Do you know why I love Happy Bunny? He's cute, cuddly, and says everything I can't say in public. Now why would I want to use Happy Bunny to signify a mascot to our society? Because honestly, there are some pretty ****ing stupid, ignorant, and down right pathetic people in the world and the scary part is that they reproduce!

Read my Blog on [THE MORON]

My husband is leaving again on another deployment this October and again me and my children salute him off to fight the war on terror. This video is our dedication to him as he journeys off without us with only our picture in his pocket to keep him going. Be safe baby, me and the kids will be here waiting when you return!

I made the above video in memory of those lost in 9-11 and Dedicated to my military husband who proudly serves in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I made a post the other day about how my 5yr old plays World of Warcraft with me and my husband. This adolescent proceeded to tell me:

I really don't care how you or anyone else feels. I still think you're a sh*** parent. - Krydon (GuildCafe.com)

First of all, I have to say that this person obviously doesn't 't have children. To judge me without knowing me is more than immature. To set the record straight, my children are military children moving from place to place, daddy deployed quite a bit, and they have to adjust to a lot of new places, schools, people throughout the year, making it difficult on a child. Yet they are straight A students, they are respectful, the teachers love them, they take karate 3 times a week for exercising and self-discipline, and we as a family take vacations every year together. How can one say I am a **** parent because I allow my 5yr old play World of Warcraft with me and my husband (in the same room!). You want to see what **** parenting is, go to the article [Couples Internet Obsession Leads To Child Neglect], I AM NOT in that category of **** parenting!

He also stated:

I can maybe understand letting the kid sit on your knee sometimes and watch you play, but c'mon! This is disgusting and it is a sign or poor parenting. Some people just don't deserve to have kids.

Tell me, what is the difference between sitting that child on your lap and reading the chat on your screen than letting that child play with you and reading what's on his screen?

Second, there are many many gaming parents who would have words with this young adolescent: [See My 5yr old in PvP]. Please read that before you post anything, otherwise you are not getting your facts.

I want to lay this out on the table and defend the good gaming parents who game with their children.

Our society condemns parents when we read about teen girls who met some 45 yr old guy online and ran away with him. The first thing in posts are: "Poor parenting", yet when parents spend time with their children on video games, they are condemned for letting them play video games? The fact of the matter is, video games are here to stay, they will not go away and kids will play them. Because a parent allows their kid to play with them, and monitor the situations, there are still people who condemn the parents for this.

Computer games DO NOT ruin children's lives; in fact WIRED Magazine had an article about MMORPGs and how they are actually enhancing children's awareness in certain areas:

• Problem Solving
• Teamwork
• Critical Thinking
• Patience
• Hand-Eye Coordination
• Communication when vocals cannot be attributed

And if a parent is gaming with the child, s/he can monitor what is being said in whispers, eliminating some of the problems kids get when they are in chat rooms. Kids who game with their parents are more likely to be polite in game as well as know what is wrong and what is right in a conversation! THAT is good parenting! Why is it so hard for some people to understand that parents gaming with their kid is a GOOD THING?

In fact, there were some really good points given about parents gaming with their kids in mmorpgs from GuildCafe:

Roxianna:

There are always some people who fear new and foreign things. I think if you and your husband were skiing fanatics, you'd be out on the slopes with your kids and people would think that was nice. If you loved golf, you'd be buying tiny little clubs for your kids and taking them out to the driving range as soon as they could manage a swing. Same with tennis, baseball, soccer, gardening, cake decorating or any other pastime. Each one would use different set of mental and physical skills, but all would be considered healthy family fun.

Your kids are learning to enjoy what you enjoy and admire what you admire. The family that plays together, stays together.

Samhain

Ive recently taken up gaming with my 4 year old daughter. For a year she has sat on my lap watching me play eq2 (she loves the fairies). Last month, I went out and bought a PS2 for her and she loves Champions of Norrath. Together we pwn... We also play the disney games of course.

I intend of letting her play pirates of the caribbean MMORPG if it ever comes out.

Gaming with your kids is fun. Just as fun as doing other things.. in moderation.

My daughter is an active outdoors lover who plays soccer and does gymnastics and spends pretty much spends her summer at the park, beach or in the pool. Instead of sitting her down in front of Cartoon Network or Toon Disney, I think games are an excellent alternative.

Most parents don't even spend enough time with their kids. If you can sit together and game and have a great time its better than passive entertainment (movies, tv, etc).

Valeria

All the kids in our house are gamers just like us. Everything from FPS to MMO's I see nothing at all wrong with children enjoying agmes as long as they are taught ethics of playing online and safety. Kudos to you and give your son a thumbs up for being a wonderful player.

Venr

Thats outstanding, I don't understand why someone would go so far as to say you have bad parenting skills? Maybe they are just upset because your child beat them down? I wouldn't take anyone's advice on how to raise your own children (hence the "your own" part) He seems to be enjoying himself as do you.

MMORPGs are not going to go away, it is the way of the future, from cell phones, ipods, laptops, and internet, it is in our lives to stay and parents who sit down and game with their children should never be condemned. That is probably one of the most important times of a child's life, taking it as a LEARNING OPPORTUNITY to teach what is right and wrong in games. If a parent plays MMORPGs and their son/daughter wants play with them, they should not be condemned and called a '**** parent'. These are parents who can make our future generation more respectful of others and more involved with the family.

And one last word of advice to this young man:

I'm sorry my 5yr old owned you in pvp and you are angry at me for allowing him to play!

