Real Life Parenting

[Agar]

With the idea of babies officially being on the radar, I thought some of us REAL LIFE parents could share some of what parenting is like. I don't care if it relates to cantr at all, if it can be coded, whatever, I'd like this discussion to be more of just like veterans sharing stories of battle scars. Or in this case, crayon drawings. I don't even care if it's your own kids, just social situations you've been in with kids that made a mark on you (one way or another)

For example: Just a few minutes ago in my shop, we had two moms bring in their kids for a play date / get prints on ornaments thing. Moms, as are prone to do, get the prints off the kid, then "decorate" the pieces while the kids slap paint on the stuff they got. Needless to say, the kids got done far before the moms. Now they are bored.

So, inevitably, I end up with 2 2year olds having races in my ceramics shop. No, it's not what you think, they managed not to break anything.

They run, back and forth, back and forth, untill the younger, but bigger, boy gets tired of the older, but smaller, girl takeing a headstart and winning the races. So, as they're running, he pushes her.

Now I have a drama queen with a cut on her nose and a bump on her head crying and crying, and the boy is standing at the "finish" of the race grinning.

It got more fun as the boys mom "helps" and puts liquid bandaid on the girls nose, and it turns red, as she apparently is allergic to it...

I've got some more stories of my kids, things you never think you have to tell your kids, but I want to hear from some other parents now.

[Anthony Roberts]

Ant-Thin-Knee Seyz: "Moved to Non-Cantr Related Discussion"

[Sunni Daez]

When my one son was three, we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken..... I asked if he wanted chick strip or the "chicken little" sandwich, he proceeded to throw a fit...wanting a hamburger hehehheehhe *blushes*

[west]

Am I the only one DREADING the advent of babies in cantr?

[The Industriallist]

Considering that this thread was started in the 'General Discussion' forum, I'd say not...

[Sunni Daez]

Am I the only one DREADING the advent of babies in cantr?

NOOO West you are not, IRL babies are cool, I think Cantr babies are going to take alot of a players time and babies are going to be left on the ground, like discarded carrots. I do NOT think they have a place in Cantr

[Pirog]

I think the benifits of children will weigh up for the discomfort of a few bratty and annoying kids. It would leave more room for a natural history, with personal relations to things that happened before your time.

As it is now people have no real reason to stay and form communities in all parts of the region...but when you have a family, brothers and sisters...in-laws etc. People will get related to each other in a whole new way.

I think children will be the most important implementation in the game.

[Anthony Roberts]

Ugg! It -was- about real life parenting experiences, but now the topic is about in-game babies. You just -want- me to put it back, don't cha?

[Black Canyon]

I am willing to wait and see what happens. I must admit that at first I thought it was an extremely bad idea. But I think it all depends on how it is implemented. I don't think babies should be easy to come by. I don't want to see a lot of abandoned or murdered babies all over the place.

If babies are made 'valuable' enough, I can see their implementation adding an entirely new and positive dimension to the game. I would hope that players would have the option to participate or not participate when it comes to either playing babies and certainly having babies/children.

Oh....and to add to the "Non-Cantr Relatedness".... my daughter tried to eat a scorpion when she was 18 months old. She got it about half-way into her mouth, and thankfully never was stung.

[Pirog]

Anthony>

No, we just want to see you cry

Black Canyon>

I think it should be pretty hard too. Reproduction should be like a lockpicking project, with only a random chance of success. Pregnancy should make it harder to work at full strength etc.

And I would prefer if it at least in the beginning was optional to play children, so the system could be tested out by serious players.
Further on, if everything seems fine and there is a demand for more players to have children, you could make the system so that you would have to play X amount of children to have your full 15 slots. (People who have 15 adult characters should of course be allowed to keep them though)

[Pirog]

Oh....and to add to the "Non-Cantr Relatedness".... my daughter tried to eat a scorpion when she was 18 months old. She got it about half-way into her mouth, and thankfully never was stung.

That must have been a pretty horrible experience to see.

[Agar]

So to keep the topic NOT ABOUT THE GAME, here's one of the talks you'd never think you'd have to have with your kids.

My oldest son was about 7 when his lil brother was about 2. Older son goes to Grandmas on the weekends. Grandma has a Chiuaua named Taco, and Taco has a chew toy. A favorite chew toy. A lil more than that, because every now and then, Taco will hump the chew toy. Older son sees this ...

So he's being a good older son and helping change his lil brothers diaper. He's all done and we walk by the door ... and he's humping his lil brother ...

He's only 7, he has no clue what's going on, just rubbing himself against his brother so we tell him to stop and it's never been a problem again.

You'd never think, when you're talking about or planning to have kids, that you'd ever have to say "Don't hump your brother"

[SekoETC]

About my friend's kid... I always end up telling this thing. My friend is a weekend daddy to a girl who recently turned four. Now he had a dark period in his life but still wanted to take care of his daughter. One evening I was there, he could not get the kid to go to bed because... maybe he didn't want to raise his voice with a guest around. She was playing alone, I was trying to get rp started and he was on another computer, quarreling on irc with a person we both know. The kid goes to the bedroom, he snaps at her because he's mad at the person on the channel. She starts crying, I have to keep her out of the room so that he could settle things in peace. So she stops crying soon but keeps climbing to my back and otherwise requesting attention. So you can figure that rp:ing was pretty impossible. If I hadn't been there, she would have been sleeping and nothing would have happened -- maybe.

So kids can drive people over the edge but they also bring a spark of light into the darkness. They change things, they change you.

(I don't have kids and I know it would be irresponsible to get any before turning mentally stable and getting a grip of my life. - Wonder if that ever happens... But there's time.)

[Agar]

(I don't have kids and I know it would be irresponsible to get any before turning mentally stable and getting a grip of my life. - Wonder if that ever happens... But there's time.)

Why bother getting mentally stable before having kids? They'll just wreck any sanity you have.

If you have any impulse issues or other issues that could hurt yourself or others, ok, yes, take care of that, don't want to see kids hurt, but, things like you don't know where to go with your life, or you're not happy with yourself, bah, not an issue.

But the most important thing: If you're not ready to have kids, don't. That's it.

Kids are allright once you get past the annoying parts.

[SekoETC]

Getting children to make you feel better is a totally wrong reason, that's what I meant. If a person is sane then they mostly survive parenting without losing their mind. But a person that is already broken will not be able to carry the big load and the children will suffer from that. And committing suicide when you have underage children is totally irresponsible... I know one family - the father remarried and soon after killed himself. The stepmom could not take care of the two daughters (going to elementary school at the time) so they were put in an orphanage.

The same thing with physical disabilities. My mother has CP, she was very ill and tired after giving birth to my little brother, and it lasted for years. My father was working all the time so I rarely saw him. I could not get all the attention and care I needed, especially with the suspicions that have come up (that I might have Asperger syndrome). I would have needed someone to teach how to be social, but they had no time - causing much trouble in the future.