Grand Theft Auto

Ace likes to tell me about the games that he plays on the phone or ipad and his favorite hobby is to describe what happens in the game.

The other day, he was just telling me how fun this game called Grotopia is.. and how it is filled with dragons...

And then he started telling me about this really popular game amongst his friends called Grand Theft Auto

According to Ace, the game requires the player to do things to clear levels... and these things are things like stealing cars... killing people.... and in one level, the supposed gangsters will even go to this place to have sex with women.

"Huh.. are you sure it is suitable for children?" I asked him.

I thought about how I should respond to this info and remembered how in the conscious parenting modules I am taking and leading, there is a para that says we should talk to our friends like we will talk to our best friends so that there is no need to create authority conflict.

If Ace were my friend, I will tell him how i feel and trust that he can make a good decision for himself.. and so I decided that is what i will do.

I shared with Ace that I dun think that is a very suitable game for children. Because it promotes violence and sex. Even though I know Ace is a big boy already and can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, being exposed to these things everything everyday in a game will make it like a habit for a person to be exposed to this and in doing that, in time to come, a person is no longer sensitive to this and dun think it is a big deal when in fact, killing people, stealing things and just going somewhere random to have sex with women is a very big deal.

I know that many of his friends are playing the game but what everyone is doing may not mean that thing is correct or good. It just means it is widely accepted and it is actually okay for us to sometimes stand by what we think is right and be different from our friends.

"But I already downloaded the game..." he said.

I told him I have already shared with him what I think and I will choose to trust that he can make a good decision for himself.

And that was that. I put it behind me and unlike my usual naggy self, I never talked about that again.

A few days later, he started telling me about this new game his friends are playing... and so I nonchalantly asked him if he is still playing Grand Theft Auto.

"Oh, I deleted already... that game always hang my phone.. so slow.. so I deleted it.." He said.

Hee ;) No struggle, no fight!:)

Must remind myself to be centred and do this MORE often:)

PS: On a totally different note.. can someone tell me how a shoe can disintegrate to this extent  in just a few months??


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