Bonding with My Daughters Over Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Thanksgiving weekend looked a lot like me being sick laid up in bed while my husband prepared our annual meal based on our oldest daughter's requests. While in bed, I found myself scrolling on Facebook and came across my friend, DeAnn's post about Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. I figured I wouldn't download it because I don't care for games on my phone, but since I was tired of sleeping and not a big fan of watching too much television I decided to join the fun known as Animal Crossing Pocket Camp.
Once I started playing, I realized that it would be cool if my girls were playing it too so I downloaded the game and created Nintendo accounts for them. We've been playing ever since. Well, me not as much, but still I manage to hop on daily to collect my rewards and give my daughters kudos.
I'm catching butterflies while my oldest daughter watches.
One thing that's happened since we all started playing is we now have new things to talk about like paying off loans and saving our bells. It's a virtual community focused on camping. The loans are used for upgrading the RVs, and bells are used to purchase a variety of items to make your camp your own. The game itself is free, and I haven't spent any real money in it for any of us. The conversations the game brings up for us are often fun and light which is a breath of fresh air in the middle of lectures and other child-rearing talk. My husband thinks it pretty funny when we're talking about the game and showing off our new digs or outfits for the day. :)
As a parent, it can be easy to fall into the rut of parenting. The disciplining, the teaching, and everything else that falls in between. I know I find myself there ever so often, and if I can be honest for a moment, it is not my favorite place. It's one of the hard parts of parenting for me. I think a lot of comes from not seeing such parenting in real life so it all feels new to me. I'm more aware of checking out versus sticking it out to the end. I am learning as I go, and I am often find myself clinging to Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21 because I honestly do not want to be a thorn in my daughters' sides as I learn and grow as a parent.
Chatting with my youngest daughter while fishing.
The side of parent I like the most is the fun stuff and the simply living. I love being able to do life alongside my daughters. I appreciate being able to hang out, laugh, and talk about nothing every now and then. The simple act of downloading a game made space for just that as I start transitioning to "new to me" stage of parenting. It's cool to see my girls' design style, and I think it's cool for them to see me inside a virtual world since I never indulged in Roblox with my youngest and neither of my daughters are in to Minecraft. On a sidenote to that, my youngest doesn't even care to play Roblox anymore because Animal Crossing is more safe and friendly. She doesn't have to worry about mean or explicit words being spoken to her in the game. Yes, this new game came in handy not only as a bonding experience, but as a change in game time for my youngest because her dad had recently shared with her that she could no longer play Roblox.
Have you downloaded Animal Crossing Pocket Camp? What unconventional ways do you bond with your children?
