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My children (ages 6 through 10) had a similar experience to what you described in your comment. It pretty much sums up why we've banned Minecraft from our hous

My children (ages 6 through 10) had a similar experience to what you described in your comment. It pretty much sums up why we've banned Minecraft from our house. EDIT, To clarify: I fully encourage them to learn to code. We let them use Scratch and write love2d games. I've banned it from our house because we want them to build real things that they can actually use. We want them to learn how to build furniture and tree houses and real circuits. I banned it because we want them to live in the real world. EDIT 2: Don't be shy, downvote me if you disagree. It helps me to know just how far off my perspective on life is from that of the average HN visitor. Which in turns helps me to know whether I should just reading/writing comments.

Angostura 12y ago
Sorry, could you explain why? Because it soaks up parental time?
- VLM 12y ago
  With laser like precision WRT exactly one topic my wife yells at my son when he plays minecraft youtube videos containing non-mom-approved language or highly questionable behavior. Its important to note the vast majority of lets play type videos are mom approved. Almost all of them. But once in awhile one comes up in rotation that's PG-13 or worse rating wrt language or behavior (serial killing in game pigs while making cop killer jokes and then uploading it anyway, wtf is wrong with you, boy?) (and edited to emphasize, the "big name" video guys are virtually all "mom-approved" the worst behavior and language is usually some goofball one off not a semi-pro show host wanna be) Unless kids have dramatically changed in the last decade or two I know he's heard worse on the playground, its not the end of the world. Its better than watching TV, for example.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  No, because it has become an obsession. It's all the ever talked about, all day, non stop, for months. To this day they still play Minecraft imaginations games with each other. I would rather they learn how to build actual things that they can use. I'd love for them to learn how to build a real circuit or a real tree house, whatever. I would rather them live in the real world.
  - MichaelGG 12y ago
    ...As if somehow Minecraft isn't real, running on real circuits, on real hardware, making impressions on real brains. Question: Are they nearly as enthusiastic about building "real" circuits?
    - sdegutis 12y ago
      > ...As if somehow Minecraft isn't real, running on real circuits, on real hardware, making impressions on real brains. It's a virtual world. Our kids were not at all thinking about the Java bytecode that went into running it, or the x86_64 machine code that ran the JVM, etc. > Question: Are they nearly as enthusiastic about building "real" circuits? My 10-yo son was thoroughly loving the electronics kit we bought, making LEDs light up in different patterns depending on which SPST switch you pressed.
      - NoodleIncident 12y ago
        I guarantee they aren't thinking about the semiconductors in the LEDs, either. They love it because its a system with logical rules that they can experiment on and learn. It's the learning process itself that's the important part, not what specifically they are learning about.
      - gknoy 12y ago
        Have you considered how you might feel about your children modeling circuits or hardware in minecraft? Disk drives, memory controllers, and calculators have all been implemented in Redstone circuits, which seem to be an even deeper level than most consumer grade circuitry-tinkering lets one do. Moreover, there's less exposure to solder vapors, no chance of burning, and an ability to undo/redo, not to mention show it off to their friends or to you in a "cool" way. Imagine how much your son might like it if you were to let him wire up more than LEDs, and instead do things like create a castle or amusement park or train system controlled with in-minecraft circuits.
        tripzilch 12y ago
- Tad_Ghostly 12y ago
  I understand the frustration in hearing constant chatter about Minecraft. The amount of energy my kids devote to it is incredible and at times overwhelming. That being said, the amount of positive coming from their involvement in the game is incredible. Doing any large project requires considerable planning and imagination. "Survival Mode" requires resource management. They develop these skills by doing instead of sitting in a classroom and hearing about them. They read about it because they want to, boosting their reading skills. The run through the whole social scientific process in an authentic way (as opposed to the multi-step process taught in schools). And they even use it as an anchor to discuss other things. My five year old was confused about the word "chest" being used as "things that stores", then the eight year old says, "you know, Chest, like in Minecraft!" Five year old instantly understands. Thats just one example..it happens all the time.
