1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:06,720 Welcome to episode 128, Toddlers Tantrum and Turn Taking. 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,800 Today we're tackling one of the trickiest balancing acts in the 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:15,240 hobby, bringing your young kids those wild, wonderful player 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:17,640 threes to board game conventions. 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,760 You know, for parents, it could feel like a strategic puzzle 6 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:24,800 more complex than a day of Twilight Imperium. 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,560 Do you split your time chasing that open seat at the hot new 8 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,360 game demo or chasing your toddlers? 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:37,160 Between snack runs, meltdowns, and missed meetups with friends, 10 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:40,920 many moms and dads find themselves torn between 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,040 parenting and play. In this episode, we're going to 12 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,160 dive into the challenges, the compromises, and the creative 13 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:53,000 solutions that parents face as they try to share their love of 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,720 gaming without losing their minds or their badges from 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,480 juggling demo tables and diaper changes. 16 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,760 We're going to unpack the challenges. 17 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,360 We're going to share the heartfelt, hilarious, and 18 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:11,480 helpful stories of balance for the passion of gaming with the 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,240 needs of their children. Whether you're a seasoned con 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,480 goer or this is going to be your first trip to a convention this 21 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:22,240 summer, this episode is for you. In order to help me talk about 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:27,320 this, I have invited Susie from Games with Beanie to talk about 23 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:29,840 this very thing. Susie, how are you? 24 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,600 I'm. Fine, I am currently melting in 25 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,760 the English heat, yes, which is bringing on a lot more tantrums 26 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,280 for toddlers. Oh, no, Yep, Yep. 27 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,880 So I, I want to thank you for joining me for this 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:46,720 conversation. I think it's one that's worth 29 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,240 really talking about and trying to articulate in more detail. 30 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,640 I see families particularly. I just got back from Origins. 31 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,720 I know you just got back from UKG a few weeks before that. 32 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,160 I saw a lot of families at Origins. 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,240 I saw lots of different kids in various states of emotion. 34 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,280 I guess that's a a polite way to put that. 35 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,560 Let me start with this question for you. 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,080 I believe a lot of people would ask this. 37 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,880 A lot of people outside of our hobby would certainly ask this 38 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:21,760 question. Maybe even people without kids 39 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,600 would be like, why would you bring your kids to a board game 40 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:26,880 convention knowing that you're going to have to deal with all 41 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,640 this? Question because there are kids 42 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:32,840 and we love them and we want to spend time with them and we want 43 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:34,120 them to be involved in our hobby. 44 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,880 I can't speak for every family, right For us, we, I don't know. 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,480 Do you have the phrase it takes a village? 46 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,080 Yes. So we have this thing here that 47 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,040 a lot of us, we don't live quite close to our parents. 48 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,480 So we don't have, we don't have the village that helps us raise 49 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,480 those children. So sometimes we have absolutely 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,760 no choice but to take our kids on these things. 51 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,640 And so sometimes it's just it's, it's a big compromise. 52 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:03,560 We have to take them, therefore we take them. 53 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:05,480 And other times it's because we want to take them. 54 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,160 I mean, the UKG, we wanted to take the kids, we really wanted 55 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:10,840 them. And Beanie was so excited from 56 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:12,520 last year. He had loads of fun last year 57 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,280 and he was so excited to go this year. 58 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:15,800 He kept asking, is it time for UKG? 59 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,720 Is it time for UKG? Can we go? 60 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,040 Yeah, We took them to Alton Towers beforehand and he spent 61 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,360 the entire time at Alton Towers going. 62 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,400 We're going to UKG, Yes. So it's a balancing act on that 63 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,440 one is either sometimes it's because you have to take them, 64 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,560 oh, you don't go at all, and sometimes because you want to 65 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,960 take them. I know plenty of people that 66 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,760 went for the full weekend of UKG and they would go maybe days one 67 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,120 and two by themselves and then on the third day bring their 68 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:42,760 kids. Sometimes they just did one day 69 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,160 with the kids someday. Some like, well, I doesn't have 70 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,400 the kids the entire time. I saw some fantastic mums that 71 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,720 were wearing their babies the entire time round and that was 72 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,440 brilliant. And obviously this year we had 73 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,880 two walking children. Last year we had one in a 74 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:57,640 pushchair. This year they were both 75 00:03:57,640 --> 00:03:59,560 walking. So that presented its own 76 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,720 challenges and that one. And I even tried to do meetings 77 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,400 this year, which was a whole other thing. 78 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,720 I would not necessarily recommend doing that when you've 79 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,360 got kids in tow. I think next year I will 80 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,720 definitely stick with press night will be for me and the 81 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,519 rest of it will be for family. But it I wouldn't know that 82 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,600 unless I tried that this time. Exactly. 83 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,720 Exactly. So how about this question? 84 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,680 I'm sure a lot of parents think about this. 85 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:26,960 What? So at what age? 86 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,960 What age do you decide, OK, we're going to bring them to the 87 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,680 convention, right? Because then I know there seems 88 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,840 to be like when they're toddlers or younger, you could just 89 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,880 swaddle them on your chest like you said and just go. 90 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,680 But then there's like a certain age like I don't know if y'all 91 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,400 have this saying here, but we have that we have is like the 92 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,000 terrible twos when the kids are OK. 93 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,080 DJ is DJ is 2 and he will tell you how he is exercising the 94 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,480 terrible twos in a way that I have never experienced before. 95 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,520 I used to think that Beanie was my difficult child. 96 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,720 I have been proven wrong. Oh. 97 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,200 OK. But we are definitely in the 98 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,280 terrible twos. So. 99 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,760 So how old was Beanie when you decided to bring him with you to 100 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:12,280 UKG for the first time? Which I. 101 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,760 Remember this other day, I want to say he would have been about 102 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,800 four going on five for his first UKG. 103 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,320 So he's. Walking at this point, right? 104 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,120 He'd actually been to the NEC prior to that for a metropolis 105 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,880 convention, but and that was like that was geared at kids. 106 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,200 That was full on everything. Everything there was geared 107 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:31,720 towards kids. So that doesn't, I mean, it 108 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,480 counts as convention, but it wasn't UKG where UKG obviously 109 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:37,720 they say they're geared toward family and they do try. 110 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,840 They you can, they have a lot of stuff there for kids, but 111 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,360 they've got the treasure hunt, they've got kids stands, they've 112 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,560 got big size, life-size, interactive exhibits and stuff 113 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:49,200 like that. There is. 114 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,320 And obviously they've got the family zone, the areas they are 115 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,720 geared towards a family. It's just finding that it's all 116 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:57,640 the shopping. But you know, I think Beanie was 117 00:05:57,640 --> 00:05:59,600 about four or five when we first took him. 118 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,000 And obviously DJ would have been so he didn't go the first year 119 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,880 he was born. He would have been 11 going on 120 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:12,000 two for his first convention. So but if I if DJ was my only 121 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,280 kid, he wouldn't have gone for me. 122 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:16,800 I don't think I would have necessarily taken him at that 123 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:18,400 age. But because obviously we had 124 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,520 Beanie and because we were already established going, we. 125 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:22,760 Went right. So. 126 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,440 You you mentioned last year you had Beanie. 127 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:31,000 Beanie was walking, but DJ was still in a yeah stroller, right? 128 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,200 So what was, what was that like? What, what was it like to have a 129 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,560 child in a stroller that you're pushing around in the 130 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:43,320 convention? And were people respectful or at 131 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,040 least mindful of you and your child? 132 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,400 I would say yes, people were definitely, no one got, no one 133 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,040 was miffed. You feel like getting miffed. 