Fortnite! and helicopter parenting...

I must be the worst Fortnite player alive... it's a bit strange since I used to be good at QII/QIII/UT ...
Maybe it's the age? (37?!) :D


Anyhow, my kid (almost 8) want to play Fortnite, I have played a few times with him.
I sort of reached the conclusion that it's better to play with him than against... ( if you get what I mean...)
That said I'm not certain it's the correct way to handle it. I have tried to get him interested in other STEM related areas but failed so far.
I'm thinking that everything has it's given time as long as I'm supportive.
My daughter is more interested and unlike me she doesn't have any language defects, she even seems talented at it,
so it keeps my hopes up that she might become a better me someday.


Any more parents here? How do you avoid curling (a.k.a. helicopter parenting) too much?
I never give them things for free, but I do notice a tendency that it feels too easy compared to how it was when I grew up...

I've got 2 kids. My daughter's a freshman in college this year. She was interested in science until 10th grade, but also drama and writing. She ended up going to an arts academy for her 11th/12th grade years for writing and her interest in science flagged at the same time. She's now thinking about a dual major in writing/ science, but she won't have to declare until mid next year.

My son is 15. He's been interested in science and engineering for a long time and after middle-school his persistent (and concerning) disinterest in school completely reversed, to my great relief. For the 1st half of last summer he was way to into fortnite, but dropped it entirely by mid July. Incidentally, he made the varsity wrestling team this year, which was a pretty big deal. Training through the summer was one of the activities that took his mind off gaming. Now he's stronger than I am, which has taken some getting used to.

I've never played fortnite, myself. But I used to watch him play sometimes, which was pretty entertaining.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rille

I must be the worst Fortnite player alive... it's a bit strange since I used to be good at QII/QIII/UT ...
Maybe it's the age? (37?!) :D


Anyhow, my kid (almost 8) want to play Fortnite, I have played a few times with him.
I sort of reached the conclusion that it's better to play with him than against... ( if you get what I mean...)
That said I'm not certain it's the correct way to handle it. I have tried to get him interested in other STEM related areas but failed so far.
I'm thinking that everything has it's given time as long as I'm supportive.
My daughter is more interested and unlike me she doesn't have any language defects, she even seems talented at it,
so it keeps my hopes up that she might become a better me someday.


Any more parents here? How do you avoid curling (a.k.a. helicopter parenting) too much?
I never give them things for free, but I do notice a tendency that it feels too easy compared to how it was when I grew up...

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Try Orbiter Space Flight Simulator. It is free for PC and 100% realistic. Even space agencies use it for demo videos.
It supports joystick, but for most scenarios, you may use a normal keyboard numeric keypad without problem.

You may find tutorials here. It will require you to study a lot because we are not used to space navigation and space is not intuitive. It is not hard, it is just new. And remember that children cannot visualize what you see in your head, you you need to make analogies and make graphic explanations on paper for nearly everything.

Orbiter is the greatest STEM sim. It is so cool that it even allows modding. Also there is a free repository of free addons called orbithangar. Be aware that Orbiter 2006 and prior may be incompatible with later versions. Check the version of Orbiter that fits each addon.

You may want to download an addon that gives sound and a whole load of vehicles from Dan's orbiter site.

You literally have an astrophysics course for children there, but played as if it was Microsoft Flight Simulator in space. If you know how to pilot planes, what you know is useless, because you need to think in terms of kepler. Your kid will learn geography of the solar system.

Check this 8 year old kid who brought a ship to orbit and made it to the news. Orbiter on TV.

This will be way more educational and useful for your kid if he/she wants a STEM career. After playing this, your kid may need to study mechatronics to actually build stuff controlled by a computer. If you have no metal to make a robot, even wood would work to make a robot. The most important thing is to turn the learning into an emotionally pleasing experience. Making mistakes is normal and f they do that is fine, because yuo cannot die in the sim. After bouncing against the floor a few times to attempt to crash the ship, they will get bored of trying to crash and will try to do the right thing.

Not convinced? Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_x4afKQuY

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

I've got 2 kids. My daughter's a freshman in college this year. She was interested in science until 10th grade, but also drama and writing. She ended up going to an arts academy for her 11th/12th grade years for writing and her interest in science flagged at the same time. She's now thinking about a dual major in writing/ science, but she won't have to declare until mid next year.

My son is 15. He's been interested in science and engineering for a long time and after middle-school his persistent (and concerning) disinterest in school completely reversed, to my great relief. For the 1st half of last summer he was way to into fortnite, but dropped it entirely by mid July. Incidentally, he made the varsity wrestling team this year, which was a pretty big deal. Training through the summer was one of the activities that took his mind off gaming. Now he's stronger than I am, which has taken some getting used to.

I've never played fortnite, myself. But I used to watch him play sometimes, which was pretty entertaining.

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Tell her to try Orbiter. That will be the most health addiction ever. She will learn basic astrophysics, geography, modding, and she may be able to understand how to insert herself into the private space era if she tries to build something in the simulator by putting addons together and building stuff in space.

Just try to make the experience of using Orbiter more emotionally rewarding than Fortnite.

1) Fortnite is 90% building, thats why its hard for you to adjust. Its not just a shooter

2) Encourage STEM through the games, puzzle games like Portal or The Ball, or the PS4's VR with games like Astrobot, Moss, or even shooters like Firewall.


If you're on the xbox Microsoft has excellent parental features for time limits and when they are allowed to play.

I'll take a look at Orbiter. :)

Some of that design looks scary close to what I work with nowadays. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rille

I'll take a look at Orbiter. :)

Some of that design looks scary close to what I work with nowadays. :D

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Let me know about the reaction.
Unlike traditional education, Orbiter must become more of a game, fun, instead of boring supervised classroom.
Mistakes are allowed, and it does not reward crashing and doing the wrong thing.

Did it work?

I think it's harder to try and co-opt your kids interests, as much as it is to try and ban their interest in something. The best thing (and the hardest thing!) is probably introducing hard limits to balance things. Like turning off the router after a certain hour, or only allowing video games on weekends.

I try not to worry too much about things (kids afterall get obsessive about tons of stuff that they eventually tire of). But I do think games can be addictive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ar81

Let me know about the reaction.
Unlike traditional education, Orbiter must become more of a game, fun, instead of boring supervised classroom.
Mistakes are allowed, and it does not reward crashing and doing the wrong thing.

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Sorry :)
Have yet to try.