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    > I understand the frustration in hearing constant chatter about Minecraft. The amount of energy my kids devote to it is incredible and at times overwhelming I'm more concerned about what affect this has on my kids, not how much it drains me (they always drain me, that won't change). > That being said, the amount of positive coming from their involvement in the game is incredible. Doing any large project requires considerable planning and imagination. "Survival Mode" requires resource management. They develop these skills by doing instead of sitting in a classroom and hearing about them. They read about it because they want to, boosting their reading skills. The run through the whole social scientific process in an authentic way (as opposed to the multi-step process taught in schools). And they even use it as an anchor to discuss other things. My five year old was confused about the word "chest" being used as "things that stores", then the eight year old says, "you know, Chest, like in Minecraft!" Five year old instantly understands. Thats just one example..it happens all the time. Our kids are homeschooled, so I understand the benefit of ad-hoc learning. But I won't make that into an excuse to let them obsess over a video game for months at a time. I would much rather they learn the same skills by building real things in real life. The benefit is that they can actually use these things. For example, we are teaching them how to garden. They will get to eat the fruits of their labor. They helped me actually chop down a few of our trees, and they helped me saw them into firewood. Having done these things with them, and seeing opportunities for even more fun activities, I just can't see Minecraft as anything more than escaping the real world for no sensible reason.
- kohanz 12y ago
  As a new parent and someone who has been through similar "obsessions" as a child, perhaps I can try to explain the sentiment, even if I don't necessarily agree with it. I imagine it comes from a line of thinking where the parent worries if their kids becomes too focused on one particular thing and spends too much time either doing it, talking about it, or thinking about. The parents may worry that their child's interests are not well-rounded enough. Perhaps "Minecraft time" is taking away from outdoor time, or music time, or sports time, etc. A total ban seems harsh, but perhaps the child's interest is bordering on addiction and this an attempt to solve that problem (again, I'm not endorsing this, just trying to reason through it). I know my parents were very unhappy with the amount of time that I would spend playing video games. They often called it an "addiction" and from an adult's point of view they may have been right. Personally, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with a child or adolescent immersing themselves in something for a period of time, as long as it's temporary. As an adult now, I certainly don't spend much time playing video games anymore and I see many facets of my life where that time investment as a child has paid off, but I can see where my parents' worries (even if misplaced) were coming from.
JoeAltmaier 12y ago
I understand. When kids are fooling with electronic devices online, they're not active nor really very social. They may be creative and cooperative and that's something. But contrast playing legos with friends, or playing a ball game, or building sand castles. Those are active, creative and they can be social. Now, I'd consider a mix of activites to be acceptable; a ban may not be my choice. But I understand it.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
radicaledward 12y ago