134 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:56,880 No one got annoyed at us for the pushchair being there or 135 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,400 anything that everyone was very respectful that. 136 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,920 But last year, if you've heard a lot talk about UKU for this one, 137 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:07,120 last year the convention aisles were really, really tiny and a 138 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,160 lot of people struggled with that. 139 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,000 There were wheelchair users that struggled with it as well. 140 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,520 It was not, you seem to walk around this year. 141 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,120 If we'd have had the stroller this year, it would have been, 142 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,040 we could have swung it around in a loop. 143 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:21,720 Wow. Piles were much, much wider this 144 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,680 year. So any, any parents that because 145 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,760 you also see parents with like wheelbarrows, like the, the 146 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,720 garden truck carts that you put finger wagons, wagons, yes, you 147 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:32,920 see them in the wagons and stuff like that. 148 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:35,560 Everyone's got a creative solution to it. 149 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,200 But yeah, it was, I mean, I found last year when it was when 150 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,600 it was tight, you kind of used that straw as a weapon, right? 151 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:43,640 You're like, this is how I get through things. 152 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,240 I mean, we did have at one point last year that DJ decided he'd 153 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:48,160 had enough of being in the straw. 154 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:49,480 He did not want to be in that anymore. 155 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:51,560 He wanted to be out and about moving. 156 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,560 So we had the the baby reins on him, which was we had it dragon 157 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,480 themed as well to match the UKG aesthetic. 158 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,760 But but Beanie got fed up. He's like, I know we're walking 159 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:01,840 one of that. I was like, do you know what? 160 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,800 You're under the weight limit, you can get in the pushchair. 161 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:05,920 And no one batted an eyelid at that either. 162 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,560 No, everyone was like, yeah, I'd do it too if I could so. 163 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:16,800 Does does the NEC have? Are there restrictions on on 164 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,840 carts, wagons, sizes and things of that Gen. 165 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:21,320 Con does? Gen. 166 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:23,880 Con has restriction on what you can and cannot pull. 167 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,920 Like you get people who have luggage, wheeled luggage, they 168 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,360 can't drag that with them. You can't bring wagons, but you 169 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:38,080 can bring a legitimate stroller design for a child like that is 170 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,400 acceptable. But they've limited that because 171 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:43,679 in the past people have taken advantage. 172 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,800 And I was wondering at the NEC. I did not see any. 173 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,760 Restrictions on it, but also we didn't look for them because we 174 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,320 didn't need them. I do know other than people that 175 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,400 took younger children that looked for, I mean, I don't know 176 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,080 it was well how gay origin is to the facilities. 177 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:01,000 There was a couple of moms I spoke to that also they needed 178 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,800 to be able to breastfeed in private, want to breastfeed in 179 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,320 private as well, because it's and they said there was nowhere 180 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,240 for them to do that. That wasn't a facility that was 181 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,480 capable for them. There are changing rooms, 182 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,120 obviously, but the toilets at any convention, it's, it's a 183 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,200 toilet convention, especially you're a woman, you know how 184 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,320 long a woman's queue is at any event. 185 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,600 But yeah, the, the facilities are there. 186 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,320 They're just for that, for being able to have children there. 187 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,000 And I don't think there's any restrictions on it. 188 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,160 There's no restrictions on the age of bringing a child as well. 189 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,560 Obviously there's a restricting the age of a child ticket for 190 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:38,200 our kids. I believe it's up to age 11. 191 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,240 We don't pay for them to go to these conventions. 192 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,280 So that's quite helpful. You haven't paid for money. 193 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:47,760 That's, that's seriously helpful, right? 194 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,360 It is it it, it does help getting kids into a hobby like 195 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,560 that because obviously you're not spending fortune on a ticket 196 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,400 for them for them to turn around and go, I'm bored. 197 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:01,080 I don't like this. You don't have to necessarily 198 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,480 pay for them to go as a godsend. And then obviously when they're 199 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,640 a bit older, it's a choice then, isn't it? 200 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:08,680 So it's nice. And then obviously with your 201 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:10,640 kids where you get the nice little kids tickets that's 202 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,720 designed by the kids as well-being he had a go at it 203 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,240 this year, but obviously he wasn't his ticket wasn't chosen. 204 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:19,240 But no, it's, it's nice. It's another little collector's 205 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,440 item for them, so. So what is? 206 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,280 What's the one most valuable piece of advice that you've 207 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:31,360 learned that you find yourself sharing with other parents who 208 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,480 are either going to going to a convention or thinking about it 209 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,880 with their kids? I think that advice changes 210 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,800 every year because it really as your child grows. 211 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,280 The thing, the ultimate advice you give to any parent, I think 212 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,600 you give to any parent for any situation you put them in is 213 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:47,720 nobody knows your child better than you. 214 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,160 You know their limits or you have a gruff gauge of their 215 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:52,480 limits. You know what you can all 216 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:53,880 handle. You know what they're into and 217 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:55,600 you just have to take it one step at a time. 218 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,920 Especially like there's a lot of kids, there's a lot of people in 219 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:01,680 this hobby who obviously are neurodivergent. 220 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:04,760 It is. And that obviously comes with 221 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,400 its own things. We have a potential that one of 222 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,040 our kids may have ADHD, We're not sure. 223 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,240 We haven't gone down that route yet. 224 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,120 But that brings its own challenges to it as well because 225 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:15,840 you have to think about overstimulation. 226 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:21,600 So it's just it's know your child, know their limits and 227 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,840 prepare for that. Like we took air Defenders with 228 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,800 us in case it got too loud. We never needed them, but we 229 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,920 took them with us. We had multiple snacks and 230 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,160 bottles of water because we know that the little one will say 231 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,520 he's hungry every two seconds. This is one word that he knows 232 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:41,120 he goes hungry hungry. So we know that it's just it's 233 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,200 prepping for you and your kids and knowing what you walk and 234 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,520 also knowing you as a parent, what your limits are, where at 235 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:50,080 what point you're willing to turn and go. 236 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,080 Nope, fine, we're going back to the hotel. 237 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,880 Let's step out the hall because ultimately you want sometimes we 238 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,360 push through because we're like, oh, we just can we just do this 239 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:00,760 one more thing, one more thing, one more thing. 240 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:02,760 And you know, you're, you're burning your kids energy. 241 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,160 They're going to be on the floor dragged along by their ankles 242 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:06,520 because they don't want to do it anymore. 243 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,640 And they will be louder and stronger than you on that one. 244 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,680 And obviously as a parent, you don't want to be that parent 245 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:14,720 that blows up in front of everyone. 246 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,360 So you have to get down on your level and be like, come on, 247 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:22,080 let's go grit your teeth. And it's ultimately my biggest 248 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:23,760 advice. Yes, like I said, parents is you 249 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:28,320 know your kid and work with what you know on that one and accept 250 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:29,960 the fact that you are not going to see everything. 251 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:35,400 That's a big thing for us. We we look back at the UKG 252 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,480 footage and we know there is so much that we did not see. 253 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,680 There is a lot that we missed and we have every even if we 254 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:44,200 didn't have the kids. I went for a whole weekend once 255 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:49,200 without Brad, all the kids, and I missed so much as well because 256 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:51,400 there's just such a big event and you're never going to see 257 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:56,280 all of it. So you mentioned about this year 258 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,600 you scheduled meetings, right? So I'm assuming you went to UKGE 259 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,280 not just as yourself part of a family, but as a content creator 260 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,240 trying to do things, right? So yes, as an influencer. 