Pokemon-Obsessed Child!

[MethodicalMadness]

My son is almost 10 and LOVES pokemon. Being honest, it's getting pretty annoying for me! However, I'm trying hard to see the good things in it. He was an extremely reluctant reader until I got a few easy reader pokemon books. That was a real jumping off point for him and he now is much better at reading, and therefore enjoys it much more. He has an incredible memory and can tell you all the names (there are tons of them!), what type they are, what each one's special attacks are, etc.

 

He is past the easy reader stage and I really don't like the way the books are written, anyway. Are there any other parents out there with "pokemon-obsessed" children who have channeled that interest into productive, educational ways?

 

Thank you so much!

[dmmm]

My dd likes them (she was obsessed). There are many educational opportunities that can be found with an obsession like this.

 

Realize that every time your son battles, he is using brains over brawn, or his logic skills. He probably knows every region, category, and classification of Pokemon which is similar to taxonomy (biological classification). If he is drawing characters, that is art, if he is writing about them, well you get the drift (I hope).

 

For my dd, I really want to do a zoology unit where she learns the animal classifications more in depth. Maybe we can make some Pokemon like cards and have the animals battle.

 

You can use his obsession to your advantage and have fun with it. :)

[MethodicalMadness]

Thanks for the encouragement! We are getting ready to start our first year of homeschooling. Unfortunately my son HATES to write, and would only draw when he had to in school because he thinks he "stinks at it". He is actually very good artist, but deals with a lot of perfectionist and "mopey" tendencies. If he draws something, does some school work, cleans his room, etc., and we come to look, read, admire, or whatever, he typically starts saying things like, "I know, it's the worst one ever" "I know, I did a terrible job". Things like that. Which is hard to understand because we have always been a very encouraging and supportive family. Praising his efforts, etc.

 

Anyway, back to the pokemon issue, we did get him excited about making a booklet of sorts with all the pokemon he likes, but when I told him we couldn't print out every single one of the hundreds of pokemon he wanted to put in the book, he decided he didn't want to do it because he's "not good at drawing them".

[freerange]

All three of my children love Pokemon & I'm sure it has helped to develop their logical & strategic thinking. It also makes for a great shared interest, despite the age gap.

[dmmm]

What about having him trace them using tracing paper?

 

Or maybe just designing a pokemon zoo (I think I should do that with my dd - ha)?

 

You could probably get stickers if he is adverse to it all, and just have him organize by type on poster board. Get him to write their names next to them.

 

Maybe even design an arena for them made out of lego or molding clay?

 

If he adverse to writing, maybe have him tell you a story and you can scribe for him. Make him show you where to put capital letters and punctuation.

 

I will try to think of some more ideas.

[dbmamaz]

a LONG time ago we had a pokemon activity book which included some 'how to draw' pages .. i actually used them to do a birthday cake one year!

 

My older son knew all 100 pokemon names before he knew the letters of the alphabet, i was SO frustrated!

 

Now (at 16) my son has gotten really in to 'fan fic' - fiction written about characters from shows and games. at first he just read them a lot, but now he's starting to write some, too - which is awesome, when they start writing voluntarily, outside of 'school' time!

 

My younger is not so focused on pokemon, but video games in general. I tried last year to use the common interest to find some pen pals. We had 8 volunteers, only got 3 sent out (2 emails and 1 snail mail) and only got 1 response . . but they are still on-line friends a year later, so thats something.

[Wheres Toto]

There is a How to Draw Pokemon book that I'm thinking of getting for ds. He LOVES Pokemon and he already has both the Pokemon handbooks memorized - what all the pokemon are, what the evolve in to, if they are legendary and which of the books they are found in.

 

Pokemon was what got my son into reading. He had some ability but "hated" to read. I started bribing him with cards - he gets 10 pokemon cards (from the Dollar store) for 30 minutes of reading. He then usually sits there for another hour with his books and his cards reading them.

 

He likes to make Pokemon golems on Minecraft and I'm researching to find a Pokemon mod for his to use with Minecraft. I'm also trying to learn the game so we can play together.

 

My oldest was into Pokemon when she was 9 or 10 but not like ds is. She mainly collected the cards and watched the cartoon (which is still on, along with 3 newer ones, all starring Ash and Pikachu).

[Dinsfamily]

All three of my children love Pokemon & I'm sure it has helped to develop their logical & strategic thinking. It also makes for a great shared interest, despite the age gap.

 

:iagree: I'm also not a big fan of the books, but will pick up one of the graphic novels every once in awhile at the library for ds8. My boys have done everything from create their own decks to making their own cards with new characters. I don't really capitalize on it for school, though. The biggest thing we've done is teach sportsmanship and character. Ds8 used to build his own super deck and then offer a subpar deck to opponents. He did win a lot but soon ran out of potential partners as Grandpa and his brothers got tired of losing so often. It was good to see the real consequences of his actions. He built some new fair decks and has plenty of people to play with nowadays.

[Mallory]

My oldest is a child who was pokemon obsessed. He will be 13 next month and just over the past 6 months or so his pokemon addiction has transferred to an obsession with ancient/middle ages battles/warriors/weapons.

 

He has spent hours and hours reading about it. He has a well flagged and highlighted copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and a book called Warfare in the Classical World, and has recently started Fuller's books on military history. As well as usborne/eyewitness kinds of books.

 

He has also spent hours making cards and game set ups (on the back of cereal/pizza boxes). Researching terrains and weapons and so on.

 

He has also been making weapons and armor for the little kids out of paper/cardboard/whatever.

 

I have started to see him as one of those professors who mostly lives in the little world of thier speciality, but has a good time there ;)

[Miselainia]

My oldest ds (now almost 16) was quite obsessed with them as well. It's comical to hear him express frustration with his younger brothers (7 and 4) for their obsession. He studied the Pokemon handbook, poring over stats and characteristics. He has now moved on to other obsessions, namely languages and countries. I think that his earlier studies have helped prepare his mind to learn languages and identify differences between phenomes, geographical influences, etc. It has made me a lot less stressed about his little brothers, knowing they, too, are developing their skills and minds.

[cara]

DS is Pokemon obsessed too, besides reading , I never really thought of it for school. We have some of the How to Draw books, he loves them. He plays with a local league and has learned all the rules and has won a city championship and placed 4th in the state championship for his age group. I was just telling a friend we don't teach logic, guess we do in a round about way.

[kolamum]

I.Feel.Your.Pain.

 

I can't stand pokemon, but one of our children is equally obsessed. It goes in waves though as no one else in the home is interested. We do put up with it, he has a sibling who will watch the films with him at times. Most of it just drives me crazy!

[MethodicalMadness]

I.Feel.Your.Pain.

 

I can't stand pokemon, but one of our children is equally obsessed. It goes in waves though as no one else in the home is interested. We do put up with it, he has a sibling who will watch the films with him at times. Most of it just drives me crazy!

 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one annoyed by it! It has taken a lot of patience and deep breathing to get through the pokemon-obsessed conversations, and asking me a hundred times a week which my favorite pokemon is, etc., etc., etc.! I'm trying to find ways to channel it into something productive, if I can't channel it away from pokemon.