Pokemon Go!!

Has your child asked to download the latest craze?  Pokemon Go is taking the world by storm.  It is literally the biggest game, the most socially referenced topic this entire year in the entire world.  Literally.  No not literally-but-I’m-only-using-the-word-literally-for-emphasis-but-really-I-mean-it-figuratively.  No.  Literally.  Go to any park, any town center, any mall, and you’ll see people of all ages with their phones in front of them pointing, running, scavenging and swiping.  And Smiling.  What are they all doing?  Pokemon Go! For those of us parents who may be somewhat familiar with Pokemon, we have some recognition perhaps of cute critters who battle each other on a tv cartoon or the cards that our kids may have collected.  We might be vaguely aware of the monotonous rules our children tried to explain to us and what CP numbers mean and what XP numbers mean.  We might have actually paid attention.  Or, we might have nodded our heads and told junior that maybe we can play this later.  After homework.  After chores.  After tax season. Well, parents, let me urge you: Get This Game!!  Pokemon Go is a new app available for any smartphone, where it combines the monotonous details of the Pokemon cartoon and card game with old-school GeoCaching.  You download the app.  Create your account.  Then take your child or teen and actually go walk, run or ride around town and start “catching” these virtual creatures that you tried so hard to be ignorant about in the past.  You’ll find yourself talking with your kids.  Laughing with your kids.  Learning from your kids.  You’ll find yourself interacting with others who are also playing the same game.  And you’ll get done with the day and look back and say, “wow, that was a lot of fun.  I didn’t think it would be that much fun.”