261 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:14,320 So what would you say? Because I know a lot of my 262 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:19,040 listeners are content creators. Most of them were with us at 263 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,600 Origins, did not bring their kids, but they've been to 264 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:23,680 conventions. They brought kids. 265 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:30,120 What What was the biggest thing you learned about going to a 266 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,640 gaming convention, bringing your kids with you and trying to 267 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,080 schedule meetings as a content creator. 268 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,000 That is not for me. I worked that one out this year 269 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,640 that it's not for me to do. Me doing meetings and trying to 270 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,680 do that isn't that's not something that more as a content 271 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:51,880 creator realise that is not something that I'm necessarily 272 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,160 interested in. I do enjoy meeting people and 273 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,520 stuff like that, but I think I had a meeting with a developer 274 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:01,360 that basically they just wanted to show me where everything of 275 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,600 theirs was in the hall and I could to some degree, I could 276 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,240 have done that myself. So what I found for me is that I 277 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,960 personally enjoyed, I liked doing press night where all the 278 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,160 people that wanted to promote their games were in a dedicated 279 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:18,040 space and I could just go up and down the aisles and I could talk 280 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:19,320 to them. And because I did that this year 281 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,640 without the kids and without Brad, I could focus on it. 282 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:24,120 I could put give my attention to it. 283 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,000 So Brad took the kids back to the hotel, got the little one to 284 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,640 sleep and they just relaxed and they enjoyed a peaceful evening 285 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:35,680 while I went and worked. Last year Beanie did first night 286 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,400 with me. I'm like, actually, I do wish 287 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:39,480 he'd done it with me this year as well. 288 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,280 I don't think have enjoyed it as much this year. 289 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,360 I don't know why survived for it, but I enjoyed doing it with 290 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,000 him the previous year because obviously it was fun to see the 291 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,760 kind of questions he'd asked, the kind of enthusiasm he had 292 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:51,760 for games. But because we've done Alton 293 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,760 Towers previously this year, he was too tired when we got there 294 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,240 and I was like, yeah, it's fine. You go back to the room and I'll 295 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,320 I'll do press night by myself. It works. 296 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,480 But ultimately I think I would like to do it with him again at 297 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,720 some point. But I think if we do it next 298 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:11,400 year, I would probably just do, I would focus on all my content 299 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,080 creation parts being press night in terms of getting information 300 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:16,920 on games and then the actual convention. 301 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:18,560 I would just enjoy it as a family. 302 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,200 Because whenever I apply for my press pass for UKG, I always, 303 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,160 every year, I say I'm promote it. 304 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,440 I promote it as a family event. That's what they want it to be. 305 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:27,480 They want it to be a family event. 306 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,360 I go and I showcase the bits that I can do with my family of 307 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:34,680 what my kids enjoy, of how what there is for the kids to do 308 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:35,760 that. And even like I said, even 309 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,040 though I miss half it, like we didn't get to go in the family 310 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:41,360 zone this year because when we got there on the first day, it 311 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,560 was just jam packed. And then the second day, 312 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:46,840 unfortunately my kids are just, they'd, they'd had enough 313 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:48,360 already that it was such a busy thing. 314 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,960 They, they'd had enough. So we did a quick in and out the 315 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:56,160 halls on Saturday and called it, who said that we'd already done 316 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,960 like Thursday nights, Friday day and Saturday, so we'd we'd have 317 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,240 got enough of the convention out of it. 318 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,960 But we knew of our kids, and we knew of us as well, that we'd 319 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:04,080 all reached our limit. So. 320 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:09,960 Right, Yeah, I so I think I've, I've heard you talk about this. 321 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,280 I've I've actually, it's interesting. 322 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,600 I've heard, I've heard other friends that you and I have in 323 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:19,760 common talk about how you and Brad tackle this together. 324 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:24,480 Y'all do something very creative that I think some of our content 325 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,960 creator and just gaming friends in the United States could take 326 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:33,400 a a lesson from you and Brad. Like kind of you split up your 327 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,600 parental duties at a convention, right? 328 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,680 So that you could go and play games or do whatever late in the 329 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:42,920 evening and Brad's got the kids and then the next night y'all 330 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:44,880 switch off. You'll do that, right? 331 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,800 That yeah, that is brilliant. So I know this is a stupid 332 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,360 question or it's going to sound like one, but how did you come 333 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:54,720 about that? Like, how does how does that 334 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,160 work? Because both of you are content 335 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,120 creators in your own independent rights. 336 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,080 Independent ways? Yes, we have our own. 337 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:05,480 So you're trying to manage that like, yeah, tell me more so. 338 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,880 Ultimately, when we come down to prime for the the press pass, 339 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:10,880 that is me. I'm the press pass. 340 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,720 He's my, he's the plus one on it, but he's a + 1 as my shelf 341 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,720 life. OK, so when it comes to doing 342 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,160 the press night, that automatically becomes my night. 343 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:22,920 That's he allocate that, that's me. 344 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,760 I do that. That's the agreement on there. 345 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,200 So he has that night with the kids after press night, a lot of 346 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:29,480 people will sit down and game anyway. 347 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,160 So I use that as my night to game with people, chat to people 348 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:37,280 because and mostly it's a big conversation at that point and 349 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,360 I'm quite happy just to sit and chat and look at other people 350 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:41,000 playing games and see what everyone's come up with. 351 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:45,000 And then the next night it's Brad's turn, so he's lucky. 352 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,520 So he just gets to go and actually just game. 353 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,040 He doesn't have to do any press or anything like that. 354 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,520 He just gets to go find a hall, find some people and sit down 355 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:52,920 and game. So he might stay out for a bit 356 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,160 longer as well. Also, he's more used to staying 357 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,360 up later than I am. I I very much do prefer to be in 358 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:02,120 bed asleep. So sure, absolutely. 359 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,080 But yeah, it just came about for the fact that we tried, I think 360 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:10,240 we tried it the first year to all stay there in the hall and 361 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:11,640 we realized that it just didn't work. 362 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,160 But the little 1, he was never going to stay up late for it. 363 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,000 And, and even if he did, one of us would have to be stood there 364 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,760 pushing him in the a stroller the first year. 365 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,160 And it just, it didn't work for us because also as a parent, 366 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,880 you're tired, you know, you're tired from the kids and stuff. 367 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,280 So we, we found it easier to balance it out that way. 368 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,280 Some nights. Well, Beanie, because he's older 369 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,560 now, we'll stay up and he'll sit with the other kids that stayed 370 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,600 with their parents. And sometimes they play games, 371 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,680 sometimes they just play on the Switches, sometimes they just 372 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,600 run around the tables. But yeah, no, it Brad and I 373 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,760 found the divide and conquer technique really does work for 374 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,080 us. Sometimes it backfires on us 375 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,760 because especially if the kids are in a particular parental 376 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,040 mood where they're like I just want mommy or I just want. 377 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,120 Daddy. Backfire, like it'll be, oh, 378 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,560 you'll stay up late tonight with daddy and he's like, no, I want 379 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:02,280 to stay in the hotel room with you, Mommy, right? 380 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,320 But yeah, but it does work out for us and it's nice to have 381 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:11,640 that individual time. It's the only thing that sucks 382 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:13,360 is that we would like to be able to game together. 383 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,800 That's the only thing that we do get to miss out is because. 384 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,960 And that that's unfortunate, but sometimes it's nice because 385 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,120 obviously he'll learn a new game and go, oh, you want to try this 386 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:24,840 one and I'll learn a new game for this one. 387 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,120 And even if we were in the same hole as each of them, we might 388 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:28,640 not necessarily want to play the same game anyway. 389 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,760 So retry. That's interesting. 