No idle chit-chat for these parents.

Japanese Twitter user @rei15448346 was in the park the other day when she spotted a common scene. Two young boys were playing with their Pokémon cards, battling their teams of Pocket Monsters against each other while their moms looked on.

Being a mother herself, @rei15448346 imagined the two women were probably saying something along the line of “Isn’t it nice how well they’re getting along with each other? That gives us a chance to talk,” and that their topic of conversation was probably something of more interest to the average adult than whether Venusaur can beat up Gengar or the proper timing for Pikachu to unleash Thunderbolt.

As @rei15448346 drew within earshot, though, she found out that these moms were no average adults.

“They were saying ‘How are you ever going to win with a deck like that? Put some thought into how you build it!’”

“It turned out both moms were super serious about the Pokémon battle,” explains @rei15448346, and a bit of math shows that’s not such an unlikely scenario. The Pokémon collectible card game came out in 1996, and its core player base has pretty much always been elementary school-age kids. So a girl who was, say, 10 years old during the first wave of fans would be in her mid-30s now, a demographic where there’s a pretty good chance of her having a son who’s just at the right age to be Pokémon card battling with his buddies, perhaps having gotten into the game as a product of his mom’s passion for it.

Still, it’s pretty unusual for parents to be more emotionally invested in the outcome of Pokémon battles than the kids themselves who’re taking part in it, and @rei15448346’s tweet has drawn reactions such as:

“Pokémon Trainer parents have Pokémon Trainer kids.”
“I bet those moms are good at Yu-Gi-Oh too.”
“It’s like the moms are the Trainers, and the kids are their Pokémon… I don’t know what that makes the actual Pokémon.”
“Cool moms. Sounds kind of tough for the kids, though.”
“I think that’s going to be me when I have kids.”
“I’m kind of jealous of those kids for having parents who really get their hobby.”
“When I was a kid, my parents didn’t show any interest in my hobbies, so I decided that when I had kids of my own, I’d make sure to play with them.”

Generally speaking, it’s nice when a parent shares, or at least is supportive of, their kids’ passions, especially one that helps them connect with their friends, and even more so when compared to the alternative of scoffing at their fun and saying, “Why are you wasting your time with those dumb monster cards.” On the other hand, part of good parenting is letting your kids learn to make their own decisions, and even their own mistakes, and something as ultimately low-consequence as a Pokémon battle might also a pretty good opportunity to be a little more hands-off and just let your kid have fun.

Source: Twitter/@rei15448346 via Hachima Kiko
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