A few scattered thoughts about the parent comment's statements: 1) Your first edit makes it sound like you value hardware over software. I don't think that is your intent, but it confused me for a bit. 2) The implied definition of "the real world" scares me. It seems to be a common cultural thread. It creates instances like this, where parents dismiss interactions in video games as less real than those in flesh and blood. But, in its extremes, it also creates a culture where threatening someone on social media or in game chat is ok, because "it is not real". It creates a weird dichotomy where making a new friend at a bar is somehow better than making a friend online. A lot of pop culture media is currently struggling with the narrow pre-internet definition of the real world. I think that this is going to be an ongoing issue as our lives become more digital. 3) Based on your other comments below, it sounds like, if you had been my parents, you would have banned everything I loved for my entire childhood. My childhood was defined by a series of obsessions up until I graduated high school. A large portion of my early life can be summed up by Legos, Power Rangers, GI Joe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Scooby Doo, Dragon Ball Z, anime, and live theater (think Shakespeare). None of those things have any direct real world application, but they did give me a series of common frameworks for social interaction. "Oh you liked Scooby Doo when you were a kid? Me too!" 4) Based on Edit 2, I would downvote you, but I don't think that is the purpose of downvoting. I don't favor downvoting items that are adding to a discussion just because I disagree with them. Instead downvotes should be reserved for posts that are off topic (to the point of attempting to derail a discussion), incendiary, etc.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  1) It's more of a distinction between the virtual world and the physical world. My household values the physical world much more. Call me old-fashioned, but I take my notes on a pen and pocket notebook, rather than an iPhone or text editor or todo-app. 2) I used that phrase out of habit. I meant the physical world as opposed to the virtual world. But even though they're both "real", there are very important differences. 3) Yeah, I probably would have. 4) The fact that there is no official clear purpose for downvoting implies it's up to the community to decide. Which is actually a really cool social experiment on their end, but in practice it's just utterly stupid, and I'm really sick of it.
wildpeaks 12y ago
Did you ban legos as well ?
- sdegutis 12y ago
  Nope. :) EDIT to add even more courtesy.
  - wildpeaks 12y ago
    No it was a real question because depending on what you dislike about Minecraft, they could be an alternative (except much simpler) or fall under the same restriction. Another alternative I never see mentioned is Meccano (http://www.meccano.com http://www.meccano.com): a bit more advanced than regular Lego and plenty of bits and pieces to tinker with :)
    - sdegutis 12y ago
      It's purely about protecting them from obsession. Whenever they play legos, they don't pretend to live in a lego world for months on end afterward.
      - ewoodrich 12y ago
        I dunno, when I was a kid, my brother and I would play Legos for 6+ hours a day, for days on end sometimes. And we developed such intricate settings and plots that it almost felt like we lived in a Lego world for months. I don't think Minecraft is fundamentally different in that respect.
      - Phlarp 12y ago
        I remember when my parents tried to temper a particularly deep obsession with a specific video game from my youth. My father was very quick to brand it as "not real life", "anti-social" and "worthless". Needless to say, attempting to ban the game from my life was unsuccessful, even with scorched earth policies like physically cutting internet cables. Meanwhile, I firmly credit my time on this game as the kindling to my career as a developer. A point which (along with making more at 23 than he did at 45) I take great pleasure in reminding my father of whenever the opportunity arises. Here's to hoping your kid grows up and finds an annoying and creative way to say "I was right, you were wrong, check out this pile of cash I got"
rmrfrmrf 12y ago
You banned it because it's popular and teaches kids to code?
- sdegutis 12y ago
  Not even in the slightest. I was responding to what stuck out to me the most in his comment: > because the son is mad about it. > School started today, he's moved to another school this year. The first thing he asked to his news friends was about Minecraft. Then he advertised how PC version is superior to the one on iPad. > My 2 yo daughter knows what Minecraft is, tells she'll play Minecraft when she grows up. These stuck out because our children had similar signs of unhealthy obsession. (So did my wife and I for a while.)
  - washadjeffmad 12y ago
