Jenni P McD's Life Less Blordinary: The Parental HALO Is Slipping

It appears Necropolis and I aren't going to be in line for any parental awards anytime soon.

Over the past weekend, Nec rediscovered an interest in his Playstation 2 and has the machine set up on the TV. I don't usually bother with the thing and have little or no interest in what happens. The Things have a couple of games for it, but have seemed to prefer the computer. Until now.

This weekend, the boys, the grown one and Things, have been playing HALO 2. In short, it's a sci-fi, shoot-em-up type game. It has a multitude of player options, but generally the boys have been either playing against each other (find your opponent and shoot them) or as a team against the game.

Yes, I know there are a lot of people who would take exception to letting a 7- and 9-year-old play a game of this nature. It may really seem as if we're not being very discriminating parents here. And, I might agree with you, except there's a method to our madness. We never just 'let' The Things win.

Somewhere along the line, we decided that good sportsmanship and developing real creative thinking skills were more important than the current pervasive parenting idea of letting kids win to improve their self-esteem. And, we don't play Candyland or Operation around here. The Thing's first 'real' game was Perfection. It was quickly followed by Trouble and Sorry, both of which were quickly grasped. We still play these as a family, but more advanced games became required. We brought out Chess and Pente. So, MUC has never won a chess match, poor kid. Pente is usually a best of 5 tournament, as that's all either kid can take before they blow. I'm eagerly awaiting for them to grow up a bit, so I can drag out my very old and very well used Scrabble. It'll be a while.

When The Things got decks of UNO cards for their last birthday, I showed them how to play with one hand, and after that, it was all or nothing. I was willing to bow out and 'assist' each boy, but MUC insisted on continuing play until he finally beat me. It took 7 times (and about a hour and a half of continuous play), but he finally did it on his own. That one win was more important to him than any of the previous 6 losses. Now, I'm as likely to lose as to win to either Thing. The Things are well on their way to becoming sharp, critical, analytical thinkers. And, there's ain't nothing wrong with their self-esteem either.

As to HALO, as they navigate the worlds, they have to remember where they are, where they've been and where they're going. They have to complete missions, make decisions and think critically. Then, they get to shoot and blow things up.