Daddy Goggles

Yesterday my husband made a very big decision. He got rid of his PS3, his controllers, and ALL of his games! Let me tell you, game systems are very important to a lot of men. My husband used to be one of them.

When we were dating, I don't recall a night we talked that he wasn't playing a game. Once we got married he called it his best friend. We were going to have our first baby and he called it his "baby". See how much he valued it?

I told him yesterday, because he asked, that I was shocked and pleased that it is now gone. I was jealous of it sometimes. In some ways he treated it with more care and consideration than me or the children.

His reason for for such a change of heart, and the eviction of his former prized possession? He was seeing it through his daddy goggles. Yes, I was confused at first too.

He looked at how he felt about gaming in his younger days, and how it had affected his life. He looked at how it had affected his adult life. He looked at how it was affecting our family life, and his conclusion was that he didn't like what he saw.

No, he didn't spend all his time on it. But, we watched netflix on it, and there were shows that he had introduced our boys to that had become a problem.

He had noticed an attitude shift in our oldest that was alarmingly similar to the characters he was watching. We tried hiding the remotes and leaving it off...he found them. We tried watching something else and then he would throw very naughty fits.

Discipline him is what you are probably thinking...we did, and did, and did. Sometimes the best discipline is to take it away completely, even if it inconveniences you.

This part of our life is NOT all about us. We have to put on our goggles, like my husband, and see what the root of the problem is. Then, our job is to be parents and fix it if we can.

Our new family time will revolve around games and true togetherness instead of fighting over what to watch, or my husband playing games late because he is trying to do it while I'm asleep next to him on the couch so that it doesn't take his time from me....but it still did. He would wake up late, grumpy, and not get to spend the time he had with us before working that night.

Is there something in your life you need to put your goggles on and re-examine? Does it effect your children it your attitude? Does it steal your time? Does it cause you to argue with your spouse? If you can say yes to any of these questions, then I would encourage you to imagine a life if it weren't there. Maybe not forever...but for right now.