Our age difference isn’t large, but this is one of those things that make it seem like a chasm- Pokémon hit my age perfectly, so on the blessed day that she tells me “Daddy, did you know Eevee is the best?” HERE COMES BLASTOISE FROM THE TOP ROPE
This is our household right now. Including the upcoming birthday party this weekend. I respect your pikachu cake, because I think we're going to stick with the round cake and decorate it like a pokeball. But I have heard more about Pokemon in the past 3 months than I ever did in its entire existence. On the bright side, I'm much more content buying a booster pack to keep him happy as opposed to some other cheap toy that'll break within 30 minutes. Deep down, I love the hunt and if he ever pulls a rainbow Charizard VMax, I'm gonna grade that bad boy.
I almost footnoted it to explain that I took that information from an online resource because there’s no way I would have retained it on my own. Glad to see it shows.
You want to get your child into reading? Junior got an encyclopaedia of Pokemans one year for xmas, and by golly every morning we woke up to him sitting in his room, eagerly studying the various mutations (is that the right term?) for his favorite cards.
I don't know if that book explained gameplay, but the few times I tried to play a round with him, I was confused and overwhelmed at the same time.
I grew up with Pokemon, and the card game was baffling to me. The video games have a small learning curve but the main mechanics are considerably simpler, on account of their being children's games.*
*Claim hotly contested by grown adults who take every new development in said children's franchise as a personal attack
First, that's an amazing icing job. Like one of those "3d printing/CNC machining but with ____!" machines got a heart-shape-cropped image of the face of the Pikachu* I recognize from my youth, and briskly dispensed it into being with colored sugar paste.
Second, I love your approach. I probably pestered (and I mean pestered) my parents with my myriad monomanias, but some of my fondest memories come from when my parents shared in the experience with me. For things like my dad reading the Harry Potter books out loud as I read along, or my family listening to the audiobooks on family drives, those memories are the main bright spot of something that's lost most of its charm otherwise.
We are firmly in The Ninjago Year. My 5 year old son has now seen all 9(?) seasons. His Lego loving uncle has bought him all of the Lego characters the past few months. Every time we go outside, we have to each pick which ninja we are and find a stick for a weapon. Any tips on decorating a ninja birthday cake would be appreciated!
Ninjago has been an overlay to all of these years--my kids have also seen all of the far-too-many seasons more than once. I've been known to walk into the living room and exclaim "how many of these are there???"
This is to say, my sympathies are with you and Pokemon is a breath of fresh air compared to Ninjago.
Oh god, my son is 17 and just graduated from high school and this brought back so many memories that now I'm sitting here teary eyed. We went through a superhero phase where he wore costumes non-stop everywhere. (we watch all the marvel/star wars stuff together now so I guess that's just a more grown up version of the same thing). And we still have pokemon cards that my son isn't quite willing to part with yet--the last time our power was out I found him going through them. I thought it was cause he was bored, but turns out he was seeing if he had any good ones worth selling 'cause he was saving $$ for a super gaming computer. The obsessions continue but just get bigger in price as they grow up. :)
Dammit this hits the nail right on the head. I will never again question if my wife and I have gone overboard when we encourage and indulge in our children's (now 14 and 11) obsessions-du-jour.
I *was* young enough for that one, but it only lasted a year or two for me. I'm sure my parents felt the same way you did (and the same way I do now with Pokemon.) I've still got a box somewhere in the basement.
Whenever junior gets on a Pokeman tirade, I return fire with M:tG lore. Still have all the old cards, and one day I will introduce him to the game and likely hear how it's not as good as Pokemon: Fuscia.
I wonder how much of this is a function of having a son in the house. Mostly my daughters got fixated on books, thank heavens we have decent local libraries or else I’d have been remortgaging the house to pay for things like every single Warriors book ever written
Feel like that may be more of a sibling order thing than A gender thing, because I had many obsessions as a child and definitely when they were younger my sisters were just dragged along, but as they got older they picked up their own obsessions … including Pokémon, which I was too old to get super into, but with enough younger siblings that I have a very loose understanding.
Beats me. For me and my brother, he was the one much more likely to have those kinds of deep interests that would change over time, rather like our father, inasmuch as they would both recall them after time. I have distractions that last for a while and that I mostly forget.
My older daughter is probably more like me in that regard, my younger daughter goes her own way and doesn’t necessarily talk a lot about her specific interests (although we are similarly judgey about different music, so we have a little bond there 😂).
"Celebrate Father's Day by having Pokemon facts shouted at you through a closed bathroom door."
-JHGraas
His finest work.
flawless deployment.
With 4 kids of varying ages, it's amazing to see the difference in interests:
Almost-13-year old: learning to code & King of The Hill
9 year old: Wrestling & Dude Perfect videos
3 year old: painting/drawing & Dinosaurs (especially the Howdytoons Dino-Metal songs)
3mos old: rolling over, pooping, dabbling in caterwauling
Caterwauling! Taking that up at 35 years old, myself
It sounds pretty appealing as a new hobby actually
Our age difference isn’t large, but this is one of those things that make it seem like a chasm- Pokémon hit my age perfectly, so on the blessed day that she tells me “Daddy, did you know Eevee is the best?” HERE COMES BLASTOISE FROM THE TOP ROPE
BLASTOISE BOYS FOR LIFE!
