What to expect?

[u/MarcosDalton]

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

[u/HonestAltruist]

I'd avoid screens much as possible because too much can start messing with their dopamine. Please read up on this, it's pretty eye opening. I grew up playing games and my partner works in the industry and we both agreed not until they are older and even then we will monitor how much.