390 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,160 So you guys tried doing it as a whole family and then we're 391 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,920 like, OK, we're going to have to break this apart. 392 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:42,560 But let's think in a couple of years that might change. 393 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,320 Beanie might not want a game anymore because I've noticed 394 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:47,400 some of some of the fat memories that we've gotten some of as the 395 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,680 kids have got older, they they lose interest for a bit while 396 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,920 they get other interests. And then I've noticed they do 397 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,560 come back as they get older. We might find that DJ absolutely 398 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,680 hates board games at the moment. He seems to really love them and 399 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,360 want to play them. He can't. 400 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,560 He wants to. But yeah, we might find that 401 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,840 they just. They might not want to do it at 402 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:08,880 all, or we might find that they really love it and things will 403 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,040 change. But at the moment it's, yeah, 404 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:12,520 it's a divide and conquer situation. 405 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,920 Yeah, what? So what, what if you had you, 406 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,840 you've got some gaming friends and they've got a newborn and 407 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,480 they used, they regularly go to UKG and they're thinking about 408 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,920 not going because this happens a lot here in the US we see this a 409 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,440 lot. Parents just kind of they go off 410 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,680 the grid for over 3 or 4 years until their kids are at a 411 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,360 certain age. I mean, do you, do you say, do 412 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,600 you have advice for them? Like, no, you could still go and 413 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,240 do or or. I mean, how do you, how would 414 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:49,200 you say, what would you say to that? 415 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,120 Of course they still go, but it ultimately comes down to what 416 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:54,920 you're comfortable with. For us, we were with DJ, we were 417 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,120 second time parents. So we we got into board gaming 418 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:02,840 when Beanie was a baby as a way to do something when the baby 419 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:04,560 was asleep because we couldn't go out. 420 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:09,840 So that's our board gaming life grew up alongside him. 421 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,440 But for DJ, he's just been thrown in the deep end with it. 422 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,840 So it's basically, and I was, I was really scared when we found 423 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,880 out we were pregnant with him. I was terrified that we were 424 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,000 going to lose this lovely community that we'd become part 425 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:21,840 of. I was like, oh, we're never 426 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,920 going to see any of them again. We're going to fall off the face 427 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,520 of the earth. We'll never the board games are 428 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,840 never going to happen. That didn't we were very, very 429 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:31,360 fortunate that that was not the case. 430 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:34,000 The board game collection got bigger. 431 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,840 The friends that we've became more numerous. 432 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,280 We've we found better friends through it as well. 433 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,920 And yeah, everyone, everyone for us has been really, really 434 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:48,000 accommodating because I mean, we had our friend, one of our 435 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,960 friend meetups last year. We, we went to do that in the 436 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,400 summer holidays and I had a full on meltdown. 437 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,160 I couldn't handle it. It was the height of the summer 438 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,120 holidays for us. The kids had driven me to the 439 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:01,800 last straw and I ended up going, no, I've call it quits. 440 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,440 I've got to go. But a month later I went to 441 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,120 another one. But I'd already said to people, 442 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,160 I don't know if I can handle this, but they a bunch of the 443 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,200 women there messaged me and said, look, do what you can. 444 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,760 We want to see you even if you only get to play one game with 445 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:16,800 us and have to spend the entire time off that walking around the 446 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:18,400 baby. And then they were really, 447 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,960 really helpful and we ended up DJ had a great time with that. 448 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:22,800 We had to put a sign on him saying please stop feeding me 449 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,880 watermelon because he literally would go up to everyone's smile 450 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,320 and get things. He he sits at tables when people 451 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:30,680 are playing scythe and stuff like that. 452 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,000 But you are there are going to be times where you can't do it. 453 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:38,440 That's the thing. And there's no two ways about 454 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:39,600 it. There are times where you just 455 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,080 can't do it. Either you don't have someone to 456 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,920 take care of as a kid or they're I'll or something like that. 457 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:47,520 It doesn't mean that you have to stop the hobby. 458 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,320 It just means that I suppose like any good, like there's like 459 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,920 D&D groups, their scheduling never reliance does it as 460 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,000 they're famous for and that's parenting and gaming is 461 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,600 sometimes it's not going to work out. 462 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,720 Sometimes you are going to have to cancel events and change your 463 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:06,520 mind and not go. It's just but us, I think. 464 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,720 I don't think it means that you have to erase the hobby from 465 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,360 your life. It just means you have to 466 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,840 rearing, for instance, Brad night we our top, I mean, if you 467 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,720 if you're on YouTube and you can see it, our top shelves are 468 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,000 mostly small box games and they are allowed to play games. 469 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:23,880 Now the ones down below are the heavier games. 470 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,600 We don't play those as much because we're we just don't have 471 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:31,240 time, but We Found Love with small box games and that's me. 472 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,280 We don't go to as many conventions as I'd like. 473 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:35,320 I'd like to go to I'd love to try air con. 474 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:40,200 I'd love to try Handycard, even Zassi Con, but we don't do those 475 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:41,480 yet. But we we're going to try 476 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,960 another one this year. Actually, we're going to Norfolk 477 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,560 Gaming Convention. It's just a day event. 478 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,200 Oh, that's exciting. The advantage to that is that my 479 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,400 mother-in-law lives down the road from it, so. 480 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,960 Yeah. Beforehand we might, we may even 481 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,960 ditch the kids with her if we can, but we're trying something 482 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,800 new with the kids on that one. So right, yeah, I don't give up 483 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,320 a hobby. So aside from you and Brad kind 484 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:13,080 of splitting up, who's watching the kids per night during UKG, 485 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,040 are there any other creative solutions to managing both 486 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,480 parenting and gaming at conventions that you and Brad 487 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:25,280 have come up with that have been helpful that you can know the. 488 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,840 Thing is, there probably are, but you just you come up with 489 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:31,720 just when. You in the moment. 490 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,400 As thing like I learned from other parents as well, I learned 491 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,200 from other gamers and how they handle their kids. 492 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,120 And I'm very lucky. Like like I said, I don't have 493 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:46,440 the village. My mother passed away about 1314 494 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,720 years ago now, so I didn't have that mum influence. 495 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,760 But I've been so lucky in that the women whom I've met, even 496 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,400 through mum groups or through gaming, they have been so 497 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:02,400 inspirational in helping me manage how to have this balance, 498 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:09,680 how to game with children, how to manage my, my temper with the 499 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,120 kids and how to just deal with that. 500 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,920 And that's just, I think every year I learn something a little 501 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,640 bit new and I learn a new way to cope with it and a new way to 502 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,480 handle situations, a new, a new strategy. 503 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,480 And I think that's, that's kind of, that's the creativity. 504 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,440 That thing is just we try not to compare ourselves to others, but 505 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,440 there's no reason to be inspired by others. 506 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:33,880 Right. That's the thing. 507 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,880 There's no reason to go. Oh, they can take their kids to 508 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,080 this. Why can't I do it? 509 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,760 They can because they can. They they've found a way to do 510 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:41,800 it. And that doesn't mean that 511 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,880 they're better than you. It doesn't mean that they've got 512 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,600 it easier than you. It just means they've found a 513 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:48,280 way. And a lot of parents it like 514 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,280 ask, I mean like you're doing now ask, you're asking. 515 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,400 And I honestly can't tell you what our secret is to it. 516 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,320 If I knew there was a magic form to it, I would write an entire 517 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,520 blog post on it. But as ultimately, like I've 518 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:02,800 spoken to other people and said, Oh, I've tried this and I've 519 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,400 tried that and I went, Oh, that's a good idea. 520 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,600 Like the ear defenders, you can obviously get loops. 