[EAST] PAX East 2012 Parents and Kids Meetup

RevBuddyLove

Hi everyone,
I'm coming to pax this year with my kids (ages 11 and 10) and I'm wondering if there is a way to connect with other parents that are bringing their kids.
Although I'm sure the idea of roving gangs of feral kids horrifies some, I do like the idea of being able to introduce my kids to others with their interests.
If you feel the same post here and we'll connect.
Thanks,
Buddy

rascal

Sing it, Rev!
I'd love to get the PAX children together! I bought a 3-day pass for our children (13, 11, 9) to share, so I'll have only one feral child at a time. We're tagging along with my brother and his crew -- he's bringing his infant. We're all local, but I did book a room. My younger 2 (both boys) play mostly Minecraft & Spore on the mac, MarioKart on 3DS, and various wii games like Cabelas Hunts, Star Wars Lego etc. What do your children play?

tvethiopia

i'm sharing a westin room with a friend who is bringing his 9 yr old daughter (it's her birthday that weekend!), and i know they'd be excited to meetup with some other kids!

RevBuddyLove

My crew:

11 year old daughter:
Games:
Minecraft, Sims, Soul Caliber, Halo

Interests:
Guitar, singing, writing and recording music, writing stories, making movies, baking cakes

10 year old sons:
Minecraft, Halo, Portal, SkyRim, CoD

Interests:
Playing video games, making video games and animations and stop motion (Unity, blender, scratch), Nerf warfare


If you are coming and bringing kids please post or contact me and let's see if we can spark some friendships for the next generation of gamers and geeks. :-)

themacguru

15 yr-old son. Possibly traveling on his own. Looking for someone to keep an eye on him and some people his own age to hang with.

He's into Minecraft, Portal, CoD, Fifa (loves Fifa2012) anime FMA Miyazaki

KingJaay

Hello,

10 year old son:
likes the retro stuff and Wii UDraw

Interests:
Art, Cosplay, Zombie's and Building things.

room @ Westin BW

Zakky

Not bringing my children but I am curious of the average age when people start to bring their kids? We have an 8 year old daughter and 11 year old son. Particularly the boy, who is obsessed with Magic the Gathering and video games. So far, PAX has been the weekend away for hubby and me but I suspect the kids are going to want to crash one of these years.

Kiashien

Zakky wrote:

Not bringing my children but I am curious of the average age when people start to bring their kids? We have an 8 year old daughter and 11 year old son. Particularly the boy, who is obsessed with Magic the Gathering and video games. So far, PAX has been the weekend away for hubby and me but I suspect the kids are going to want to crash one of these years.

My advice for anyone wanting / thinking about bringing their kids is simple.

#1: Will they enjoy it? Your son obviously would, as long as you aren't hauling him with you to places he doesn't want to be, or if you let him go his own way. Your daughter? I don't know. Not enough info.. so that's up to you to decide.

#2: Ability to handle crowds. Are they able to deal with long delays (AKA lines)? Can they be patient? Or, can they play zombie dice etc with random people? (If it's the second, BRING small games they can play in line. It's your battle plan, so you'll need to make sure it's available.)

#3: Can they be patient-ish for food? Sometimes the time from "I want to eat." to "Eat." can be easily two hours at a con- especially PAX East due to its location. I'm not saying you won't be able to get food- it just might take awhile. Example: Middle of BCEC, decide to get food. 20 minutes to get outside. 15 minutes for bus. 10 minutes bus ride to a restaurant. 5-20 minutes to get seated, depending on time of day. Order food. 15 minutes to get food (as a sane estimate). that's 1:20 at worst, 1:05 at best, given those numbers- and none of it is insane.

#4: Are you comfortable with your kids hearing basically whatever sort of madness is coming out of the nearest gamer's mouth at a given moment? They might just be discussing a game- for instance, Saint's Row 3, or Duke Nukem Forever, or Catherine. They might not even be trying to be offensive at all. Or they just might be talking. I'm not saying people are going to be deliberately exposing your kids to god knows what- but they could be, and they're at a game con possibly talking about mature games, so they're not doing anything wrong either.

