balancing family and games

[Tikarra]

I would quit wow if I had a family and was over 25 years old. Though I am not any of those, so I can't say for sure. I hope you do what's better for your life and family

They don't have to necessarily quit. Becoming a parent doesn't mean you have to give up fun things. It's already hard enough to be able to get out of the house so something that can be done at home in moderation when your kids are asleep or being watched by maybe a spouse or significant other should not have to be given up. It's all about balancing things and that is why the OP is asking how others do it. Tons of parents and even new parents play but that does not mean they are doing the "wrong" thing.

Everyone has different views of what the "right" thing is so this is something they need to decide for themselves so if they choose to keep playing while working on a balance that works for them then great!

The only reason I stopped completely is it was much easier on me to do that then to try and find a balance especially since my kid had so much wrong with her. My sister on the other hand plays while her twins are asleep and do her house cleaning while they are in their jumperoos, swings, or exersaucers.

[Emilie Autumn]

When I had my daughter it was rather hard really. But more of because she was a special needs child. Not in the sense that she had mental disabilities but her heart was pretty messed up and needed a great dead of work to "fix" it. It was nothing really life threatening at the time but she had two hole's in the middle walls of her heart (one at the top and one at the bottom) that separates the right and left atrium and ventricles. This was causing her oxygen rich blood and the oxygen depleted blood that was coming back from the body to mix. In return her heart was only pumping out half re-oxygenated blood. She wasn't getting nearly enough oxygen to her body as she needed to keep up with her growth and just being awake. She had a blue hue to her skin, lips and under her nails. As you can imagine she was a very tired baby. Just feeding her wore her out.

Then on top of that after she was 2 weeks old she stopped sleeping all the time and would just cry for hours on end no matter what we did so we took her to see her pediatrician and came to the conclusion that she had colic. She was put on a special formula that helped and throughout the day she was a very happy content baby but the closer she got to bed time the more upset and cranky she would get and getting her to sleep was a real challenge. I would hold her till she fell asleep but as soon as I would put her down she would wake up and cry her little head off. We were told to not let her cry because of the stress her heart was already under so I actually ended up staying awake about 20 hours a day catching only small naps during the day when she would nap.

I stopped playing. It was my only solution till she got past the colic and had her surgery and recovered from said surgery. Even then I would of never imagined trying to play more than a few hours in the evening or trying to do events. (I was playing Final Fantasy online at the time)

I don't really have much advice for you because I am assuming your situation is somewhat different but for me it was easier to just forget about gaming for a year and focus on other things. I have never been much for TV but I watched TONS of TV during that year while holding my little one and playing with her and despite all the chaos it was one of the most enjoyable years of my life.

i can relate to you easily, my daughter actually had mild leukemia than could have developed, i was so heart broken having to take her into chemo (which is poison literally injected straight into her veins) and to have to lie to her every day telling her it was perfectly fine.

shes OK now but because of the pain from chemo she literally breaks down in tears going near doctors, she just thinks they are going out of there way to hurt you, i still cant tell her the truth shes only 2 i don't want to let her know about death so soon, its a hard world parents live in =(

btw that end line is very sweet, Ive gotta agree that some of the best times in my life weren't on games, but just doing simple things with my little girl, i work a desk job verry boring i look forward to coming how in the afternoon to her wanting to play =P

I am looking forward to starting my daughter on the small cutsie games when she figures out there is more to a keyboard than smashing random buttons just cause they make a clicky noise lol. She will definitely have some gaming influence because her dad likes game, I like games, my boyfriend likes games etc...

thats what ive done with her ds jsut colorful helo kitty games, since her mother and i both speak and read japanese we wil lteach her this too and she can one day play the special japan only games(since hello kitty is god to her ><)=P

[Tikarra]

i can relate to you easily, my daughter actually had mild leukemia than could have developed, i was so heart broken having to take her into chemo (which is poison literally injected straight into her veins) and to have to lie to her every day telling her it was perfectly fine.

shes OK now but because of the pain from chemo she literally breaks down in tears going near doctors, she just thinks they are going out of there way to hurt you, i still cant tell her the truth shes only 2 i don't want to let her know about death so soon, its a hard world parents live in =(

btw that end line is very sweet, Ive gotta agree that some of the best times in my life weren't on games, but just doing simple things with my little girl, i work a desk job verry boring i look forward to coming how in the afternoon to her wanting to play =P



thats what ive done with her ds jsut colorful helo kitty games, since her mother and i both speak and read japanese we wil lteach her this too and she can one day play the special japan only games(since hello kitty is god to her ><)=P

Aww... Poor sweetie. Yeah my kid is in and out to so many different doctors that she is the same way. She just wants to be left alone by people and it's definitely effected her social development because she usually wants to play alone and is having trouble socializing with other kids. Last Halloween we took her to a little kid costume party and she was going around taking things from them and beating them up. I scooped her up and left before some other angry mom could come over and knock me a good one. She has a therapist that comes out twice a week to work with her and soon she will be starting school so I am hoping she starts doing better. She's a real sweet kid just doesn't know what to do with people right now.

And the Japanese thing is awesome. I know Sign language so I am teaching it to her but I wish i knew other languages.

[Emilie Autumn]

Aww... Poor sweetie. Yeah my kid is in and out to so many different doctors that she is the same way. She just wants to be left alone by people and it's definitely effected her social development because she usually wants to play alone and is having trouble socializing with other kids. Last Halloween we took her to a little kid costume party and she was going around taking things from them and beating them up. I scooped her up and left before some other angry mom could come over and knock me a good one. She has a therapist that comes out twice a week to work with her and soon she will be starting school so I am hoping she starts doing better. She's a real sweet kid just doesn't know what to do with people right now.

And the Japanese thing is awesome. I know Sign language so I am teaching it to her but I wish i knew other languages.

its a pain to see them stunted by health its totally unfair for children 2 be struck ill like this and loose so many experiences in they're lives =( but they can get better over time i wish you luck =)

the Japanese thing is annoying sometimes, the Japanese perverts that come as tourists 2 our country shout 2 each other, i hear every disgusting word they say ><

[Viter]

I thought that people on MMOwned were kids / teenagers O.o

[Emilie Autumn]

I thought that people on MMOwned were kids / teenagers O.o

sorely mistaken most wow players are over 18, the thing is that most ppl who play wow and tell you they are stupid kids who don't realize your not meant to pass out all ur info to strangers, those of us who are older just dont gief you details since we know that.

and mmowned is majority wow palyers, the trend follows =P u wil lfind alot of the coders are actually in uni/college not highschool