Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Moshi World

Last week Snowy was Bored. Not the whiny kind of lazy-bored though. It was a bit too existential for that. He was bored of being in his own skin, living his own life, with its own duties and pleasures.

Now, if I was a very good mama, I might have helped him deal with this unsettling feeling by talking about it, drawing it, living it with him. Last week I wasn't a good mama, I was the kind of fed up woman who, upon hearing the 'B' word for the nth time, got straight to googling free online games for children.

And that is the inglorious story of how we stumbled upon 'Moshi Monsters, a virtual world that Snowy and I have spent far too much time in, creating our monsters, dressing them, feeding them, decorating their rooms. You can visit us if you like! Just go to www.MoshiMe.com/boydetective

It's a long way from my vision of screen free, Steiner influenced, crafty, rainbow parenting, of what I aimed for with the girls. It's true, Snowy is no longer bored. 'Moshi' broke the spell somehow; suddenly everything is interesting again. That's not where the comfort lies.

The comfort lies in realising that I met my boy where he was, stuck in his Boredom, and that I treated it not as a moral failure ( here, you're bored, do some work, that'll teach you to be bored! ) but as a problem to help him solve. Yes, bush walking or gardening or building something together would have done the same thing and been better for us, but you work with what you have, with the energy and resources available to you at the time.

Parenting philosophies mean little to Snowy. All that matters to him is that that I helped him out of the quicksand... and that I was prepared to parent a Monster alongside him!

6 comments:

  1. Billy is on Moshi monsters too - if Snowy wants a friend, I can find out his username (in the morning - not waking him up now!!)

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  2. We Moshi-ed for AGES, until we got worried about not feeding them if we went and did something else. Got to the point I was getting on the kids' accounts in the morning before breakfast and feeding their monsters so they wouldn't starve and get cranky!! Um, yeah…the blurring of reality and fiction…
    So now, we're onto Poptropica! Which you'll love as well—though it might be a bit tricky for Snowy at the minute. Something to look forward to :-)
    In the meantime, Happy Moshing! (and yes, I totally got a Moshi account during the Craze, as did my mum, and my husband…)

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  4. Helena, I am so happy to hear I'm not the only mother who has said such ridiculous things as "have you fed your monster yet today ?"

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  5. Melissa,

    Billy has just friended Snowy on Moshi Monsters - his username is toooshi.

    Kez

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