521 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:08,800 So some kids don't want big ones. 522 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,240 So you try smaller things. Some people have busy bags full 523 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,160 of lots of different activities, keep their kids entertained. 524 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,960 Some of them have kids that like Beanie and like tabletop 525 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,960 Princess and other even get into games as kids. 526 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,080 They're kids that actually want to be content creators 527 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,760 themselves that want to go along and try it and have a go and 528 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,440 they want to interview things. And it's just, that's the thing. 529 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:36,720 It's just working with your family. 530 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,400 I think I, I wish I could stand around and say this is the 531 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,360 secret here is the answer. But even that's the thing. 532 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,120 I thought I had the answer this year. 533 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:48,640 I honestly thought that I knew exactly what was going to do. 534 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,080 I knew exactly how we're handling it. 535 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,560 I was like, we're going to go to the family gaming zone, we're 536 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:53,720 going to do this. It's going to be fine. 537 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,200 None of that happened. And it didn't work. 538 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:58,960 They struggled this year. For some reason. 539 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,680 They just struggled. But we recognized quite quickly 540 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,680 that they were struggling and decided, well, we'd already 541 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,640 planned for the eventuality that we don't have to stay for the 542 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,080 whole weekend. So we chose to cut it short. 543 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:11,720 We decided that we'd seen enough. 544 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,800 I said to Brad, I want to go pop into the hall really quickly 545 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,480 Saturday morning just to do a few quick things without 546 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,560 anybody. And Beanie goes, oh, actually, I 547 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,480 would like to come with you. And so he did. 548 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,840 So it was just me and him and with just the two of us, we got 549 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,480 through things very quickly and it was doable. 550 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,240 And then Brad and DJ met us later on and we ended up staying 551 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,520 in the hall for a little bit longer than we intended because 552 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,680 it was karma. We were calmer and the kids 553 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,240 ranged to find some things to enjoy. 554 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,120 So the other downside was the fact that literally we were two 555 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:44,440 minutes from the doors opening and beanie goes, I need the loo. 556 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:45,960 And I was like. Of course I was. 557 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:47,040 Like, no, we're not leaving this line. 558 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,440 I was like, when we get in there, I was like, right, I know 559 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,000 where the toilets are. We're going to run straight to 560 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,840 the toilet, then we're running straight to this vendor because 561 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,680 obviously everyone guns for the big games and the big things. 562 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,360 So oh, yeah. So what about you? 563 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:02,640 And I talked a little bit before this episode. 564 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:07,360 We talked about safety, right? And child safety. 565 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:11,280 I know, I know a lot of content creators who have kids who are 566 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,640 under 5 who refer to their children as player three or 567 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,080 something other than, but I want to, but I want to, I want to 568 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:26,680 talk about so the safety of your kids. 569 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,520 So what, what would you say? So, OK, I don't have any kids. 570 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,360 So just I'm a great example of this. 571 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:39,280 What is the best way for me or anyone else to interact with 572 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,400 your children if they're meeting them for the first time in that 573 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,800 gaming, you know, or if you've got like a vendor and they've 574 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,800 got like little promos or things like, you know what I mean? 575 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,600 Because there's like essentially everyone in the convention is a 576 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,600 stranger. You want to protect your kids. 577 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,040 So what do you say to someone when they're interacting with 578 00:28:58,040 --> 00:28:59,560 your children for the first time? 579 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:04,120 And what do you tell your kids before going into this 580 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,720 environment? No, that's great question 581 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,800 actually. So ultimately, well, I'll tackle 582 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,440 Part 2 first. So before we go into 583 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:18,000 conventions, obviously Beanie understands DJ doesn't DJ. 584 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,280 It's kind of like we all kind of say to each other, right? 585 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,800 We all have to keep all three of us have to keep an arm DJ, we 586 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,160 have to make sure that he's safe. 587 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,320 Beanie now he's like you are the you are parent .3 now. 588 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,560 And he is very, very protective of his little brother. 589 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,680 Absolutely. Like almost true protective of 590 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,960 his little. He's got such he's, he's a first 591 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,480 time parent. It's delicious, but we obviously 592 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,560 we try very hard to keep DJ. One of the things that we've had 593 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,800 to say to Beanie is if DJ starts to bolt, let us go for him. 594 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,080 Because if his brother goes tries to chase after him, DJ 595 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,320 thinks it's a game and he runs off even faster. 596 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,080 Obviously he thinks it's a game with us too, but it's easier for 597 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:00,720 we're we're we're taller, we're longer. 598 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:05,240 We can get to right, Right. Thankfully he didn't bolt at 599 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:06,800 all. I think the sheer forms of 600 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,120 people he was very much like I want to be up, hold me, don't 601 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:10,480 let me go. So that was fine. 602 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:16,440 What we do whenever we take Beanie to a big a big event, we 603 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:22,200 show him or we try and introduce him to security or staff members 604 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:23,840 and show him what he's looking for. 605 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,320 So with UKG, obviously everyone's got the badges. 606 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,040 So we can say to him, you're looking for someone that's got 607 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:33,680 this badge or you need to. There's a child safety point, I 608 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,560 think at UKG, which we didn't show him, but we should have. 609 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,720 So you can, you can say to kids go there. 610 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,240 That's if you can try, look up, look for this. 611 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,040 We try and find, show him where the exits are, where the safe 612 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,160 points are. Obviously at the conventions, he 613 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:48,440 knows who some of our friends are. 614 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,120 He knows some of them. Those are safe faces. 615 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:57,720 We also have started, he has a shoulder bag pursing as a 616 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,400 creeper, a Minecraft creeper. And we wrote our phone numbers 617 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,480 on the back of that. And we said to him, if you ever 618 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,400 get lost, and actually what I always say to him, I always tell 619 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,720 him to look for another mummy. This was a piece of advice that 620 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,440 someone gave me to tell their kids was look for another mum 621 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,200 because another mum, she's, she'll have children, she's 622 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,080 safe. A mummy is safe. 623 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,360 I mean, we know that's not necessarily always true, but 624 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,560 generally if you see a mummy who has other children, go up to her 625 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,440 and say I've lost my mummy, she will help you. 626 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,160 So that's, that's what we try with Beanie. 627 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,320 We try and say to him, just look for the staff members, like when 628 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,920 we're at theme parks about this, we show them what costumes and 629 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:37,400 stuff they're wearing. Look for those. 630 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,760 Look for a grown up that you think is trustworthy or look for 631 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:43,520 another mummy. We've also taught him very much 632 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,200 the fact if you don't feel safe, you run in the other direction, 633 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:47,840 right? You bolt. 634 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,400 He knows he can kick and scratch the screen if he needs to. 635 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,960 He's in danger. But yeah, we, you just have to 636 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,040 try. Trying to keep kids safe in this 637 00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:00,280 modern day and age is a, it's probably the most paranoid thing 638 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,520 any mum this day and age can experience. 639 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,120 It is so hard because there is danger around every corner. 640 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,800 And I mean, that danger has always been there. 641 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,000 It's just we are very aware of it now, right? 642 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,320 So that's what we try with him. We will instill that fear into 643 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,880 DJ when he's older. But with other people 644 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:22,920 interacting with our kids, what we've found is that people, 645 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,920 they, they treat them like grown-ups, which is nice. 646 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,040 I don't think, I don't feel anyone's ever spoken down to 647 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,520 them. I'm going, oh, aren't you cute 648 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:32,760 little things. I mean, they do with the baby. 649 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,960 Obviously they do because he's, he's adorable. 