The munchkins know to ask for approval before they download a game to play on the iPad. The process usually goes something like this: 1) Munchkin shows me the game; 2) I peruse the description, rating, and reviews; 3) I say yay or nay. It’s a pretty straightforward and quick process, and so far we’ve been able to keep the games age-appropriate and family-friendly. That is, until recently.
Lo and behold, I’ve discovered my mama brain doesn’t function tooΒ well during the summer. It could be that I don’t have enough me-time during the day, so I end up staying up way too late at night, and the gears in my head just don’t turn as fast when they’re tired. Or I could just be getting old. π Either way, when one of the munchkins asked me to approve a game the other week, I inadvertently agreed to let them go to jail.
Yup. The game is all about trying to escape from prison.
What was I thinking?! At first, I reasoned it was a good game for problem-solving because breaking out of a locked establishment would require using your brain to come up with a plan and then to implement said plan. What I didn’t think through were the reasons why one would be in jail in the first place and how breaking out of jail would be a crime. Playing this game would in a sense make my child guilty of not just one crime, folks, but two!Β I had basically given a thumbs-up to illegal activity.
Sigh. Can we say, #mamafail?
All was not lost though! (There’s always gotta be a bright side to things, right?) π Because life is all about trying and failing and trying again, I decided to make the best of thisΒ opportunity.Β We talked about what prison life is like (based off what I know from TV shows and books, not my own personal experience, mind you!), and also increased our knowledge of some key vocabulary words (e.g. warden). I also talked about my friend and former classmate who currently works as a therapist in prison. And get this, he’s not just a therapist for one jail, folks, but two! (Yes, he’s as awesomeΒ as he sounds!) And I even managed to share about how a large percentage of prisoners are from fatherless homes and the implications of that. Amazingly enough, I was able to use a game aboutΒ jailΒ to strike up some interesting and educational conversations about life. God’s grace, folks, God’s grace! π
And to top it all off, I heard from my therapist friend recently that theΒ MoodkinsΒ have become quite a hit inβyou guessed it!βjail.
The therapists are using them for one-on-one counseling, as well as group therapy with the prisoners. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine theΒ cute therapy plush toysΒ I created for kids to be helpful forΒ adults, too. It’s beenΒ a huge blessing and affirmation for me to see them making a differenceΒ in schools, counseling centers, and nowβprison. It just goes to show, you never know how God willΒ use ourΒ small stuff for bigger purposes. π
All this is to say thatΒ there’s been a lot of talk about jail in our homeΒ lately. There’s never a dull moment in parenting, is there? But thank God for His grace and providence in working everything out for good.
I hope you’ve had a good summer! We have less than one week of vacay here and then I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule. As always, thanks for reading and sharing in my journey. π
What have you been doing this summer? How have you seen God at work in your life? Tell me in the comments below! π
That is an AMAZING way to take a not-so-good game and turn it into a learning experience. As a kid, I always LOVED it when my parents did that. π
Commenting as part of my challenge at rebekahdevall.wordpress.com/challenge/
Aw, thanks for stopping by and commenting, Rebekah! π Sounds like you have pretty cool parents! π