#5: Can they handle 3 days in a row of somewhat early days and late nights of non-stop activity? You can cut it short, but I dare you to find a kid that will want to do that.

#6: Can they reasonably be expected to not freak out, and ask for help when they get separated? I say when, because PAX is... well.. busy. Very busy. I routinely get separated from my girlfriend, and we're both adults and I'm 6 and a half feet tall. Keep in mind that cell coverage can be very spotty for some cell networks.

I don't have kids yet, but that's basically my checklist for what you'd consider. My girlfriend's brother is 14 (She's more than 10 years older than him :P) and we didn't invite him yet, since we'd be responsible for him, and we're not sure he fits into this checklist. Mostly, #5.

If age-appropriate, make sure to set up a "reset" spot for when you get separated, too. If too young, Boston Police and Enforcer Recognition training is a must, but they should also be ready to ask for help from the guy in a pirate hat, or anyone else really.

Anyway, sorry to get all long winded on it. I just want everyone- including your kids- to have fun.

~Kia

Khadour

I've got a 14 year old stepson who's been going to PAX East for the past 2 years. He's generally pretty self-sufficient - the first year, I kept a pretty close eye on him, but last year he was on a much looser leash. Mostly, I made sure he had his cell phone on him, charged, and not on silent. We set up check ins every few hours, so we could each go and do/see the things we wanted to see, but I could still make sure he was eating something and staying hydrated. We're also in BYOC, which gives us a good home base for check ins (and a good place for him to play Minecraft, etc.). He generally winds up spending a lot of time in console freeplay, checking out the new games on the expo floor, and playing in BYOC and tabletop.

I'll talk to him about it, and see how he feels about meeting up with others his own age (or if any of his friends are going to be there, too, to enlarge the feral pack) . . .

pureval

We will be bringing my five year old son along with us all 3 days. He is into Star Wars, Nintendo, Skylanders, Muppets anything really. My plan for the lines is to let him play GBA games ( a special treat for him). We plan to bring some food with us so that will help with meals. As for language, I seriously doubt anything can come out of a PAX attendees mouth that did not come out of mine during the Super Bowl, so no worries there. I know my wife would love to get together with other parents at some point. Has anyone heard if the Geek Parenting panel will be back this year? I underestimated its appeal and we missed the cut off last year.

rascal

What's the Geek Parenting panel? What other panels and activities might be particularly appealing?

My advice for anyone wanting / thinking about bringing their kids is simple....Anyway, sorry to get all long winded on it. I just want everyone- including your kids- to have fun. Kia

Not long-winded at all--good advice, thanks. We've hauled our children all over the world, and they're accustomed to trekking 12 hours+ carrying daypacks with cellphones, snacks, water etc. PAX should be a breeze for them, and if not -- I'll just threaten to confiscate their swag and sell their badges

rascal

Our children also love making stop motion movies (Boinx iStop) and video games (Scratch) -- and our sons have amassed a militia's worth of Nerfery. I'll remind them to load their latest video clips onto their iPods. The boys have a keen interest in making weapons, and a nascent interest in hunting.

rascal

I signed my children up for Assassin's Ball, although they will be killing on behalf of a different faction than mine. Good practice for future internecine clashes I suppose. I also am making a trading card for them with a bit of a "Turn of the Screw" /"The Haunting" flavor to the pic.
We've sorted out our schedule -- 9-yo son is attending on Friday (yes, I'm pulling him out of school ), and 13-yo daughter & 11-yo son are attending on Sunday.

