I have written about my younger son’s playing of League of Legends before. Yesterday was the culmination of months of games in the NUEL (National University eSports League) with over 300 teams having been whittled down to the final two with Mat’s UoB Storm pitted against Nottingham Bears. Unfortunately they lost out but it was still a mighty achievement and we are incredibly proud of what he has achieved.
Thinking about Mat’s participation reminded me of a post I wrote way back in 2009 about something I saw, with Mat as it happens, at Gadget Show Live and my comments. Part of the show was seeing the Guitar Hero World Champion in action. This is what I said at the time:
He must have been about 16 and while quite impressive you can’t help but think that his parents would probably have been more pleased if he put in the same amount of effort on revising for his GCSEs than the enormous amount of practice he must have put in on Guitar Hero!
One of the boy’s parents subsequently contacted me to say how proud they were of their son and how well he had done in his exams.
Fast forward six years and I find myself in a similar position with Mat in the final year of his degree and as parents wanting him to do well and here’s the thing – he is, very well. It seems that, my offspring at least, are capable of managing their time more so than perhaps I have given them credit for.
It’s hard as a parent to realise that your children have grown up and don’t rely on you anymore but sometimes you’ve just got to let go. It seems that they are quite capable without our support – it must have been they way their mother brought them up!