“As a mother, I let my son stay awake as long as he wanted…it was my choice.”
Harold's able-bodied friend Jack loves soccer and computer games, until his teammate Hamish posts videos online of him making mistakes on the field and the social media comments aren't funny at all.
Carol* had had a long week at work, her son Jackson* was struggling with something at school, and he was emotionally drained.
In an attempt to make Jackson relax, Carol suggested that Jackson play video games on the Xbox for a while.
Little did she know that her actions would spark a huge debate online.
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Carol lets her son stay up until 4 a.m. to play Fortnite. Photo: iStock
Mother asks son to stay up until 4 a.m. to play video games
Last week, a British mother turned to a Facebook group to ask her 1.2 million members about Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games.
Her son, who loves games, planned to play for a few hours to distract himself from school.
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But when he started up his console, Fortnite started running a long update, giving Jackson pause.
Updates took hours to load and my kids were frustrated because they couldn't play.
“What's going on with Fortnite?” Carroll vented his frustration in a social media post. She said: “I don't think you can handle it if you're not prepared. British mums, I'm furious.''
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After many hours, you are finally ready to play the game.
But here's the problem. Although the game wasn't updated until early in the morning, 3 a.m. to be exact, Jackson was still eager to play.
She shuddered at the thought of arguing with her son about whether to go to bed, so instead she let him stay up an extra hour to play Fortnite, only to have him wake up four hours later at 8 a.m.
“It was an easy option and I didn't want to argue at 'bedtime' after a hard week of school and work,” she said.
“If this makes me a bad mother, so be it.”
Related: I don't care if my son plays games 50 hours a week because I think he's a teenage genius.
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“I’m so glad I didn’t let this game happen… you bastard.”
Shortly after sharing the post, Carol was flooded with negative comments, warning that video games were the last thing her son needed.
“It doesn't mean you're a bad mother!” someone reasoned. “Sometimes we don't realize how negatively our actions can affect children. [a] We all learn at some point because of a lack of awareness.
“But if the child is So “He's so obsessed with Fortnite that he stays up until 3 a.m., so I wonder how much stress and anxiety he must have had before Fortnite worked,” they continued.
Some likened online gaming addiction to “drug addiction or gambling addiction” and argued that it was harmful to children.
One parent wrote, “I'm so glad I didn't allow this game.'' “That's shit. Toxic.”
But she hit back saying the “critical” comments were unnecessary.
“As a mother, I allowed my son to stay awake as long as he wanted,” she said. “That was my choice.”
Some parents agreed with her claims and agreed that her choices did not make her a “bad parent.”
“Oh, this post makes me feel so much better,” the parent said with relief.
“My boys are already working on it, so why not? They've worked hard all week at school and clubs, so now it's their turn.”
“No judgment here,” said another. “I salute all parents and guardians, especially those who don't feel the need to criticize fellow parents on Facebook.”
*Name has been changed