    Sounds more like an issue with time management at home. A very permissive schedule might be: no games or internet until after 8pm, one hour limit, weekdays only. Weekends, up to two hours total, after family activities, chores, etc. I suppose I don't totally understand your decision. If your children were equally as engrossed in a popular and technical school sport or club, would you disenroll them from it and cut them off from their peers? Have you found that your children having deep, socially enhancing interests and being willing and able to learn new or advanced concepts to be mutually exclusive? Things like this can be important to kids, so if you're willing to give it another chance (since it sounds like you enjoyed it, too), I would try incorporating principles of analog circuits into labs for your kids to do in Minecraft, then design a project with them using what they've learned to see if it works the same way in the game as it does in the physical world. (I haven't played Minecraft, so I don't know that this is possible, but from what I've heard about it, it seems plausible.)
    - Filligree 12y ago
      Very difficult (but possible) in vanilla minecraft; much more plausible with mods like Project Red installed.
  - 12y ago
RogerL 12y ago
Some info to consider: When I was a child, my parents banned reading (I kid you not) for mostly the same reasons. It was horrible; and not in a "now I'm older I appreciate it" way. Creativity, thinking, and passion is not something to lightly try to eradicate from a child. I will not downvote you, but your post made me sad, and relive a terrible part of my childhood.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  My kids have read the whole Narnia series, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings trilogy. These almost never come up in their imagination games or other activities or any discussions. Like, at all, ever. Contrast that with the time I let them play Minecraft for a single month, for only a few hours a day, and only a few days a week. For the entire month and a few following months, it was practically the only thing that ever came out of any of their mouths.
  - norswap 12y ago
    Curiosity: was it forbidden before? I'm wondering whether an earlier ban could have affected their interest.
  - davidgerard 12y ago
    We have taken to occasionally forbidding our 7yo from talking about Minecraft. Or, on other days, Pokemon. Or, for both at once, Pixelmon.
dools 12y ago
I'm with you. My kids don't touch screens, it's bullshit. Everything a child needs to learn or do is doable without computers. They will be at no disadvantage in the world if you don't let them play minecraft -- parenting is all about the precautionary principle.
norswap 12y ago
It seems overly harsh, and I'm not sure of the rationale, maybe you can clarify for me, but what I understand is that you banned it because it took up too much mental space for them (i.e. they were crazy about it) and because it's not really "productive". But one is often crazy about the things one love; and it seems harsh to ban something they love. I won't argue you might need to restrict it, but is it really harmful to let them have it a bit? Do you really think harm can come of it? I'm genuinely curious about your answer to this last question. Let me relate my experience: I used to obsess about a few video games when I was a kid. I don't talked to my parents about it, but then your kids are homeschooled, so I guess they must talk to you more than I did to my parents. I remember spending whole afternoons doing build orders for strategy games. Nothing bad ever came of it. Later, I ceased obsessing so much about video games, which became for of a brain-dead leisure activity; but the obsessive behavior carried over to other topics and I think it helps with my work (I'm doing a PhD). I would in fact be more worried about kids who never learn to go in depth into a topic than about those who take the dive easily.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
nl 12y ago
As someone who grew up in a house like yours (religious, with lots of stuff banned: TV, many books etc) I understand your perspective. I hope your children quickly learn the lesson I did: Never tell your parents anything - especially about things they enjoy. Parents cannot be trusted and any situation will be made worse if their parents know about it.
stonewhite 12y ago
I was constantly banned from anything I showed deep interests in. So my childhood life was about hacking through the bans or revolting furiously. I turned out to be _so_ much different from what they expected. I also was forbidden to choose my own books as well, which resulted me giving up reading. Because I wasn't able to buy any, and I didn't want all that crap they were giving. I only hope you are doing right things for the right reasons, unlike my parents.

