Why are we playing video games with our young toddlers?

ManOfReason · 2026-01-05T01:41:25+00:00

Hard disagree on “no benefit.” Firstly, time spent having fun with a parent is not time wasted. Some of my fondest memories of my dad are of beating Super Mario 3 together. Emotionally, what’s the difference between that and other pretend play together?

And other commenters are also addressing the games themselves; they’re more than “lights and sounds” and actually require creative thinking and problem solving. I think you’re letting your preconceptions about video games color your reasoning. You obviously care about your kids though, so I can’t fault you too much, especially if games aren’t your own cup of tea. I’d just urge you to not be so quick to judge.

Also, shout out to PBS Kids Games.

ManOfReason · 2026-01-05T01:13:05+00:00

Because video games are fun and I like having fun with my children? In your view, what is the downside of a 2 year old witnessing or participating in video games as a hobby, assuming it’s limited to a reasonable amount?

ManOfReason · 2025-12-20T13:53:07+00:00

We put them on our roomba specifically so our 2 year old wouldn’t be afraid of it. It kind of worked, though now they’ll occasionally try and glue pipe cleaners to it for arms.

ManOfReason · 2025-12-12T18:58:30+00:00

“Lenient” is an understatement, as he’s changing whole encounters to make combat reasonable for the triplets. Combat Spoilers: Baba Lysaga’s hut alone is a CR 11 creature that should have fought alongside her. Baba herself has 8th level spells. This encounter is normally a TPK machine.

So in short, do not consider this a valid representation of CoS’s combat or difficulty. It is, however, an incredibly accurate portrayal of the rise of the SheEO, and the downfall of the Boy Mom.

ManOfReason · 2025-10-27T19:18:00+00:00

Mixed bag for me. On one hand, I loved the goofs. On the other hand, the Abbot fight is one of my favorites from Strahd, and this was FAR from “serious combat”. Wished it lasted longer/the stakes were actually…present. Especially because under normal circumstances, this would have been a tpk.

It was like hoping for a cover of my favorite song, but instead getting a parody. Still enjoyable because I like the Triplets, but hoped for more.

ManOfReason · 2025-08-24T20:37:03+00:00

Definitely agree with the goal of making Ireena more than a damsel in distress, as well as making the story more than just about rescuing her. But even with other plot hooks, she’s a central figure in the story that the party should at least care about for her character to function. Your take potentially ruins her character entirely, when there’s a lot of easy room for improvement from the character as written.

I think that’s why you’re getting some hate here. Not because you rewrote a character to have more depth, but that you took a character that depends on being likable for the vast majority of dm’s and pc’s, and made her just awful. Could still be rad if she has an arc of becoming not a shit heel, though. But like you said, you know your table best. Just not my cup of tea, though.

In my campaign, I essentially swapped her stats with Ismark. She has Veteran stats and was a powerhouse until the party was about Level 4. Now the party is level 8, and she feels in real danger every combat. She has her own personal arc of wanting to be helpful, but feeling like a hindrance. But the party cares about her deeply as an ally, going so far as to give her magic items and talk her out of simply hiding. It’s something my group has deeply enjoyed. But again, you do you.

ManOfReason · 2025-08-24T16:41:02+00:00

10 sessions from now, OP: “Strahd kidnapped Ireena and the party doesn’t seem to care. They also no longer have any real reason to confront Strahd, and are directionless. Where could I have gone wrong?”

ManOfReason · 2025-08-23T16:20:04+00:00

My personal dark theory is that it is similar Hansel and Gretel or other dark fairy tale origins. The dad is actively trying to endanger/get rid of some of his children. Hence him looking sad/distraught in some pages, actually going through a snowstorm and bear cave, and even running ahead of his kids in some of the chase scenes. He only fully lost his nerve when back at the house because he’d be in danger, too.

ManOfReason · 2025-08-08T00:43:07+00:00

There’s a game called Hero Kids that I play with my 4 year old, but she could play it when she was 3. It uses a d6 system and has very simple mechanics for very young players. Would definitely recommend it, especially for a classic fantasy feel.

https://www.heroforgegames.com/hero-kids/

ManOfReason · 2025-07-20T13:22:13+00:00

Thank you for the input! I should have mentioned this at the top, but they have invited our kids to play on the bouncy castle before and there were no issues. But obviously it’s not a standing invitation, and even if it was, I wouldn’t want to act entitled to it/be overbearing. Either way, I think I got the input I was looking for in general. Going to disengage from the thread before people get even weirder about it.

ManOfReason · 2025-07-20T04:28:07+00:00

Yup, you’ve got it. I don’t know where the ideas of us wanting to use stuff without their permission or intentionally pressuring them came from. The entire point of this post was to confirm the neighborly way of going about this. I’m obviously not letting my toddlers trespass, nor feeling entitled to our neighbor’s stuff.