650 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,960 He's got the big eyes. But with Beanie, they've always 651 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:42,000 been very kind of they treat him like another gamer. 652 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,760 They ask him what he's interested in. 653 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,480 They talk directly to him, which is nice. 654 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,960 Other adults, other gamers, like our friends, they don't 655 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,000 necessarily talk to the kids kind of thing straight away, but 656 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,600 they will acknowledge them if they've got kids of their own, 657 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,560 they'll go high. They ask him, a lot of them say, 658 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,480 oh, have you seen this? Have you enjoyed this? 659 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,440 Are you enjoying this? And they just they're generally 660 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,240 quite sometimes he's not interested and sometimes if 661 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,840 you're really unfortunate, if you the wrong word and Beanie 662 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,200 will talk your ear off about Minecraft until the cows come 663 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:14,520 home. So you have to be careful on 664 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,320 that one, but. He will, He will also. 665 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:22,640 He will also climb on you as if you are as if you are a piece of 666 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:23,720 gym equipment. Yes. 667 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,840 Which is something. No, I've experienced that the. 668 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,240 Thing is though, it's that's generally when he feels safe 669 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:31,720 around someone he doesn't or some. 670 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,320 It's one of the possible neuro spicy parts that he doesn't 671 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:36,720 necessarily recognise boundaries. 672 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,480 He's getting a lot better as he's getting older. 673 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,080 Yeah, when he was young. I mean, little kids tend not to 674 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,040 recognise boundaries too much sometimes either. 675 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,600 DJ. I've watched DJ cuddle a random 676 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,720 person by accident. They look at this case when he 677 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:50,240 realises it's not Mummy, he's like, Oh no. 678 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,560 But yeah, I think when you're, I mean, if you're talking to kids 679 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,400 at conventions, obviously if you're just randomly talking to 680 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,000 a kid at a convention that you have no and you don't know their 681 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,400 parents, you don't know them. That's kind of that to me is a 682 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,280 bit off. But obviously if you're 683 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,840 interacting with us as a whole family, then yeah, you can talk 684 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:09,600 to the kids. They're not. 685 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,320 I pray they don't bite you. I'm pretty sure they shouldn't 686 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:14,600 bite you. I don't. 687 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,239 I can't speak for DJ at the moment if he's do you think? 688 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,520 But no, I just, I think it's nice that people don't ignore 689 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,040 the kids. They do talk to them. 690 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,520 They do acknowledge them. I had one lovely exhibitor who 691 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,520 she, she messaged me prior to press night saying, oh, are you 692 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:32,480 coming? I've got some games for Beanie. 693 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,960 And then when I got there, she had, she had some teddies for 694 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:37,600 them as well. And I loved that. 695 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,520 That was really nice of her and that, that's where I was. 696 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:43,000 There was another, there was another game. 697 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,440 I didn't get to see them, but they were like, Oh yeah, if you 698 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,440 bring the kids, we've got a Santa Claus naughty or nice 699 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,320 thing they can do. Oh, that would have been good to 700 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,440 do with them. So people do get them towards 701 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:52,679 kids. And there's things there that 702 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:54,440 people say, Oh no, this is just for the kids and. 703 00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:02,240 You're like, oh, Oh yeah. So what about how often? 704 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:06,200 Not just at UKGE, because I know, I know there's an air con 705 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,560 and Mollycon and Handy con and all the little gamer meetups 706 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:11,360 that y'all do that I'm so jealous of. 707 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,040 But our country is too big and we just live too far away from 708 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,640 one another. So I know sometimes you'll rent 709 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,960 these halls and there's usually like a playground out front for 710 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,760 the kids. Like, I mean, it seems like I've 711 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:29,640 got a really good community of gamers who have children who are 712 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,680 supportive of one another and whose kids get opportunities to 713 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,440 play together, maybe not necessarily at the table with 714 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,000 the game, but in some other form of play. 715 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,720 Yeah, they do that, which is that's always been very nice. 716 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:44,840 I always get very sad at those events and someone says, oh, no, 717 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:46,240 I'm not. We can't come because of the 718 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:49,560 kids. Or we oh, like they're like, oh, 719 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,600 I've got the kids that weekend. I don't we're not going to come. 720 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,040 No, no, bring in the kids. Bring the kids. 721 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,080 It'll be fine. But not everyone wants to. 722 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,880 That's the ultimate for me. It's not everyone wants their 723 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,160 kids there. We had our wedding. 724 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,440 We said kids were invited, but my friend was like, she goes, 725 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,120 no, I'm having a day away from my kids and that's fine. 726 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,440 If you're able to have someone look after your children for the 727 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:13,360 date, then yeah, go for it. By all means, enjoy not having 728 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,280 someone pulling at your arm every few seconds going I'm 729 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,080 hungry, Come blame me, come do this. 730 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,720 Or as we've experienced with our kids, where they suddenly decide 731 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:22,480 there's a stage in the corner and they want to put on a show. 732 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:27,440 I'm like, we had a great one on the last meet, as we did. 733 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,440 We were playing Blood on the Clock Tower and all the kids. 734 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,440 What was hilarious when all the adults had their eyes closed and 735 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,960 so like, DJ was so tiny he was going around like following 736 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,880 Craig around, tapping everyone's hands. 737 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,400 So people have to be like, is that Craig or is that the baby? 738 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:42,960 Do I open my eyes or not? Right. 739 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,480 Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but ultimately, like, I 740 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,480 mean, me and Mrs. getting games, we've both said this, that we 741 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,200 like having our kids around. Yeah, it can be stressful, it 742 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,920 kind of thing, but we do love our kids and we want them there. 743 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,280 And it's nice that our kids get along with each other. 744 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,600 Obviously they don't always. Sometimes there's the ultimate 745 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,400 so and so has done this and it's just, but ultimately it's nice 746 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:08,120 the kids do get along, especially like, so it's nice 747 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,400 that when we get to have the weekend, we can meet up with 748 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,080 gamer friends because then he gets to interact with other 749 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,760 children at the weekend that they have something in common 750 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,320 with. And that's always a nice thing. 751 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,400 And it's, it's nice to have those friendships. 752 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,800 I mean, they might one day never talk to each other again, but 753 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,360 it's nice they've had those friendships now. 754 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,960 I mean, I'm sure I've seen a couple of parents try to marry 755 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:33,480 off their kids. I know, I know of two friends 756 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,320 where they've got one's got boy, one's got girl and they're like, 757 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,000 oh, we could, we could merge our families. 758 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:41,000 We can combine our board game collections as one but. 759 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:45,480 Right. What do you look for if you were 760 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,680 going to, I mean, I guess this is true of any event, but 761 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,880 obviously we're limited to gaming events here. 762 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:57,080 But what are you looking for from a gaming event that is 763 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:02,960 going to alert you as as a parent that this particular 764 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:08,000 convention is making the effort to be safe and conducive for 765 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,240 children? Or maybe I don't want or maybe I 766 00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:13,400 don't want to take my kids to this because I don't know, this 767 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,000 one looks sketchy. Like are there things you look 768 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:17,960 for that or that you are there buzzwords? 769 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:21,480 Are there tag lines, anything you know that kind of alert you 770 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,640 to know this is safe to take my kids to? 771 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:26,720 I mean, most of them is the word. 772 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:29,040 The Word family is always a great buzzword, obviously 773 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,760 because it it says that everyone there is welcome. 