Zombies

Have you ever made a stupidly idiotic, just plain bad parenting decision? One that seemed harmless in the moment...but later came back to haunt you? After dinner this evening, I settled myself in the chair in the living room and picked up my laptop. I started playing a game called Plants Vs Zombies. It's a rather silly, but thoroughly addictive online game. I expected the kids to play with one another until time to start getting ready for bed. However, Lucas immediately figured out what I was playing on the computer and came to watch. Sophie and Nicky then wanted in on the action. I ended up squeezed into the chair with Sophie and Nicky sitting next to me and Lucas hovering over me on the arm of the chair. It started as a simple game. My plan was to play for just a few minutes, then get up and do the dishes before getting the kids ready for bed. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan. The kids hooted and hollered as the zombies were eaten and torn limb from limb by the man-eating plants. It's a silly, campy animated game...not at all scary or gory. The kids laughed and cheered me on. We lost track of time and ended up sitting there playing for well over an hour. Finally, we lost the game and the zombies got into the house and ate our brains. Again...animated and not really scary at all.

We played much longer than I had anticipated. When we finally turned the game off , it was definitely bed time for the kids. However, as soon as I closed the laptop and we began to get ready for bed, Nicholas and Lucas developed a sudden fear that zombies were going to eat their brains. Sophie, strangely, had no fear of zombies at all...it probably has something to do with her being the spawn of satan and therefore, their de facto queen. The boys, however, were beside themselves. They conveniently "needed" to stay up with momma because they were convinced that zombies were going to come through their windows and attack them. And since they had no zombie-eating plants in their room, they would be defenseless and unable to protect themselves against the onslaught. What could I do? I couldn't call them silly. I couldn't call them fakers. Stupidly, I had sat and let them watch zombies on a computer screen for an hour. How could I not see this one coming? Asinine mommy moment. All I could do was cuddle them...hug them and kiss them...tuck them in over and over again. I had to explain that there were no zombies lurking outside their windows lusting for their brains. Of course, they knew this. I could see it in the mischievous twinkle in their eyes. They were being opportunistic. They got one over on me. No more zombies, boys! As preposterous and illogical as it sounds, it really is a bad idea to play a zombie game with your small children. Who knew?