Romperz

How to Play Video Games with a Baby

Here is some sage advice for those gaming parents with babies. Since the birth of our daughter, our gaming time has decreased a lot. We still like to play some video games in the evening. We have rather developed our own little system for keeping our daughter content while we play video games. This is how a typical evening goes in our household. Daddy starts to play his game on his PC. Most of the time that game is Civilization. Since Daddy does not need to type much playing this game, he can hold Raegan while he plays. She enjoys this for a while but inevitably gets restless. When this happens, she is “banished” to the floor.

Once on the floor and since we aren’t very good housekeepers, she usually finds something of interest down there. When she grows tired of it, she crawls over to my chair, pulls herself up and proceeds to “chat” with me for a while. When that becomes old, I pick her up, give her some love and attempt to hold her and game. My technique is less successful than Daddy’s because my PC games of choice require me to use the keyboard. Raegan loves my keyboard and once she sets her sights on it, there is nothing else in the world she wants more. It’s usually at this point that I give up trying to play my game and leave the computer room with baby in tow.

We usually return a short time later after spending some time in the living room. Eventually Raegan winds up back on the floor playing. She’ll get fussy, and Daddy invites her to sit with him. Then the cycle of events starts over.Sometimes we do mix it up by placing her in her walker. She is usually content in her walker for 15-30 minutes. Sometimes she even still plays in her playpen. Our daughter will play for hours with toys that are not really “toys.”

Raegan’s favorite toy is her keyboard. It?s an old wireless keyboard does not work, so it is perfect for her to bang on. She enjoys our old cell phone, too. These toys stay in the computer room and are great for keeping her entertained while we game.

This is our “secret” for gaming with our little one. It’s worked well so far.