774 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,600 The phrase kids go free is always a great one. 775 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,040 Love that phrase. That's doesn't always mean that 776 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,320 it's kids appropriate, but it does mean that you don't pay for 777 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,760 them, which is always nice. I think if there's any major 778 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:50,840 buzzwords, usually it's when they market kids events and 779 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,560 these things. If they say this event is for 780 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:57,560 children like UKG, obviously they market their kids zone. 781 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,480 They emphasize that in their when they when they talk about 782 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:02,920 their event, they emphasize that. 783 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,640 I don't really see that kind of thing when I've been looking at 784 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,560 MCM and Comic Con. But at the same point that is 785 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,520 also very obviously kids are going to enjoy that and they 786 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,640 will have a kids zone, some of that. 787 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,200 But we, I don't necessarily see it straight away, but I do know 788 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,720 that one of our friends does story time those things. 789 00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:24,200 So I know that that's a kid friendly event. 790 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:27,320 So you just kind of look when you're looking at conventions. 791 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,360 I tend to just look on the website and I look for, I do 792 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:30,720 look specifically for the kids stuff. 793 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,960 Is there a kid zone? Are kids welcome? 794 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,000 I I mean, it's been a very long time since I've looked at 795 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:38,880 anything that's adult only, right? 796 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,080 So that's fair. That is fair, that is. 797 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,000 Fair. One day, maybe. 798 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,080 What what about? OK, so I'm going to use Essen 799 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,920 because it's closer, right? So let's say you were going to 800 00:39:51,920 --> 00:40:00,680 go to Essen spiel and you could not accommodate childcare 801 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,640 because I mean, I realize it's an 8 hour drive or whatever 802 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,440 flight or whatever, you know. So you're going to go to Essen, 803 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,280 but you have to take one or both of the kids with you. 804 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:13,400 Like if in that, in that situation, would you just be 805 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,480 like, I don't think Essen's the right thing for the family? 806 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,480 Or would you do it like that? That's kind of what I'm getting 807 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,320 at, you know, no. I mean, we, we, we've looked at 808 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,960 Essen and we have agreed that Essen Brad sent me last year. 809 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,680 He's like, if you want to go and you can find someone to go with, 810 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:30,840 you can go, but you're going on your own. 811 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:36,800 And I was like, no, I wanted, I'd left it too late and I 812 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,880 wasn't ready to be that far away from my family, OK. 813 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,560 I think, I mean the first time I went to UKG by myself, I felt 814 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:50,040 horrible pangs of, of missing them and guilt for guilt for 815 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:51,120 members. I didn't miss them. 816 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,040 You know, Essen, I've definitely looked at and gone. 817 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,720 That is not because I mean Essen, I think I've got the 818 00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:01,000 impression it's like 1 giant shopping trip and that's almost 819 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,560 how we treated UKG this year. And it just, it didn't work. 820 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,360 And I know that would not work for the kids. 821 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,720 Whereas I know that like air con is more geared towards just 822 00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:11,880 gaming, whereas that is something I would take the kids 823 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,760 to. But yeah, something that I know 824 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:17,200 is just going to be a giant shopping trip, I would not make 825 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:23,000 that journey for if it was closer, if it was like London, I 826 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,720 might because it's not too far away from home and we can do 827 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:29,120 other things around it, I suppose. 828 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:32,000 I mean, if I was to do Essen that way, if it was we were to 829 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,160 make a big holiday out of it and do other things around Essen, 830 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,920 then yes, we would take S, we would do SN, we would we would 831 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:41,920 do it for part of the day. We would that would be a blip in 832 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:46,400 our holiday. But if OK, just to do SN, No, 833 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,720 right, No, it was specifically we're going to SN and that's all 834 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:51,720 we're doing. I wouldn't do it with the kids, 835 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,320 OK, we're going to this part of the country and essence there. 836 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:58,720 Sure. No, I get that. 837 00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:00,240 I definitely get that. I'm just trying to. 838 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,320 I'm trying to think about how the different conventions 839 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,080 compare. Right, I would. 840 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:10,120 Love to do SM-1 year just to see what it's like, just just to 841 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,440 experience it. But even I can, just looking at 842 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,560 it, I don't think it's a convention for me in general. 843 00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:21,560 OK, so it sounds like a smaller convention that is focused 844 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:26,760 almost exclusively on open gaming is more conducive and you 845 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,000 would be more likely to bring your family? 846 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,040 Yeah. I like as opposed to a larger 847 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,440 convention that's more focused on the industry and shopping. 848 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,320 What I like with UKG obviously, is there's a balance between 849 00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:40,640 that. There is the open gaming and 850 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,600 then there's the shops. There's the stores that have 851 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,040 interactive things on it. Like Hashat had the giant spinny 852 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:47,920 wheel this year. There was a game that we played 853 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,800 that was like a giant version of it was which the cat thing, I 854 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,400 like that balance. I think that's what I'm hoping 855 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,360 that Norwich Gamecon will have. I'm hoping they'll have a nice 856 00:42:56,360 --> 00:43:00,480 balance of open gaming and a little bit of shopping and I 857 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,960 think it's across a couple of a couple of venues as well. 858 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:05,680 So there'll be a nice walk through. 859 00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:08,480 OK, ignore it yourself, which will obviously lead to Brad 860 00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:10,320 Godeigra did this there and all. Oh. 861 00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:14,520 Yeah, there we go. I smoked a cigarette on that 862 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:16,120 corner. Oh Lord. 863 00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,960 Yeah, that's every, every time, every time we go anywhere there 864 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:22,560 from which we found probably just as bad, actually, if I took 865 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:24,120 him anywhere near where I grew up, I would say. 866 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:27,760 Let me be honest with you, I'm the same way. 867 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,960 If I took you down to Baton Rouge, you'd like, that's the 868 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:31,840 first McDonald's where I got my job. 869 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:33,680 That's the freak, you know? Yeah, All. 870 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:35,680 I would do all the same things. Absolutely. 871 00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:38,720 I. Think with kids I was like you 872 00:43:38,720 --> 00:43:41,560 need more than just open gaming because even open even sitting 873 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:44,840 down playing, even the best gamer kids will get bored 874 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:46,760 because they're kids. They just their attention span 875 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:49,760 is always so much. So I think it's nice to have 876 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:52,200 other things that they can do like the giant games, the 877 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:54,000 interact things, the treasure hunts. 878 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,280 They're always a good thing. I OK, we've, you, we've, we've 879 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:58,960 used treasure hunts with a lot of things we've done to like 880 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,800 even just like when you go on shopping centres or garden 881 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,280 centres, they will have treasure hunts for kids that weave them 882 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,200 through the store so that you can look at this, this and this 883 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:11,280 while they're looking for Peter Rabbit in the hedges or 884 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,160 something. And that's always a good one. 885 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:16,440 I mean, we did 1-1 year at UKG where we went around and looked 886 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,800 for a thing and we got it was Yu-gi-oh being was happy to do 887 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:20,960 it, but he hated the prize at the end. 888 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:21,840 He's like, I don't like Yu-gi-oh. 889 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:23,000 I was like, well, why did we do this then? 890 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:25,560 But it's something that. Kept. 891 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:30,360 Moving and helps you see and it helps you as a parent see the 892 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:31,840 whole. So that's a good record. 893 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,000 I mean, I record that parent, grab hold of every treasure map 894 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,200 you can find and just be like, oh, have we found this yet? 895 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:38,880 Have we found that yet? It gets you moving. 896 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:43,240 I mean, obviously this year we had the badges, the the badges 897 00:44:43,240 --> 00:44:46,560 that I helped do with the unofficial Insta buddies badges 898 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,640 where you got, I believe you got loads sent to you. 899 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:49,880 I did. You had. 900 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,800 The Asmodi one which is part of the Pin collective, which got 901 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,000 people moving around the hall looking for things interact. 902 00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:01,400 So Susie, it sounds like based on everything you were 903 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,880 describing that open gaming is not enough. 