So I think I was just training my 2-year-old to be a terrorist

[krispos42]

He's playing Flight Simulator 2004 (with judicious help from me), and he think's it's just the coolest thing in the world to fly the plane into the ocean, the ground, and into buildings, and for me to be flying the plane between skyscrapers in Los Angeles, doing loop-the-loops around the IBM building and buzzing city hall.

Of course there's no explosions or anything. If you crash, the plane just resets to about 500 feet above ground level and continues flying. But still...

Think the DHS will come by and spank my ass?

[undeterred]

1. Can you get it to go into the White House or Cheney's secret bunker?

That would get you in trouble. :evilgrin:

[Matariki]

2. more like they'll wait ten years and send Army recruitment guys...

[krispos42]

3. Ugh,can I join the Navy instead?

I like the big ships

[Deja Q]

4. The Department of Human Services?

:D

I'm waitin' for Vista to have proper system resources and when DirectX 10 cards come out - the preview shots of DX10 games is astounding.

Pity, really, I only play one game these days and use the compuer for 3d landscape rendering. Whee.

[Alcibiades]

5. OK, first of all

What business does a 2-year old have playing video games? I mean, seriously, I'm a gamer and the father of a two-year old, and I think this is the time for kids to manipulate objects in the real world, not on the screen. Your kid has the rest of his life to stare at some screen--and, if he grows up to be like most of us, he will.

Secondly, who the hell do I think I am, the parenting police? Just because I am raising my kid TV-free, doesn't make it a moral imperative for anyone else to do so. Can't we all just assume that folks mean well and that how you raise your kids is your own business, and not simply an opportunity for me to get self-righteous?

Thirdly, isn't it a little redundant to say that you're training your two year old boy to be a terrorist? Aren't all two year old boys all natural terrorists, with no need for training? (My boy's favorite exclamation: DESTROYED!)

[krispos42]

6. My kid's favorite: "Bad kitty! "

Followed by "Sam, don't hit the kitty!" :-)

The intricities of aerial navigation and elevator trim don't hold much interest for him, so he usually losed interest in about a half-hour or so. "See, Sam, Daddy's changing VORTAC stations on the radio panel!"

I do this about once a week. He's usually playing with Fruit Dominoes or that thrice-damned Elmo Power Drill. And I have two of the damn things because of a Christmas present overlap! :-)

[Alcibiades]

7. Here's something more his speed

http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/thomas_the_tank_engine_us_website_homepage.html

especially the games--though whenever I visit this site with my kid, I have to work the controls.

Of course, if he hasn't discovered Thomas yet, don't show him this. For some reason, whether the medium of exposure is DVD, book, web page or whatever, once a little boy gets it into his head that there are anthropomorphic trains with names, faces and personalities, this fact will occupy an ever-increasing part of his brain. It is crack for little boys.

[krispos42]

8. Thanks for the link

I'll try it out on him after he wakes up from his nap.

He likes the Sesame Street site on the Internetz, and he loves Care Bears on VHS. I feel like I can sing that damn song in my head... :banghead:

[treestar]

9. You'll like "smuggler's run"

I played that with my nephews. You can be the cop, but you can also be the smuggler. You can drive on the roads at any speed, through towns, up mountains, over cliffs, through water (sacrilegiously, you can "walk" drive on water) and drive over the waterfall, into buildings, through caves, and along a train track - you get damage to your vehicle, which could eventually stop you, but you can always start over with a new, undamaged vehicle.

I think all the kiddies need is to understand the games are like cartoons, not reality.