When I married my husband, I immediately got a full-grown teenaged nephew.  In some ways it was like getting a part-time stepson, as I’ve spent some time with him and realized how unprepared I was for the differences between a teenager and a child.  Children I know how to deal with, but a teen?  Well, let’s just say he’s not how I remember being when I was his age.

Anyway, Jake is 16 now and is developing quite the personality.  He has certain favorite pastimes that he spends a lot of time on — airsoft, for instance.  Jake’s dad is really into shooting (with real guns), and Jake loves to try to emulate his dad, so he’s very into airsoft pistols and other realistic types of airsoft guns.

Unfortunately, Jake’s biggest chunk of time is spent playing video games.  I’ve never been a big fan of video games, but lately a study demonstrated that a large number of kids who play video games are actually addicted, which seems to support my concerns.  I really wish Jake wouldn’t play so much, but I fear he is probably among the 8.5 percent of kids who demonstrate symptoms of a video game addiction.

Jake doesn’t live with his dad, so I don’t actually get to see him all that often.  But I’m hoping that when he comes to visit this summer, I’ll be able to spend some time with him while his dad is at work, and hopefully give him some better things to do than sitting on his butt playing video games all day.

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