Angostura 12y ago

Sorry, could you explain why? Because it soaks up parental time?

VLM 12y ago
With laser like precision WRT exactly one topic my wife yells at my son when he plays minecraft youtube videos containing non-mom-approved language or highly questionable behavior. Its important to note the vast majority of lets play type videos are mom approved. Almost all of them. But once in awhile one comes up in rotation that's PG-13 or worse rating wrt language or behavior (serial killing in game pigs while making cop killer jokes and then uploading it anyway, wtf is wrong with you, boy?) (and edited to emphasize, the "big name" video guys are virtually all "mom-approved" the worst behavior and language is usually some goofball one off not a semi-pro show host wanna be) Unless kids have dramatically changed in the last decade or two I know he's heard worse on the playground, its not the end of the world. Its better than watching TV, for example.
sdegutis 12y ago
No, because it has become an obsession. It's all the ever talked about, all day, non stop, for months. To this day they still play Minecraft imaginations games with each other. I would rather they learn how to build actual things that they can use. I'd love for them to learn how to build a real circuit or a real tree house, whatever. I would rather them live in the real world.
- MichaelGG 12y ago
  ...As if somehow Minecraft isn't real, running on real circuits, on real hardware, making impressions on real brains. Question: Are they nearly as enthusiastic about building "real" circuits?
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    > ...As if somehow Minecraft isn't real, running on real circuits, on real hardware, making impressions on real brains. It's a virtual world. Our kids were not at all thinking about the Java bytecode that went into running it, or the x86_64 machine code that ran the JVM, etc. > Question: Are they nearly as enthusiastic about building "real" circuits? My 10-yo son was thoroughly loving the electronics kit we bought, making LEDs light up in different patterns depending on which SPST switch you pressed.
    - NoodleIncident 12y ago
      I guarantee they aren't thinking about the semiconductors in the LEDs, either. They love it because its a system with logical rules that they can experiment on and learn. It's the learning process itself that's the important part, not what specifically they are learning about.
    - gknoy 12y ago
      Have you considered how you might feel about your children modeling circuits or hardware in minecraft? Disk drives, memory controllers, and calculators have all been implemented in Redstone circuits, which seem to be an even deeper level than most consumer grade circuitry-tinkering lets one do. Moreover, there's less exposure to solder vapors, no chance of burning, and an ability to undo/redo, not to mention show it off to their friends or to you in a "cool" way. Imagine how much your son might like it if you were to let him wire up more than LEDs, and instead do things like create a castle or amusement park or train system controlled with in-minecraft circuits.
      - tripzilch 12y ago
Tad_Ghostly 12y ago
I understand the frustration in hearing constant chatter about Minecraft. The amount of energy my kids devote to it is incredible and at times overwhelming. That being said, the amount of positive coming from their involvement in the game is incredible. Doing any large project requires considerable planning and imagination. "Survival Mode" requires resource management. They develop these skills by doing instead of sitting in a classroom and hearing about them. They read about it because they want to, boosting their reading skills. The run through the whole social scientific process in an authentic way (as opposed to the multi-step process taught in schools). And they even use it as an anchor to discuss other things. My five year old was confused about the word "chest" being used as "things that stores", then the eight year old says, "you know, Chest, like in Minecraft!" Five year old instantly understands. Thats just one example..it happens all the time.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  > I understand the frustration in hearing constant chatter about Minecraft. The amount of energy my kids devote to it is incredible and at times overwhelming I'm more concerned about what affect this has on my kids, not how much it drains me (they always drain me, that won't change). > That being said, the amount of positive coming from their involvement in the game is incredible. Doing any large project requires considerable planning and imagination. "Survival Mode" requires resource management. They develop these skills by doing instead of sitting in a classroom and hearing about them. They read about it because they want to, boosting their reading skills. The run through the whole social scientific process in an authentic way (as opposed to the multi-step process taught in schools). And they even use it as an anchor to discuss other things. My five year old was confused about the word "chest" being used as "things that stores", then the eight year old says, "you know, Chest, like in Minecraft!" Five year old instantly understands. Thats just one example..it happens all the time. Our kids are homeschooled, so I understand the benefit of ad-hoc learning. But I won't make that into an excuse to let them obsess over a video game for months at a time. I would much rather they learn the same skills by building real things in real life. The benefit is that they can actually use these things. For example, we are teaching them how to garden. They will get to eat the fruits of their labor. They helped me actually chop down a few of our trees, and they helped me saw them into firewood. Having done these things with them, and seeing opportunities for even more fun activities, I just can't see Minecraft as anything more than escaping the real world for no sensible reason.
kohanz 12y ago
As a new parent and someone who has been through similar "obsessions" as a child, perhaps I can try to explain the sentiment, even if I don't necessarily agree with it. I imagine it comes from a line of thinking where the parent worries if their kids becomes too focused on one particular thing and spends too much time either doing it, talking about it, or thinking about. The parents may worry that their child's interests are not well-rounded enough. Perhaps "Minecraft time" is taking away from outdoor time, or music time, or sports time, etc. A total ban seems harsh, but perhaps the child's interest is bordering on addiction and this an attempt to solve that problem (again, I'm not endorsing this, just trying to reason through it). I know my parents were very unhappy with the amount of time that I would spend playing video games. They often called it an "addiction" and from an adult's point of view they may have been right. Personally, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with a child or adolescent immersing themselves in something for a period of time, as long as it's temporary. As an adult now, I certainly don't spend much time playing video games anymore and I see many facets of my life where that time investment as a child has paid off, but I can see where my parents' worries (even if misplaced) were coming from.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