This is our household right now. Including the upcoming birthday party this weekend. I respect your pikachu cake, because I think we're going to stick with the round cake and decorate it like a pokeball. But I have heard more about Pokemon in the past 3 months than I ever did in its entire existence. On the bright side, I'm much more content buying a booster pack to keep him happy as opposed to some other cheap toy that'll break within 30 minutes. Deep down, I love the hunt and if he ever pulls a rainbow Charizard VMax, I'm gonna grade that bad boy.
1. How much time did you spend looking up how to spell all the evolutions of Eevee and what stones get what ones?
2. Jolteon is the best Eevee evolution.
I almost footnoted it to explain that I took that information from an online resource because there’s no way I would have retained it on my own. Glad to see it shows.
I've been playing Pokemon since it came out when I was in 4th/5th grade and I still have to look these things up.
You want to get your child into reading? Junior got an encyclopaedia of Pokemans one year for xmas, and by golly every morning we woke up to him sitting in his room, eagerly studying the various mutations (is that the right term?) for his favorite cards.
I don't know if that book explained gameplay, but the few times I tried to play a round with him, I was confused and overwhelmed at the same time.
I grew up with Pokemon, and the card game was baffling to me. The video games have a small learning curve but the main mechanics are considerably simpler, on account of their being children's games.*
*Claim hotly contested by grown adults who take every new development in said children's franchise as a personal attack
Evolution, but close enough!
Meanwhile I’m here waiting for the Minecraft obsession to ease up.
/offers appropriately distanced brofist
🤜 🤛
I dont want to tell your son what's what but kids got into literal fist fights in 6th grade over Chazard cards, so...
Oh yeah, I don't think Eevee is actually the best Pokemon, but *taps It's Always Sunny meme* I don't know enough to dispute it
First, that's an amazing icing job. Like one of those "3d printing/CNC machining but with ____!" machines got a heart-shape-cropped image of the face of the Pikachu* I recognize from my youth, and briskly dispensed it into being with colored sugar paste.
Second, I love your approach. I probably pestered (and I mean pestered) my parents with my myriad monomanias, but some of my fondest memories come from when my parents shared in the experience with me. For things like my dad reading the Harry Potter books out loud as I read along, or my family listening to the audiobooks on family drives, those memories are the main bright spot of something that's lost most of its charm otherwise.
*Most of my youth. I am a Fat Pikachu Truther.
We are firmly in The Ninjago Year. My 5 year old son has now seen all 9(?) seasons. His Lego loving uncle has bought him all of the Lego characters the past few months. Every time we go outside, we have to each pick which ninja we are and find a stick for a weapon. Any tips on decorating a ninja birthday cake would be appreciated!
Ninjago has been an overlay to all of these years--my kids have also seen all of the far-too-many seasons more than once. I've been known to walk into the living room and exclaim "how many of these are there???"
This is to say, my sympathies are with you and Pokemon is a breath of fresh air compared to Ninjago.
Oh god, my son is 17 and just graduated from high school and this brought back so many memories that now I'm sitting here teary eyed. We went through a superhero phase where he wore costumes non-stop everywhere. (we watch all the marvel/star wars stuff together now so I guess that's just a more grown up version of the same thing). And we still have pokemon cards that my son isn't quite willing to part with yet--the last time our power was out I found him going through them. I thought it was cause he was bored, but turns out he was seeing if he had any good ones worth selling 'cause he was saving $$ for a super gaming computer. The obsessions continue but just get bigger in price as they grow up. :)
Dammit this hits the nail right on the head. I will never again question if my wife and I have gone overboard when we encourage and indulge in our children's (now 14 and 11) obsessions-du-jour.
That's a fine looking cake Scott and Mrs. ACB!!
That is the very best Pikachu cake I have ever seen ❤️💛
15/10 Pikachu cake, Scott.
Magic: The Gathering for me, but yeah.
I *was* young enough for that one, but it only lasted a year or two for me. I'm sure my parents felt the same way you did (and the same way I do now with Pokemon.) I've still got a box somewhere in the basement.
Whenever junior gets on a Pokeman tirade, I return fire with M:tG lore. Still have all the old cards, and one day I will introduce him to the game and likely hear how it's not as good as Pokemon: Fuscia.
I wonder how much of this is a function of having a son in the house. Mostly my daughters got fixated on books, thank heavens we have decent local libraries or else I’d have been remortgaging the house to pay for things like every single Warriors book ever written
I do wonder about that, because my daughter's fixations aren't as intense as my son's.
Feel like that may be more of a sibling order thing than A gender thing, because I had many obsessions as a child and definitely when they were younger my sisters were just dragged along, but as they got older they picked up their own obsessions … including Pokémon, which I was too old to get super into, but with enough younger siblings that I have a very loose understanding.
Beats me. For me and my brother, he was the one much more likely to have those kinds of deep interests that would change over time, rather like our father, inasmuch as they would both recall them after time. I have distractions that last for a while and that I mostly forget.
My older daughter is probably more like me in that regard, my younger daughter goes her own way and doesn’t necessarily talk a lot about her specific interests (although we are similarly judgey about different music, so we have a little bond there 😂).