Excellent read. As the father of a newly-turned teenager, I've now had many of these moments where the father-daughter experience I had envisioned cultivating in my mind did not play out the way I had hoped. It can be a bit heartbreaking to feel like I'm missing out on a bonding moment, but it's also encouraging and rewarding to watch her develop her own interests and ways of approaching gaming and her other interests.
So like, a thing I've learned about babies as a new parent is that apparently they fuss the most with their moms because they let out the most emotion and let themselves feel the most things with the person they feel safest around. For a baby, that's unquestionably their mom. But I kinda wonder if that doesn't continue playing a part of child psychology and one of the reasons you saw the explosive disappointment and tangible frustration is because sharing space with your son made a space for him to actually get those feelings out. Then after taking a break, he felt ready to come back and take on these challenges on his own.
I'm only starting to grapple with the balance of being directly There For my daughter vs giving her space to work things out on her own myself, but I can definitely relate to what you're going through. And I don't think it's possible to ever fully have the answers. But it sounds like you're trying your best, and I don't think you need to worry too much about it. Even if the natural thing for a thoughtful parent to do is step back and ask if maybe we're the problem.
Also sharing video games with my kids is a Goal, and I love reading about how it's happening for your family
Excellent read. As the father of a newly-turned teenager, I've now had many of these moments where the father-daughter experience I had envisioned cultivating in my mind did not play out the way I had hoped. It can be a bit heartbreaking to feel like I'm missing out on a bonding moment, but it's also encouraging and rewarding to watch her develop her own interests and ways of approaching gaming and her other interests.
So like, a thing I've learned about babies as a new parent is that apparently they fuss the most with their moms because they let out the most emotion and let themselves feel the most things with the person they feel safest around. For a baby, that's unquestionably their mom. But I kinda wonder if that doesn't continue playing a part of child psychology and one of the reasons you saw the explosive disappointment and tangible frustration is because sharing space with your son made a space for him to actually get those feelings out. Then after taking a break, he felt ready to come back and take on these challenges on his own.
I'm only starting to grapple with the balance of being directly There For my daughter vs giving her space to work things out on her own myself, but I can definitely relate to what you're going through. And I don't think it's possible to ever fully have the answers. But it sounds like you're trying your best, and I don't think you need to worry too much about it. Even if the natural thing for a thoughtful parent to do is step back and ask if maybe we're the problem.
Also sharing video games with my kids is a Goal, and I love reading about how it's happening for your family