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On/off

Technology is making parenting even more challenging. I long for the days when kids scribbled with rocks on cave walls. If children misbehaved mom or dad could just take the rock away.

Punishing my children proved to be much more difficult this weekend. The younger lads were playing a game on the Playstation 4 and fighting. This argument is not to be confused with the argument over what movie to watch, how loudly the other chews food or who was first in line to take a shower. I believe the video game argument started over which direction their Disney Infinity characters should run. Have you seen this game? It is some crazy Mork and Mindy magic. You place a character on a portal and it appears on the screen. It’s only missing Orson.

The creators of these video game systems are genius and not because the graphics are “beast.” (Beast is apparently a good thing. I guess it’s the “fly” of this generation.) These tech geeks are genius because they create game upgrades that require new parts that look exactly like the old parts. It’s a money making machine. We have four portals.

I warned the kiddos to stop arguing. We didn’t have this drama while playing Pitfall. I warned them again. Finally, strike three. I stomped my feet as I walked toward the TV to shut the game off. The punishment doesn’t have the same effect if you tiptoe. Unfortunately, my attempt to ‘show whose boss’ was an epic fail. Where the hell is the on and off switch on the Playstation 4?  There isn’t a switch or a button. I frantically tapped, pushed and prodded around the machine, but nothing. I waved my hand over it like David Copperfield. I couldn’t get the damn thing to shut off. They giggled as I struggled. It’s like the time your mom tried to hit stop on your tape player, but kept hitting rewind, then play, then fast forward, etc. They giggled until I went for the switch on the power strip. The guys over at the power strip plant still speak my language. Click.

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