I understand. When kids are fooling with electronic devices online, they're not active nor really very social. They may be creative and cooperative and that's something. But contrast playing legos with friends, or playing a ball game, or building sand castles. Those are active, creative and they can be social. Now, I'd consider a mix of activites to be acceptable; a ban may not be my choice. But I understand it.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

radicaledward 12y ago

A few scattered thoughts about the parent comment's statements: 1) Your first edit makes it sound like you value hardware over software. I don't think that is your intent, but it confused me for a bit. 2) The implied definition of "the real world" scares me. It seems to be a common cultural thread. It creates instances like this, where parents dismiss interactions in video games as less real than those in flesh and blood. But, in its extremes, it also creates a culture where threatening someone on social media or in game chat is ok, because "it is not real". It creates a weird dichotomy where making a new friend at a bar is somehow better than making a friend online. A lot of pop culture media is currently struggling with the narrow pre-internet definition of the real world. I think that this is going to be an ongoing issue as our lives become more digital. 3) Based on your other comments below, it sounds like, if you had been my parents, you would have banned everything I loved for my entire childhood. My childhood was defined by a series of obsessions up until I graduated high school. A large portion of my early life can be summed up by Legos, Power Rangers, GI Joe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Scooby Doo, Dragon Ball Z, anime, and live theater (think Shakespeare). None of those things have any direct real world application, but they did give me a series of common frameworks for social interaction. "Oh you liked Scooby Doo when you were a kid? Me too!" 4) Based on Edit 2, I would downvote you, but I don't think that is the purpose of downvoting. I don't favor downvoting items that are adding to a discussion just because I disagree with them. Instead downvotes should be reserved for posts that are off topic (to the point of attempting to derail a discussion), incendiary, etc.

sdegutis 12y ago
1) It's more of a distinction between the virtual world and the physical world. My household values the physical world much more. Call me old-fashioned, but I take my notes on a pen and pocket notebook, rather than an iPhone or text editor or todo-app. 2) I used that phrase out of habit. I meant the physical world as opposed to the virtual world. But even though they're both "real", there are very important differences. 3) Yeah, I probably would have. 4) The fact that there is no official clear purpose for downvoting implies it's up to the community to decide. Which is actually a really cool social experiment on their end, but in practice it's just utterly stupid, and I'm really sick of it.

wildpeaks 12y ago

Did you ban legos as well ?

sdegutis 12y ago
Nope. :) EDIT to add even more courtesy.
- wildpeaks 12y ago
  No it was a real question because depending on what you dislike about Minecraft, they could be an alternative (except much simpler) or fall under the same restriction. Another alternative I never see mentioned is Meccano (http://www.meccano.com http://www.meccano.com): a bit more advanced than regular Lego and plenty of bits and pieces to tinker with :)
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    It's purely about protecting them from obsession. Whenever they play legos, they don't pretend to live in a lego world for months on end afterward.
    - ewoodrich 12y ago
      I dunno, when I was a kid, my brother and I would play Legos for 6+ hours a day, for days on end sometimes. And we developed such intricate settings and plots that it almost felt like we lived in a Lego world for months. I don't think Minecraft is fundamentally different in that respect.
    - Phlarp 12y ago
      I remember when my parents tried to temper a particularly deep obsession with a specific video game from my youth. My father was very quick to brand it as "not real life", "anti-social" and "worthless". Needless to say, attempting to ban the game from my life was unsuccessful, even with scorched earth policies like physically cutting internet cables. Meanwhile, I firmly credit my time on this game as the kindling to my career as a developer. A point which (along with making more at 23 than he did at 45) I take great pleasure in reminding my father of whenever the opportunity arises. Here's to hoping your kid grows up and finds an annoying and creative way to say "I was right, you were wrong, check out this pile of cash I got"

rmrfrmrf 12y ago

You banned it because it's popular and teaches kids to code?

