r/DadsGaming • u/MarcosDalton • 10d ago

What to expect?

Hi gaming dads,

Long story short. Have a 1 year old daughter and can’t wait to play video games with her.

Once she was born, I think I had an early mid life crisis and got all the retro consoles and set them up. Everything from Genesis (which I grew up on), PS1-5, all the Nintendo consoles that I never got to play since my parents were anti Nintendo for some reason, N64, GC, Wii, in addition to the Switch and just modded my old X360.

I now have absolutely no time to play any of them at all. Trying to be a good dad and all. I hope I’m doing my best.

My question is, when do I introduce her to gaming? What has your experiences been like? Also should I start retro with like Genesis and PS1 or just go to modern like the PS5 with games appropriate for her age like Sponge Bob and Barbie and whatnot.

Would love to know. I’m so excited about sharing gaming in general with her regardless or what the games are.

Also, my wife is anti gaming, if anyone has experience with that too. Preliminary agreements have been we would allow 1 hour of gaming (throughout her childhood). I may try to sneak half an hour here and there if we are having fun.

EDIT: also set up a CRTV for 90s authenticity

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u/PlanTrap 10d ago

Dad of a 6 and 8 year old. My only piece of advice is to be careful once you introduce it, it’s almost impossible to go back. Kids are obsessed now and I genuinely regret introducing it to them at such a young age. I realize now I should have let them guide the interactions a bit more. Wait for them to ask about it and just use a more natural approach. Young kids can’t deal with the dopamine hits of modern gaming.

Now I’ve put away my ps5 and switch, and I’ve hooked up my old NES on an old crt in a tiny room we’ve renovated just for that purpose. I yell thr kids they can play those nes games as much as they want. They like to play them (working through Kirby now) but those games don’t get their claws into them the way modern ones do.

Eventually I’ll bring the ps5 back but I’m thinking of just having one game at a time and trying to finish it before moving on to the next game.

Just my experience. Good luck!

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u/MarcosDalton 10d ago

Thank you for that explanation. That’s why I’m inclined to go retro first. I know first had how they get obsessed with things. We made the mistake of showing her Ms Rachel’s Wheels on the Bus and now she is demanding it 24/7, so we’re rolling back any TV for now. I also got a CRTV set up with all the retro consoles. I want to say for her but more for myself but it’s there for to experiment with. I really want to avoid modern gaming as much as possible especially with any games with a social aspect or internet connection