Atlanta, Ga. 9/17/2007 1:47 PM GMT (FINDITT)

Robert Jordan, the author of the fantasy literature series "Wheel of Time" died on Sunday afternoon at the age of 58. Jordan had been battling cardiac amyloidosis for the past year.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina Jordan served two tours in Vietnam before returning and earning a physics degree from The Citadel. He worked for the U.S. Navy after graduation and began writing in 1977. He found success as a writer of several Conan the Barbarian stories before turning his attention to the "Wheel of Time" series" that he began to publish in 1990.

Jordan published eleven books in the series and had been working on the final in the series "A Memory of Light" when he past away.

Here is the message that was left on Robert's blog.

"It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain."

Robert Jordan was a prominent voice in modern fantasy literature. The author's massive Wheel of Time series has long been a top seller, and with his death he leaves the series' twelfth book unfinished and his story painfully incomplete.

We send our condolences to the family and friends of Robert

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning filmspot by [Dark Sentinels] Destruction WAR Guild. [www.darksentinelsofwar.com] for adults, military, and parent gamers.

Parents Need to Understand Today's MMORPGs Rather Than Hate Them

In today's day and age, the Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) is the hottest trend in computer entertainment and they are only getting more interactive. Parents don't understand the extent of these games and instead of getting involved; they trash the whole idea and say that they ruining a child's life. As a gaming parent, I'm here to dismiss that myth.

By Kat @ [www.digitaldiva73.com]

I'm a 32 year old mother of a 4, 5 & 6 year old. I play computer games, but not just single player games, I am an MMORPG fanatic. I got involved with the MMORPG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game) community through my husband, even though I had played the pen & paper before, it was my husband who introduced me to Everquest, literally the first graphically enhanced online role playing game (RPG). I wasn't as bad as some of the other wives when Everquest was released because I had gamed RPGs with my husband since we were 19 and I knew that all relationships needed to give and receive, so instead of throwing a fit about his "addiction", I joined him. It wasn't until Dark Age of Camelot that I really became a serious MMORPG fan, and at the time, I had given birth to my first child. As time drew on and I had 2 more children, my balancing act between parenthood and gaming fanatic became almost a second nature. I learned to organize and compromise my time. Then one day, my 5 year old wanted to play and as he began to fascinate himself with the online surroundings, I knew my parenthood teachings did not stop in game, there was a lot of guidance I had to give to him online as much as I gave to him offline, guidance and advice that most parent who didn't game would never have known.

There was a recording I heard the other day with a kid on headset ready to group up with his guild mates in an MMORPG when his mother walked in and told him to get off the computer. There was a tremendous fuss and then the father intervened starting more of an argument. If you haven't heard it yet, you can hear it at: [karacry.ytmnd.com] I could literally picture the entire scenario in my mind since I am a parent myself, but as I listened to the parents voice their concerns, I became a little agitated with the reasoning behind their argument.

Son: Mom, please I want to finish this soooo bad.
Mom: You do not understand how much this computer is running the family!
Son: It's not the computer, it's your reaction!
Dad: You're crying about a game!
Son: No, please I want to finish this pleeeeeeeease!
Dad: Don't you get it at all? All you're doing is damaging yourself.
Son: I just got the group together, pleeeeeeeeeeeease!
Dad: I'm sick of this game

There is a lot more to this conversation, but this is why I think parents need to know what MMORPGs are and to GAME a bit with their children or watch a while. Computer games DO NOT ruin children's lives; in fact WIRED Magazine had an article about MMORPGs and how they are actually enhancing children's awareness in certain areas:

• Problem Solving
• Teamwork
• Critical Thinking
• Patience
• Hand-Eye Coordination
• Communication when vocals cannot be attributed

When I showed a [video] of my 5yr old playing World of Warcraft, I got more positive responses than negative, but there were some negative feedbacks that I should 'get my son out more' or that I was a 'terrible mother to allow my child to play those games'. How people can judge that from a 3 minute video is beyond me, but these are the parents who do not get involved with their children. I was also told by a Korean friend that in America, when a child is good in sports, everyone praises them, but in other countries, it is computers that a child is praised for when they are good at games. He also commented that Sports do not work as much with the intelligence than computer games do and that you have more of a chance at getting a successfully high paying career doing computer games than you do with sports. So why do parents still see computers as 'evil' and 'ruining a child's life?'. The answer is simple: The lack of knowledge. If parents KNOW and perhaps participate, or maybe just watch a bit, then there will be a wonderful communication between that child and the parent.

I have taught my son the good and bad parts of MMORPGs. For example, when you get done with your quest and you are in a group, it is polite to assist your group in finishing their quest and not just leave, not to jump in and kill something that someone else is fighting unless they ask for help, or that standing on a fire when it makes that annoying sound over and over again is not nice, and that those are REAL people playing their characters too so we have to treat them as if they were standing right next to you in real life. These are things that help evolve a child to become more polite online and offline because parents who do not game, do not KNOW a lot of times that these are REAL people that you are on the headset with or that you grouped with. As a gaming parent, I set examples by making a FAMILY day without computers and getting out of the house together, getting my duties done BEFORE gaming, and setting limits for myself and my kids.

When my husband and I DO sit down and game, my kids love to watch, or if we aren't doing a big raid, our 5yr old joins us on some quests and he loves spending time with us. When my husband is deployed, it is a great opportunity to be able to spend time with him as well.

My whole point is that if parents were to understand and get involved with computer games their children play, there would be a better parent-child relationship, respect, and less arguing. Technology is not going to go away, it is the way of the future, from cell phones, ipods, laptops, and internet, it is in our lives to stay and parents need to encourage computer and gaming hobbies more than withdrawal from it.

As one unknown Philosopher once stated:

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing"

I take that saying to heart and will forever be a gaming parent supporting my child if s/he wants to go to those gaming tournaments! More power to them!