(no subject)
I had a very good weekend, lots of hanging out and friendly tie reinforcing and maybe Carrie is going to train around Russia with me? Sadly, the food was not up to the ridiculous bar set by my last two expeditions with this crew.
J and I talked about his game "Under the Bed" and how much I am very fond of it and want him to publish it now. I like the game because it deals well with child abuse, in a serious and dignified and not too hand-wringing manner.
J, reasonably, was like "But this game doesn't have to be about child abuse. Why are you so hung up on the child abuse angle?"
See, the game is really about just any hard stuff that kids have to deal with in their lives, right? And that can be everything from a hard homework assignment to a mean sibling to very serious, heavy stuff.
So here's my thoughts: Everyone has had hard stuff to deal with in their childhood. This is just true of everyone. No kid has a perfect upbringing, and anyone who tells themselves otherwise is lying, selling something, or just has self-delusion problems.
And, the thing is, our society draws these lines and says of certain hardships "these are tragedies that will scar you for life" and of others "these are regretable but unavoidable" and others "it builds character" and others "it's just part of growing up."
But I don't think kids draw the same lines that we do. I think that the way a kid deals with really horrendous abuse is, at the core, the same way he might deal with any other problem. Some problems will be overwhelming, and others trivial, but the process of dealing with them is the same. Trauma is trauma.
Under the Bed is awesome 'cause it takes that way of dealing with hardships and makes it a fun little game.
( P.S. to Joshua )
J and I talked about his game "Under the Bed" and how much I am very fond of it and want him to publish it now. I like the game because it deals well with child abuse, in a serious and dignified and not too hand-wringing manner.
J, reasonably, was like "But this game doesn't have to be about child abuse. Why are you so hung up on the child abuse angle?"
See, the game is really about just any hard stuff that kids have to deal with in their lives, right? And that can be everything from a hard homework assignment to a mean sibling to very serious, heavy stuff.
So here's my thoughts: Everyone has had hard stuff to deal with in their childhood. This is just true of everyone. No kid has a perfect upbringing, and anyone who tells themselves otherwise is lying, selling something, or just has self-delusion problems.
And, the thing is, our society draws these lines and says of certain hardships "these are tragedies that will scar you for life" and of others "these are regretable but unavoidable" and others "it builds character" and others "it's just part of growing up."
But I don't think kids draw the same lines that we do. I think that the way a kid deals with really horrendous abuse is, at the core, the same way he might deal with any other problem. Some problems will be overwhelming, and others trivial, but the process of dealing with them is the same. Trauma is trauma.
Under the Bed is awesome 'cause it takes that way of dealing with hardships and makes it a fun little game.
( P.S. to Joshua )