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Welcome to Raising Califorina where you will be taken behind the scenes to peek at the lives of a Southern California family. You will have access to never before seen footage and exclusive interviews that will give you insight on what it is like to be a kid in California!


THE JOURNEY BEGINS HERE!

Rock Band

What do Southern California families do for fun you ask?? They play "ROCK BAND"!

I finally gave in and let Daddio get an X-Box, but only to play Rock Band. It was one of his Christmas gifts. I know what you are thinking..."oh Miss Holier than Thou Holistic Mama let's her kids play video games". Not true. Video games are still banned from our house unless they are computer games that have educational value.

The reason why I agreed to "Rock Band" is because it teaches essential musical skills & concepts and requires teamwork, cooperation and concentration. Yes, it is considered a video game but it is interactive. It isn't braincheese. Rock Band actually teaches the player how to play drums, play guitar/bass and sing vocals. Players use actual instruments to play popular songs precisely and accurately. The other reason why I like this "game" is that it involves the whole family. (Even California gets involved by sitting on Daddio's lap while he plays the drums)

Tennessee named our "band" ThunderClan. We all chose fake names for our virtual musicians. Daddio is Victor, Tennessee is Eden and I am Sloan. Daddio plays drums (he is a drummer in real life), Tennessee plays guitar and I sing. We are on tour together...so far we have toured in Los Angeles but we have gigs scheduled in San Francisco and Seattle as well. We just won a van during a competition and made some "virtual" money to buy clothes and tattoos :)

If you want one, Amazon has it. They have great shipping and return policies.

5 comments:

Resim said...

Thunderclan is a great name! I can see it in neon lights:)

L.A. Mama said...

haha!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Unknown said...

L.A. Mama, I would love to get your input on why video games are banned at your house. You see I grew up in a time when nintendo was coming up and I'm a big super mario fan I would love to see my son enjoy games like I did, however I do agree on your reasons for allowing rock band. (I have guitar hero and it's awesome! I'm loving the music) But at the same time you could have some questionable lyrics....on the other hand, I love the fact that kids are loving music they otherwise would not like till later in life. My son is too young to play video games but he watches me play and I know he's listening to the music. :) (sorry this is full of run ons and and one blig glob of words but the comment window is a little cramped up to work with)


love always!
Single Daddy in San Diego

L.A. Mama said...

Dear SD in SD :)
I have been trying to figure out a way to email this to you because it might be long but I will try to be as concise as possible. I grew up during the video game craze too...my mom was a single mom and I don't want to say it out loud becuase my dad reads this blog but...there were some issues with CS so we couldn't afford video games (which is fine and I am about to tell you why)...
When I initially decided not to have them in my house...I made my decision based upon the boys who played them and their behavior, "perceived" IQ,their critical thinking skills and their ability to effectively communicate and process their thoughts and emotions. What I saw from each and every neighborhood boy that were friends with my oldest son was MUSH. They were walking Zombies. Then I did research for my Master's thesis in Education/Curriculum & Instruction and found out something disturbing. My thesis was about stress in children and I found out that there are certain chemicals that are released within the brain and throughout the body as a response to stress. Over time these chemicals destroy major organs and entire systems of the body. These chemicals also rewire the brain so that begins to react to emotion with numbness and avoidance. These chemicals also impair cognitive development. Here is the clencher: the same chemicals that are released during stress are released when we play video games that cause the fight or flight mechanism to occur (which is 95% of video games)...anything that gets your adrenaline going will cause this...the problem is that our bodies weren't made to be in a constant state of fight or flight. I don't think it is a coincidence that ADD and ADHD are more prevalent now than before video games. But just for the record, I do let my son play Zoo Tycoon on the computer...this is an educational game that requires critical thinking skills. I also let him play arcade like Math games with multiplication and division...but not for long periods of time. OK...that's my story. I hope you click back over to read it :)

Unknown said...

Wow, very interesting. I did not know that. Something to consider when and if I decide to let my kid play video games when he gets older. Here is my email: Zugasti(AT)cox.net


~mario