Gamer Grrlz

This is where my oldest (15) daughter is headed. Her dream job is to be a "character designer" for Nintendo. I'm hoping she can parlay her female-ness into a scholarship as she graduates high school (if all goes as planned) in three years. I don't imagine male/female parity being achieved in the gaming world in the intevening years. I pushing her to write to Mary-Margaret and WomenGamers to get a sense of what she will need and what she will be up against. I'd also like to see her start a website or blog in order to build a portfolio of her reviews as well as her character ideas.

But what am I saying? like she doesn't spend enough time on the computer?! It's hard not to be worried about the time she spends on the 'net. We monitor it somewhat but can't be there over her shoulder all the time. She's a good kid...bright but naive in some ways, completely not either in others. The thing us 21st century parents have got to realize is that the computer is a communication device, the new telephone. The stereotype of the teen girl used to be with the pink princess phone pressed to her ear while she lay across her bed with her head hanging upside-down. It's time to update that and put the "typical teen girl" at her desktop with about a half dozen different IM's going.

But whatever the device, too much time wasted will impact school work and that's where the parental rubber meets the road.