Mistakes Every Gamer/Single Parent Makes

I've been playing Xbox Live, mostly COD with my clan for years. Before my 3 kids were born. My oldest is now 8. Ever since me and their mother divorced, I've made the same mistake that I swore I wouldn't. I've tried to game the way I use to do in my early years. Even before the divorce and baby number 2 gaming all night was going out of the window due to increasing responsibilities at work and my body telling me, "You're Not In Your Twenties Anymore". Every now and then one of the guys will scream out the old battle cry. . ."TILL SIX IN THE MORNING". This was a nod to an old R. Kelly song and something we use to do a lot. Ummm, gaming not that other thing he did.

You see, back then, it was nothing. We'd be on a winning streak, 32 rounds won in a row on my birthday is still the current record we've never broken. All hopped up on red bull and twinkies. It became so important we had to have little games within the game to stay on edge. If we won a round, who ever had 20 or more kills we would call that "Twanky" if the 3 or more of us on the squad had reached Twanky kills, we would call that Hostess since we were stocking up like the factory. We then had to eat a twinkie. We later shortened it to Host Twank. That began to become a problem the day we won 32 rounds in a row. There were a lot of sick soldiers that day. But still, we killed noobs till 6 in the morning.

Its now Christmas vacation in 2018 and the new game that we're addicted to is Players Unknown's Battleground or PUBG for short. Its impossible to win that many matches in a row since we're in a lobby with up to 100 players trying to kill you but we love this game. We haven't gone till 6 in the morning in years but 3 in the morning has become the new target. Last night, I made it to the milestone. We had fun. We all also had work in the morning. I am a Real Estate broker, so is another member and one guy works on boats. Even though I did not physically have to go to any homes or meet clients, I was in between a few deals that needed my attention online or on the phone. My fiancee was pulling a double so from 9 in the morning when I attempted to sleep past till 1 in the afternoon I was all alone. Even with her help, I try not to put off my responsibilities. I'm their father and they need to know I'm there for them.

Oh, i forgot to mention, I also do movie reviews and i thought it to be a brilliant idea to finish watching the new movie on Netflix, Bird Box staring Sandra Bullock (who is so damn fine) and record my review on my youtube channel T3Medias (please subscribe). That had me up past 4 a.m.

38 years old, I tried to keep the room as dark as possible so that the kids would still think it night time. First mistakes. My oldest wanted to watch cartoons, I let him. My other two joined him and watched the tv and me sleep. When I know they are all up, my instincts take over and sleep, no matter how tired, is impossible. I'm too much of a paranoid person to let them roam around. Being a single dad is more about staying out of trouble and gloating when your ex messes up. I don't know when I finished breakfast and I felt the pain of bad eating move from my feet to my brain the whole day. The juice was not worth the squeeze at this very moment but when I was in the moment earlier it felt good.

Your ability to give your kids the attention and patience they deserve is limited even more in this state. I constantly had to keep my emotions in check.I just gave love advise to a friend of mine who's dating a single dad who also loves his gaming. She doesn't understand it. From what I could tell, he puts gaming to high up on and too close on the priority board next to his children. That's not good for anyone.

Eat right, stay fight and sleep. When my gamer pals are done for the night we shout out "I'm Calling It" say Good Games and log off. Don't wait till you have a few bad rounds to call it a night, when your body has had enough, you may be able to push through but if you are a single parent or a parent in a marraige about to watch the kids by yourself in the morning, give up the ghost.

But who the hell are we kidding, we both know you're not going to listen. ONE MORE ROUND!