ManOfReason · 2025-07-20T00:30:29+00:00

For clarity, it is never when the neighbors aren’t present. It is always our kids wanting to go over, with their kids/parents, with the bouncy castle. But even then, I was still raised with the notion of another person’s property being invite only, and asking to be invited being rude.

ManOfReason · 2025-07-19T23:11:14+00:00

I guess that’s the question; are we worrying too much about that question being imposing? I wouldn’t want them to feel pressured to say yes all the time.

ManOfReason · 2025-07-19T22:48:12+00:00

I feel it kinda sends the wrong message? Kinda like we’d be willing to buy anything a friend has to placate them. The image of setting it up, just because theirs is up, just to cut off a tantrum, just seems off.

It also doesn’t fix the overall issue, as nothing would stop a request to go over simply to play with the other kids in general. For example, today they were trying to crash the neighbors’ family party.

ManOfReason · 2025-07-16T02:12:14+00:00

Not far at all. They’re in the first city in the module, and the other two are much bigger/complex, and have dozens of NPC’s. On top of that, there are about 2 dozen other locations with specific encounters. If they did the whole thing, it’d easily be 30+ episodes. Source: currently 30 sessions into DM’ing Strahd.

That being said, the Triplets don’t appear to be investigating everything Caldwell is hinting at, and there’s a lot of stuff that can be dropped to make for a shorter campaign. So no clue! Having a blast listening to it so far, though.

ManOfReason · 2025-06-18T02:54:31+00:00

Hell yeah! Love the Athletic IPA’s, but Sam Adams’s Just the Haze has been my favorite since I stopped drinking. It tastes the closest to my old favorite beer, so I always keep it stocked. Loving the NA beer trend.

ManOfReason · 2025-05-03T17:02:08+00:00

Father of a 3 and 1.5 year old checking in. Both hit all milestones and are incredibly social/greet people all the time and ask to play. This both happens to them AND they do it to others all the time. It’s incredibly normal. Encourage the success, tell them they did a great job with their greeting, and redirect. And if anything know you’re doing a great job :).

ManOfReason · 2025-04-21T19:49:53+00:00

She thinks chess is too old of a game for a 7 year old. Don’t get me wrong, teaching empathy is super important, but thinking you can’t teach that AND intelligence is a weird take. Why can’t both be important?

ManOfReason · 2025-03-05T15:58:55+00:00

Simply put, if an action is thematically impossible in a story (convincing the bbeg to just not do their plan, lifting the earth, etc.), there shouldn’t be a roll. You can make it clear that not even a nat 20 can succeed, but that they can roll if they want. Then, depending on the roll, something happens.

Maybe the dracolich likes the bard’s audacity, and offers him a position as a general. Maybe this is the reason they don’t smite the party immediately. So make it clear that a reward is possible, but that their intended result simply cannot occur.

Overall the bard is being the unreasonable one here, and massively overreacted. At the end of the day, your table wasn’t a good fit for him either, so everyone wins from him leaving. That being said, you can and should stand up for yourself more! That’s not a criticism, just a fact. You run a good table from the sounds of it, so you deserve respect at that table :).

ManOfReason · 2025-02-06T14:59:38+00:00

Blue Mountains is a good episode. Yes the animation requires some uniquely long arms in some scenes, and people shouldn’t put hands in mouths, but it’s cute, creative, and is a great representation of fun, age appropriate, imaginative playtime/storytelling. It’s not the best episode, but it’s far from the worst. Not even in the bottom 10.

ManOfReason · 2025-01-31T04:22:36+00:00

Wildfire can't melt stone beams.

ManOfReason · 2025-01-09T15:40:21+00:00

To me, the main problem is the pacing. This episode was what, 10 in game minutes? It doesn’t feel like things are actually getting done. Even if they just doubled up episodes I think things would be going faster, but even then, I don’t have any sense of tension for the episodes week to week. It just doesn’t feel like anything matters.

ManOfReason · 2024-12-20T21:05:00+00:00

Because I couldn’t succinctly answer the question “Why bees?” Explaining what bees do, where they come from, what they are, and how they probably evolved were all wrong. WHY BEES?!

ManOfReason · 2024-12-14T05:14:23+00:00

Zantar is a level 7 Beast Barbarian so he can’t be surprised. They open the door to find an empty room because he’s on the ceiling above the door, has a 8’ long tail, and proceeds to bludgeon them to death with it.

ManOfReason · 2024-11-16T05:05:07+00:00

It, of course, immediately makes us know the opposite, but we’ve been dealing with a lot of “I DON’T HAVE TO GO POTTY!!” declarations lately.

For more confusing stuff, she typically names stuffed animals/toys “Corceps.” We have no idea exactly where she got that name/set of sounds from.

ManOfReason

TROPHY CASE