Minecraft

   I had never heard of Minecraft two months ago, and now I hardly hear anything BUT minecraft from my soon-to-be 6 year old.  It is a game on our google nexus and iphones where you mine materials to build things.  The world is made of blocks, and you can build a house, a shovel, a train track, a bridge...  But if you set the difficulty level to "hard," zombies, skeletons, and spiders come out at night to look for you.  The "hard" level was quickly banished in our home.  We have enough trouble with scary dreams and being afraid of the dark as it is, so adding a game with nighttime monsters coming to get you is entirely out of the question.  Every day after school my boy wants to play this game. 
   The thing is, I both love and hate technology.  I see many benefits it gives (ah hem... I'm using it right now, am I not?), but I also see how it sucks us into a world where we have a hard time looking up to enjoy the present.  I've tried to play minecraft with my boy so I can understand his passion and what he is talking about all day long, but part of me wants to hurl all our devices into the sea!  And so right now I'm trying to take this opportunity to teach my son moderation.  It is ok to really like minecraft or a favorite tv show, but I want my children to learn to use technology with care.
   I feel a bit sick to my stomach when I'm out at a restaurant and see a family sitting at the table together all looking down into their laps where their devices are nestled.  I think it is sad that we are so withdrawn from one another (even if it is while "connecting" to others at the finger's touch).  It seems our society is sorely missing out on eye contact!  Our family has made rules to help protect our interactions, our lives, our daily experiences.  The rules are constantly in need of review and alteration as new obsessions grow (like minecraft!) or complacency takes over (like when we think it is ok to watch 8 hours of tv per day because we got used to more screen time while recovering from illness).  Each family has to figure out what is right for them, but our kids are allowed one hour of screen time a day (either playing games or watching a show), we are to never use any technology while eating daily family meals, and new to the list is that minecraft has to take a break 3 days a week (which might need to be more, but we'll see). 
  

In an effort to embrace my son's enthusiasm for his beloved game while drawing his mind into the beautiful outdoors, we built a real-life minecraft house together out of bales of pinestraw.  I gotta say, it was pretty fun for all of us!

I hope my kids will know that they don't have to throw their electronics into the ocean, but neither should they bury their faces in a screen.  There is a beautiful world here to explore!