Two days ago, I made Thai chicken curry and I had a long bedtime chat with my kids. It felt amazing to hear their thoughts, frustrations, wishes, fears about school work, friends and their adventures in Mine Craft. It’s been a while since I felt so close to them. I used to complain about them living in their own little virtual world and not being present here with us. At a closer look though, I see how both my husband and I are actually living a big part of our day in our own worlds (dreams, interests, hobbies, Facebook).
It looks like the moment I decided I wanted to be more present and play with my kids, an internal shift happen that made me more available, more open to their cues.
So they talked to me for over two hours, I listened and asked open questions with sincere interest. Oh, the fun I had shooting up chickens with TNT rockets, building hotels for villagers, fighting the zombies and the witches, teleporting, regenerating the village with potions after a zombie attack, and so much more. And all this fun was from their spoken stories, in bed, away from the computer. Now, I want to play too!
I’ll get back on this subject with news from my own MineCraft world!
Theo and Mira 
