Kids have so many options now – games they can play on a phone Mom or Dad pull out of their pocket at a moment’s notice; tablets made specially for kids, designed to take the rough-and-tumble of toddler life; countless web pages with content created around their favorite cartoon characters, designed to teach creative play, the alphabet, math, drawing, spelling. The list goes on. So, why jump into a pool that already has so many swimmers?
Indie Kids Games – Dreams Come True!
Dreams & Drive
Over the past several months Erik and I have been dreaming and planning, trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives. We’ve discovered so much about ourselves, and each other; our hopes and dreams, our passions, our needs – what drives us – as well as our fears. We wanted to build something strong, something good… something that we could make together. Out of this dreaming Squink Games was born.
I’d like to talk to you about what Erik and I believe Educational Entertainment is and tell you a little bit more about us – something beyond what we’ve got on our About Us page.
Why educational entertainment?
I’m a mom. My daughter is 15 and my son is 13. I grew up in a wonderful family environment with supportive, happy parents whose love always held strong. They helped each other, laughed together, teased, guided, and taught us how to be successful adults.
The world has changed so much since my children were young. I thought I was being a progressive parent when I let them sit on my lap and play preschool games like Jumpstart Preschool on the computer. The market of educational entertainment, as far as video games for kids, was starting to really take off, filling up with names like Leapfrog and Baby Einstein.
The thing is, I was being a progressive parent. Compared to now, though, I was in the dark ages. Kids have so many options now – games they can play on a phone Mom or Dad pull out of their pocket at a moment’s notice; tablets made specially for kids, designed to take the rough-and-tumble of toddler life; countless web pages with content created around their favorite cartoon characters, designed to teach creative play, the alphabet, math, drawing, spelling. The list goes on. So, why jump into a pool that already has so many swimmers?
Because it’s important. Because we feel we have something to add. Because we believe that children are our future… treat them well and let them lead the way (sorry, I’m a child of the 80s). Because we want to provide parents with tools to help teach their children that learning can be fun and create that strong, solid foundation that the rest of their lives will stand on. Because I didn’t have these tools when I was raising my kids (they might’ve saved my sanity). Because Erik and I are dreamers and doers and we want to be part of the dreams that started when we were young: Sesame Street and The Muppets, the Electric Company and Reading Rainbow, Fraggle Rock and Captain Kangaroo. Because Squink Games is our dream.
“Erik & I”
And now, a little bit more about the team behind the dream.
Erik is a fun-filled man with a Peter Pan quality of never growing out of the child-like joy that life and silliness can bring. He finds the positive, even while looking at some of life’s messier lessons. Erik brings up the mood in a room and can talk to anyone about anything. I’ve often said that he could have a satisfying conversation with a rock (when I told him that, he treated me to an entire five minutes of “pebble talk.” It was very funny). Running through this joy, is a kind, nurturing man with a need to create. Writers talk about their muses – like they’re a separate person, this manifestation of their subconscious minds. With Erik, his muse is not a beautiful woman with curves and spiraling curls – it’s a whip-wielding ginger monkey with chaps and spurs. He is driven to create, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s scripting, drawing, or animating, it’s art, and must meet his exacting standards in order for it to fulfill him.
And me? I’m learning to find the fun in life and rediscovering the drive that led me to be a freelance writer and to help launch an eZine on creativity millions of years ago when my kids were young. Going through a divorce taught me that I am important too; and that living life, while scary and painful and fraught with tangled emotions, is beautiful; that trying and failing doesn’t make the measure of a person, but that it’s what they do after they fail that matters; and that my kids are the most important things in my life. I love to sing, play video games, write, and draw painfully poorly.
photo credit: evilpeacock via photopin cc