Fruhmann

rascal wrote: »

I signed my children up for Assassin's Ball, although they will be killing on behalf of a different faction than mine.

this is awesome, as most people would not think to look for children, only adults. i hope to kill and be killed by your kids.

rascal

Fruhmann wrote: »

this is awesome, as most people would not think to look for children, only adults. i hope to kill and be killed by your kids.

damn, did I just give up valuable intel?
They are ruthless little beasts, and you shall die horribly at their size XS hands.

Fruhmann

rascal wrote: »

damn, did I just give up valuable intel?
They are ruthless little beasts, and you shall die horribly at their size XS hands.

I'd like to believe that I'm a creepy enough dude that even an adult who needed to approach me would only do so with the assistance of an enforcer. Haha.

But that is awesome. And I can't wait to let my gf know. She's younger than me and doesn't want to have kids for a while. I want them sooner. She thinks if we have kids we'll have to forgo cons and other adventures for almost 2 decades. So, showing her this thread and the possibility that I may get assassinated by a child, might change her attitude.

rascal

Fruhmann wrote: »

I'd like to believe that I'm a creepy enough dude that even an adult who needed to approach me would only do so with the assistance of an enforcer. Haha.

But that is awesome. And I can't wait to let my gf know. She's younger than me and doesn't want to have kids for a while. I want them sooner. She thinks if we have kids we'll have to forgo cons and other adventures for almost 2 decades. So, showing her this thread and the possibility that I may get assassinated by a child, might change her attitude.

Then you must introduce her to my brother, who is bringing his 6-month-old daughter. But do not expose her to my Children of the Corn or you shall never have heirs...

Fruhmann

rascal wrote: »

Then you must introduce her to my brother, who is bringing his 6-month-old daughter.

6 months? do they dress her in a tiny princess leia outfit? how do him and his lady handle who takes care of what? i imagine a diaper bomb or crying fit in the middle of a panel or line would require much team work.

and if my gf met your children of the corn offspring, i'd only have to ensure her that our first born would be He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

rascal

Fruhmann wrote: »

and if my gf met your children of the corn offspring, i'd only have to ensure her that our first born would be He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

lol

My bro is bringing his baby on his own because his wife can't make it to PAX, but there will be a retinue of doting aunts, uncles, cousins and affiliates to worship the baby and help with diaper changes and whatnot -- also they have the run of my Westin room to use as a day lounge. She's a great baby, really smiley and mellow --my brother wears her in one of those chest carriers when he plays video games, and he swears that she twitches her thumbs.

rascal

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KingJaay

bump..

also may be fun for the kids as well, check it out.

WHERE: Commonwealth Ballroom, Westin Boston Waterfront
WHEN: 7:00PM to 9:30PM, Friday, April 6th
WHO: Anyone (ALL-AGES PARTY) with a PAX East 2012 FRIDAY or WEEKEND badge
http://shiftylook.com/news/shiftylook-vs-the-city-of-clams/

vttym

Is anyone going that has spouses or significant others with kids who are NOT going to PAX? My wife is making the trip up for a second year in a row, but will not be attending PAX (she enjoys Boston, not games). She will have our nearly 3 year old daughter, and will be 8 months preggers, so I was curious if there were other parents who would be in the area ..

rascal

KingJaay wrote: »

also may be fun for the kids as well, check it out.
WHERE: Commonwealth Ballroom, Westin Boston Waterfront
WHEN: 7:00PM to 9:30PM, Friday, April 6th
WHO: Anyone (ALL-AGES PARTY) with a PAX East 2012 FRIDAY or WEEKEND badge
http://shiftylook.com/news/shiftylook-vs-the-city-of-clams/

@KingJaay, thanks for the heads-up! This looks fun, and I just rsvp'd myself + 2 children.
I bought a 3rd 3-day pass and will be getting a Sunday pass, so now I'm bringing 2 children on Friday and all 3 on Sunday.

KingJaay

Im checking if anyone bringing kids in the BYOC wanted to try to keep them sitting in the same general area, send me a pm. I will ask when i see a Admin in there. thanks.

wooperz

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