904 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:08,920 There needs to be, there needs to be something like a specific 905 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,000 area for kids and whatnot like that. 906 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:13,960 And that's great because I hadn't thought of it. 907 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:17,040 That was the impression I had from you at 1st when I was 908 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:19,080 listening to you. I'm like, OK, so open gaming is 909 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,680 not just enough there, there needs to be more. 910 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:26,280 Then definitely needs to be more kids need a lot more. 911 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:31,080 I think it's I, I, I feel like even as an adult, I'd probably 912 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:32,640 find that just boring. I mean, me personally, I mean 913 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:34,760 there are plenty of people that go to conventions that just won 914 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:36,440 a game and just want to sit in open game. 915 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,080 And that's fine for me. I love, I love walking around. 916 00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:41,360 I love seeing people in costumes. 917 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,160 I love the big, the guys in the big Warhammer outfits for as 918 00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:48,160 they're always being, I love there's always Daleks at UKG. 919 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:52,800 Beanie got a right kick out of the fact that he he was like, 920 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,040 oh, it's a robot. And it went, it went hello, 921 00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,640 he's. Oh, he freaked out. 922 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,400 He freaked, but he loved it and kids love that. 923 00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,120 They love, I mean don't go wrong little kids. 924 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,280 Not so much DJ. Like when he sees a warming 925 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,200 people, he's like he's scared. His eyes are wide. 926 00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,160 He's like, what is that? Don't take me to the giant 927 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,480 thing. But like they were running 928 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,120 around. There was a giant exploding 929 00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:17,480 kittens. Yep, game thing. 930 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:19,480 They were running in out of the names on that. 931 00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:20,880 There was Chuck a cat goat cheese pizza. 932 00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,160 They were going in. There's the giant double games. 933 00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:25,600 They love that kind of stuff. They love getting to interact. 934 00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:29,200 They love photo opportunities, they love badge hunts, all that 935 00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,080 kind of. It's always nice to have more 936 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:33,560 stuff to do. It's almost nice to have too 937 00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:37,400 much stuff to do and not be able to do it all and have that photo 938 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,680 and to a certain degree have that FOMO because you look for, 939 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,480 because that's the kind of stuff that makes you go back, I think. 940 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:44,080 Right. Yeah. 941 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,080 Oh, if you saw everything, you're like, well, I've done 942 00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:48,440 this, why would I go back? But if you didn't see it all, 943 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,640 you're like, oh, well, maybe next year we can try and catch 944 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:51,880 that. We can try and do this. 945 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:55,320 So yeah, I just think it's nice to have those little gimmicks, 946 00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,600 OK, but for everyone, not just for the kids, but it's nice to 947 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:01,560 have that little gimmick that makes you want to go and look at 948 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:03,560 something and interact with something and to such a great. 949 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:05,400 Isn't that how they get us to buy these things? 950 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,480 It's true. I mean I'm I'm not entirely sure 951 00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:10,600 as many people would have bought certain games if they hadn't 952 00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:14,240 been giving out plushies of the pin badges for them. 953 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:16,800 You get that return. That's a freebie. 954 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:18,320 Everyone. Loves a freebie. 955 00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:21,040 That is true. I think some of the some of the 956 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:23,600 best vendors I've know, they will work on my kids. 957 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,200 They will they'll be like, oh, do you like this game? 958 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:27,800 Do you think Mummy should buy you this game? 959 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,120 I'm like, really, really. Because then the kid says 960 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:32,360 please, you're like, I can't say no to that face. 961 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:36,520 So you ultimately, if I think if you're selling a game, you want 962 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,080 to appeal to a kid as well, because obviously they're the 963 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:42,040 ones that are going to beg for it. 964 00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:43,680 They're the ones that, Well, please, please, please, please, 965 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:45,640 please, please. Yeah, almost as much as we go to 966 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:47,040 our other halves. Please, please, please, please, 967 00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:50,800 please let me have this game. You've got a. 968 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,240 You've got a lot of I'm fortunate enough I don't have to 969 00:47:53,240 --> 00:47:57,360 do that with Katie. She's usually coming to me like, 970 00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:01,160 well, to be fair, until this year she would come up to me and 971 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,240 be like, so here's this Kickstarter that I'm thinking 972 00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:04,560 about backing. What do you think? 973 00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,560 I'm like, OK, let's do it. Whereas like we, we go, this is 974 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:10,840 Kickstarter and thinking about backing, but can we feed the 975 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:14,280 family for another, right? Right now we're pretty good. 976 00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:16,400 We don't back a lot of Kickstarters and when we do, 977 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:18,960 they tend to be for us, not for the kids. 978 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:20,640 The kid games are pretty instantaneous. 979 00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:24,080 We will, we'll go out and we'll buy those ones. 980 00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:26,960 I mean, I think Beanie's latest one that he's asked for his dog 981 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:29,360 man, the Attack of the Fleas board game. 982 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,440 Oh yes. It looks just like a rolling 983 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:33,800 pass, but I'm not. You know what? 984 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,320 If he wants it, why not? So if it's if it's a board game, 985 00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:39,160 I've been still aware. I play Minecraft with them. 986 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:40,440 I play board game with Minecraft. 987 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:41,440 I don't play. Video. 988 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:44,920 There you go. Susie, thank you so much for 989 00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,600 joining me and talking to me for all this time about bringing 990 00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:51,320 families to conventions and gaming situations. 991 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:53,920 I really appreciate it. Is there anything else you have 992 00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:56,880 any final thoughts that you want to share before we close out? 993 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,960 I hope some of it has helped. I hope there's somebody out 994 00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:03,760 there that has listened to this and gone, yes, I can take my 995 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:07,200 kids to this or oh, OK, I don't have to take my kisses. 996 00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:12,160 I hope that somebody finds the balance that they need out there 997 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:15,120 for conventions. I feel bad if I've waffled. 998 00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:18,640 I'm going crazy that I'm sorry. My kids drive me mental and I 999 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:23,440 love them and that is parenting. It's the I want them to love the 1000 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,160 things that I love, but I also want them to have their own 1001 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:29,320 interests. And I think it's nice that they 1002 00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,440 get to like, we've never played those if I hadn't been for 1003 00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,040 Beanie. So it's nice to have that share 1004 00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:36,520 thing. So I just, I hope that this has 1005 00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:40,240 been helpful for somebody. And also here, take your kids at 1006 00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:41,600 least once, even if it's just for a day. 1007 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,760 Take your kids. Enjoy being in there just to 1008 00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:46,600 find out whether you can. Yeah. 1009 00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:50,440 And remember the snacks, snacks, snacks, snacks and water. 1010 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,080 Yes, Mark. The toilets. 1011 00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,840 Get there it. Is yeah, I can't. 1012 00:49:56,840 --> 00:49:58,680 I can't come up with any better advice. 1013 00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:03,160 So there it is, Susie, where can everyone find you on all the 1014 00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:06,360 socials if they want to reach out to you and ask you more 1015 00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:09,840 specific questions about primarily, primarily on. 1016 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:12,960 Instagram, I'm at games with beanie, all one word. 1017 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:16,360 Beanie is BEANYBEAN. What? 1018 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:18,120 Yeah, not IE. There is another. 1019 00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:19,480 There is another beanie who is IE. 1020 00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:22,280 You can also find me on Facebook. 1021 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,880 And I have started delving into the world of TikTok, but don't 1022 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,000 expect me to be there. I have one. 1023 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:29,480 I don't know what I'll do with it. 1024 00:50:30,240 --> 00:50:35,040 I'm an old, but yes, primarily I am on Instagram and I can be 1025 00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,320 contacted there and I'm always happy to chat to other parents. 1026 00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:41,920 We recently with the Instagram community, I set up a chat 1027 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:42,960 group. It doesn't use very often, but 1028 00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:46,320 it is the instant gamers parental support group for just 1029 00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:49,040 gaming friends just so that we can talk about these nonsense 1030 00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:50,280 thing. It doesn't have to be board 1031 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:52,640 games. I'm always happy to talk about 1032 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,800 just kids and life in general. So, well, there you go. 1033 00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:01,200 There you go guys. So everyone, thank you for 1034 00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:03,000 listening. Don't forget to hit that like 1035 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,200 and subscribe button. Please leave comments. 1036 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:07,880 We're at 75 subscribers on our YouTube channel. 1037 00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:11,480 Want to get to 100 by the by October, which is when will be a 1038 00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:12,920 year. So help us with that. 1039 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:17,080 Thank you again everybody and remember be kind to one another 1040 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:18,560 and keep playing games.