries. It's not helped by a somewhat unhealthy obsession with World of Warcraft, which I feel somewhat responsible for (although I've not played much, to be honest - just a few weeks 2.5yrs ago).

I guess like many boys of his age, he's pretty typical, he's a good kid, generally well behaved & polite, has done well at school but we just seem to be picking him up on everything; be it for not tidying up, being a little lazy, eating too much crap food, playing (and talking) way too much Warcraft and giving back a little lip. I think you just consider them perhaps older than they are and that they should be more considerate and better, I think it's just the pressure to ensure that they grow up to be the good people you want them to be.

I've now found myself setting up parental controls for Warcraft, simply to make him do other things; he still gets something like 14hrs a week on the game - and even that sounds an awful lot, despite him playing much more than that. I'm sure he'll react badly to the news and I'll be bad, awful, mean dad, but it's for his own good that he does other things.

1 comment:

Bryan Reynolds said...

Well up for a 'truth and reconciliation' event with the kids. We gotta fight back dude.

Anyone else?