sdegutis 12y ago
Not even in the slightest. I was responding to what stuck out to me the most in his comment: > because the son is mad about it. > School started today, he's moved to another school this year. The first thing he asked to his news friends was about Minecraft. Then he advertised how PC version is superior to the one on iPad. > My 2 yo daughter knows what Minecraft is, tells she'll play Minecraft when she grows up. These stuck out because our children had similar signs of unhealthy obsession. (So did my wife and I for a while.)
- washadjeffmad 12y ago
  Sounds more like an issue with time management at home. A very permissive schedule might be: no games or internet until after 8pm, one hour limit, weekdays only. Weekends, up to two hours total, after family activities, chores, etc. I suppose I don't totally understand your decision. If your children were equally as engrossed in a popular and technical school sport or club, would you disenroll them from it and cut them off from their peers? Have you found that your children having deep, socially enhancing interests and being willing and able to learn new or advanced concepts to be mutually exclusive? Things like this can be important to kids, so if you're willing to give it another chance (since it sounds like you enjoyed it, too), I would try incorporating principles of analog circuits into labs for your kids to do in Minecraft, then design a project with them using what they've learned to see if it works the same way in the game as it does in the physical world. (I haven't played Minecraft, so I don't know that this is possible, but from what I've heard about it, it seems plausible.)
  - Filligree 12y ago
    Very difficult (but possible) in vanilla minecraft; much more plausible with mods like Project Red installed.
- 12y ago

RogerL 12y ago

Some info to consider: When I was a child, my parents banned reading (I kid you not) for mostly the same reasons. It was horrible; and not in a "now I'm older I appreciate it" way. Creativity, thinking, and passion is not something to lightly try to eradicate from a child. I will not downvote you, but your post made me sad, and relive a terrible part of my childhood.

sdegutis 12y ago
My kids have read the whole Narnia series, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings trilogy. These almost never come up in their imagination games or other activities or any discussions. Like, at all, ever. Contrast that with the time I let them play Minecraft for a single month, for only a few hours a day, and only a few days a week. For the entire month and a few following months, it was practically the only thing that ever came out of any of their mouths.
- norswap 12y ago
  Curiosity: was it forbidden before? I'm wondering whether an earlier ban could have affected their interest.
- davidgerard 12y ago
  We have taken to occasionally forbidding our 7yo from talking about Minecraft. Or, on other days, Pokemon. Or, for both at once, Pixelmon.

dools 12y ago

I'm with you. My kids don't touch screens, it's bullshit. Everything a child needs to learn or do is doable without computers. They will be at no disadvantage in the world if you don't let them play minecraft -- parenting is all about the precautionary principle.

norswap 12y ago

It seems overly harsh, and I'm not sure of the rationale, maybe you can clarify for me, but what I understand is that you banned it because it took up too much mental space for them (i.e. they were crazy about it) and because it's not really "productive". But one is often crazy about the things one love; and it seems harsh to ban something they love. I won't argue you might need to restrict it, but is it really harmful to let them have it a bit? Do you really think harm can come of it? I'm genuinely curious about your answer to this last question. Let me relate my experience: I used to obsess about a few video games when I was a kid. I don't talked to my parents about it, but then your kids are homeschooled, so I guess they must talk to you more than I did to my parents. I remember spending whole afternoons doing build orders for strategy games. Nothing bad ever came of it. Later, I ceased obsessing so much about video games, which became for of a brain-dead leisure activity; but the obsessive behavior carried over to other topics and I think it helps with my work (I'm doing a PhD). I would in fact be more worried about kids who never learn to go in depth into a topic than about those who take the dive easily.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

nl 12y ago

As someone who grew up in a house like yours (religious, with lots of stuff banned: TV, many books etc) I understand your perspective. I hope your children quickly learn the lesson I did: Never tell your parents anything - especially about things they enjoy. Parents cannot be trusted and any situation will be made worse if their parents know about it.

stonewhite 12y ago

I was constantly banned from anything I showed deep interests in. So my childhood life was about hacking through the bans or revolting furiously. I turned out to be _so_ much different from what they expected. I also was forbidden to choose my own books as well, which resulted me giving up reading. Because I wasn't able to buy any, and I didn't want all that crap they were giving. I only hope you are doing right things for the right reasons, unlike my parents.