For you daddies out there: Do your arcade games help put your little ones to sleep?

nesjess

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For you daddies out there: Do your arcade games help put your little ones to sleep?

So my daughter just turned one and she already has 8 of her baby teeth. For the past week, aside from getting over a cold, she's been teething again and this time her molars are coming in. With that said, you dads out there probably know that with those molars come screams of bloody murder pretty much all night long. It seems like no matter what you do, you just can't relieve the pain or crying. Nothing had been working for us.

Two nights ago, I decided to use the distraction method and took her downstairs to the game room. I fired up my games and she instantly stopped crying. She was just looking at all the different screens mesmerized. I played a game of Puzzle Bobble and within minutes she fell asleep upright on my shoulder. Transferred her into bed and that was that.

Well, tonight, same deal. My wife tells me in desperation, "Can you take her down to your arcade!?!" So I took my daughter down to the game room as she was screaming bloody murder. Fired all of the games up, and voila! She stopped crying. I played a game of Street Fighter II this time and she was staring at the X-Men attract screen to her left. Within five minutes, she fell asleep on my shoulder. Transferred her into bed and that was that (again).

I'm just thinking to myself, man, it's awesome enough just having these games in my house and reliving my childhood memories. The fact that they help put my screaming baby to sleep, makes them even more magical somehow. :D
 
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I havnt tried on my daughter, she falls asleep fast, but I can put my wife to sleep in a minute when I start talking about pinballs and arcades........she no fun
 
Very cute story Jess. Thanks for sharing. Oh the days. Done with all that. My Youngest is 6 now.

How the hell can you play street fighter holding a baby? Impressive!
 
Very cute story Jess. Thanks for sharing. Oh the days. Done with all that. My Youngest is 6 now.

How the hell can you play street fighter holding a baby? Impressive!

Yeah, It isn't the first time I've held her while playing games, but I have a system down. I actually got through 3 opponents before she fell asleep. With my hindered control, Ken pwned me.

I pretty much hold her up with my bicep and upper forearm which leaves my hand free. It helps that I'm short (5'6") and my arms are short enough that when I'm holding her I don't have to reach down really. When my arm gets tired, I switch her to the other side.

It actually is good upper body strengthening because when I play games now, I feel so much lighter and free. Haha. It's like when batters go on deck and swing their weighted bats before stepping into the box. :D
 
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Yeah, It isn't the first time I've held her while playing games, but I have a system down. I actually got through 3 opponents before she fell asleep. With my hindered control, Ken pwned me.

I pretty much hold her up with my bicep and upper forearm which leaves my hand free. It helps that I'm short (5'6") and my arms are short enough that when I'm holding her I don't have to reach down really. When my arm gets tired, I switch her to the other side.

It actually is good upper body strengthening because when I play games now, I feel so much lighter and free. Haha. It's like when batters go on deck and swing their weighted bats before stepping into the box. :D

Hmm. You shouldn't give away all your game training secrets. Since I suck at most games I should think about coming up with some of my own. Great technique BTW
 
How the hell can you play street fighter holding a baby? Impressive!

No kidding! I can only play one handed games (Pac or Ms. Pac) while holding my 7 month old son. I sometimes use the games to calm him down but he won't go to sleep. He likes to watch my hand as I play the game or sometimes looks at the screen. My nearly 4 year old daughter loves my games. Her birthday party is Sunday the 13th and the party is at our place. The games will be fired up for the kids and the adults too. If I can just keep my buddy's boys from standing on the control panels like last year, it everything will be fine.
 
Cool story eseyo1! My daughter is now 3 I wish I knew that information when she was teething wow what a nightmare that was going to work looking like a zombie with no sleep! Whenever my daughter is upset or crying I take her to the gameroom and fire up my games and she loves all the lights and game sounds it really calms her down and distracts her for the moment I see many nights for you my man in that gameroom with your daughter seems like the teething thing never goes away lol!
 
I would hold my baby girl and play Rush the Rock. Something about the hum or vibrations would put her to sleep before I finished a race.
 
That beats my method of taking the kid for a ride in the car. I stopped doing that the one night I caught myself dreaming of driving while driving!

My youngest is 2 now and it seems only Daddy's shoulder gets him to sleep
 
i have no experience myself, but my mom told me that when i was a kid i used to fall asleep on the floor watching my dad play pacman on our atari 5200.
 
Daughter

Could have used the advise a year and a half ago, now she just likes rolling the trackball or pushing buttons..
 
Time to move the crib to the arcade and use it for "white noise"
 
Time to move the crib to the arcade and use it for "white noise"

Haha. I should record my game room sounds and use it as white noise. But seriously, I think it's just the combination of lights and sounds that gets her. I don't know what it is, she goes right to sleep. Maybe she's like her mom where she has no interest in games and it bores her to sleep. :)
 
I have not used my arcade games to get my kids to sleep (although going to try with my younger one tonight!). However, I did do something similar in the past: When my son was teething (and just at those early stages of not sleeping well)... I would fire up a recording of some really quiet jazz or classical and put on the iTunes visualizer thing (if you don't know it- think screen-saver with moving colors and shapes). I would sit with my son laying on me ... and he would stare at the colors and listen to the quiet music. He was typically out cold within 5 - 10 minutes - combination of the visual and audio.
 
Kids today... all you got in my day was a rag soaked in whiskey across your gums (if you were lucky.)

Haha. We did consider the cold cloth on gums method, but that didn't sound like it would be successful either.

It is amazing how kids are growing up these days. My daughter thinks everything that has a screen is a touch screen since she's so used to playing with my wife's iPad.

It makes me wonder what it will be like when she's in high school. Am I going to be one of those dads who doesn't know how to use the latest and greatest technology? She'll need to teach me how to think-mail? I would hope not. :)
 
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