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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this Pokemon obsession has become ridiculous

58 replies

manicinsomniac · 27/11/2016 15:59

What on earth is it with these Pokémon games? This is lighthearted I guess because I'm sure it's great for children to have passions but I'm sitting here marking yet another load of 'stories' from school that all wind up being about Pokémon and thinking it's all bordering on the obsessive.

I'm not sure how they work because I only have girls so I haven't seen any of the games/tv programmes or whatever.

But the impact they're starting to have in my classroom is insane. It seems to be particularly Yeas 5 and 6. Whatever I'm doing in Drama the boys manage to twist their plays to be about Pokémon. Whenever they have free rein to write in English they twist the titles and write terrible, descriptionless rubbish about Pokémon fights and a character that seems to be called Baby Jesus?! When I talk to them in tutor time it seems their interests have become centred around Pokémon and nothing else. They do 'Pokémon stuff' at weekends (I don't know exactly what that entails), draw Pokémon, print Pokémon pictures off the computers and (possibly) pretend to be Pokémon at times.

It was one boy's birthday the other day and I asked him if he was doing anything special. The other boys were all very excited and said they're going to London. I said that sounded really fun and asked what they were going to do. The answer - Pokémon!?!

Have I been living under a rock? What are these special and amazing things and why are they taking over our children's lives?

OP posts:
OvariesForgotHerPassword · 27/11/2016 16:00

YABU. (OK YANBU)

I blame geeky parents Grin DD is 2 and can recite the full Team Rocket motto Blush

Oysterbabe · 27/11/2016 16:00

There will always be these crazes. At least this one gets them outside!

Celticlassie · 27/11/2016 16:02

I'm a teacher and seem to have avoided this, thankfully. I thought Pokemon had died a death in the summer. Mine are all too busy flinging bottles around.

BertrandRussell · 27/11/2016 16:05

I thought Pokémon was over- nobody we know is doing it any more. Jut wait a bit, OP- they'all be on to the next thing.

A bit daft of you not to have at least a basic knowledge, by the way..........

EdmundCleverClogs · 27/11/2016 16:05

Yabu. It's not a new thing, it's been around for 20 years - I don't define that as a 'craze'. This is from a girl who was very much into it 20 years ago, and still enjoy it from time to time (my Nintendo DS has been a lifesaver for my sanity during breastfeeding/having a sleepy child on my).

I can wait for our kids to discover it, hope it's around for another twenty years, at least. I think the franchise has done amazingly well to keep up in a world of things that are popular for 10 seconds before the next thing comes along.

EdmundCleverClogs · 27/11/2016 16:06

'Can't wait', that should be

IfartInYourGeneralDirection · 27/11/2016 16:07

Ah the bottle flinging...
I'm a good mother, I've never slapped a child yet but that bottle flipping makes me want to bash their tiny skulls into the table...

Toffeelatteplease · 27/11/2016 16:07

Girls can be into Pokemon too Hmm

There's a recent new Pokemon Ds game released.

There's a massive new release in the trading card game in January. But there's a lot of online excitement surrounding it already.

Should die down again after that

AliceInUnderpants · 27/11/2016 16:07

I'm not sure how they work because I only have girls so I haven't seen any of the games/tv programmes or whatever.

YABU for this. You're not a teacher are you?

PaperdollCartoon · 27/11/2016 16:09

What's having girls got to do with it? My 21 year old (mother of two) sister is huge on Pokémon, has been her whole life. It's nothing new and it's definitely not just for boys.

IHaveBrilloHair · 27/11/2016 16:09

I've bought my 15yr old dd the latest game for Christmas and I used the play the older versions

BewtySkoolDropowt · 27/11/2016 16:09

When you are doing drama, you are in control - surely you can specify what they pays should or should not be about?

If you are not managing the class so that pokemon is a constant, you need to take some responsibility for that.

Original poster
manicinsomniac · 27/11/2016 16:12

Maybe our kids a bit behind the rage then! (they are also doing bottle flinging though!)

Has it really been around for 20 years? It seems to me like it was a bit of a thing in around 1996 and then suddenly reappeared this year. I didn't hear of it in between.

I do have a basic knowledge - little coloured characters with weird names that have inspired computer games and tv programmes. Plus a card game that leads to lots of fights based on 'he swapped it with me', 'no I didn't'. I remember them from being around 12/13.

OP posts:
Topseyt · 27/11/2016 16:12

My three DDs seem to have become bored of it. DD3 (14) was the most into it, but hardly mentions it now.

DD2 (now almost 18) used to be very like you describe with anything she was into. It was usually while she was still at primary school, and was going through a phase of being obsessed with Scooby Doo.

At one parents' evening her class teacher asked if I could help dissuade her from making all stories she was asked to write about Scooby Doo!! Blush

Yoarchie · 27/11/2016 16:14

In December they will release about 100 new generation 2 Pokémon into Pokemon Go. Brace yourself OP!

Frequency · 27/11/2016 16:14

I've been dragged into this by my daughter.

She's too young/clumsy for her own phone so plays on mine. On weekends she's at her Dad's I have to promise to visit Pokestops and catch things to keep her streak going.

I caught her a Ditto last night. She was over joyed when I rang her this morning to tell her.

It gets her out of the house. She regularly goes hunting for Pokemon after school. It's far better than sitting in front of the TV, imo.

Original poster
manicinsomniac · 27/11/2016 16:16

Ok, fair enough if girls like them too - the ones at our school don't so I assumed it was more a boy's craze. The girls do like the bottle flipping.

BewtySkool - I'm in control of class led exercises, on the spot improv and script work. But not really of their own group prepared improvs, no. The children get a brief/set of instructions/objective but how they reach it is up to them. It's incredible the range of different objectives that can (in a 10 year old's mind) be met in a Pokémon related way.

OP posts:
WLF46 · 27/11/2016 16:17

YANBU. It is idiotic and means people are even less connected with their surroundings than usual. I find it appalling that adults are just as bad, just as obsessed with this game as their children are. It's pathetic.

Original poster
manicinsomniac · 27/11/2016 16:17

Yoarchie - eek! Can't wait!

OP posts:
Cagliostro · 27/11/2016 16:28

I still don't think it's as big or all consuming as Minecraft. And that hasn't died a death yet :o

I'd play PG if I had a good enough phone

Cagliostro · 27/11/2016 16:43

I also really like the fact that the creator of Pokemon has autism :) found that out at just the right time (I have ASD and both my DCs have recently been referred for assessment)

Also saw an article about a teen who has severe autism and social phobia - PG really helped him and it was the push he needed to get out and about.

ego147 · 27/11/2016 16:47

There was a study of children's writing based on analysis of the BBC 500 words competition. Apparently 'spawn' is a word more frequently used.

Pokemon and especially Minecraft have had a massive impact on children's imagination.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1b3nZmN4VmzMM6tsCK2Z9tB/word-analysis-2014

Toffeelatteplease · 27/11/2016 16:54

Given the size of the Pokemon universe it's not overly surprising how much can relate back to pokemon.

The basic concept is that you go through the world collecting and battling pokemon creatures. That means if it exists in the world it probably exists on Pokemon too.

OhhBetty · 27/11/2016 17:15

I hate it! But that's mostly because my ex used to say he was pokeon hunting when he was in fact shagging someone else!

bruffin · 27/11/2016 17:28

It seems to me like it was a bit of a thing in around 1996 and then suddenly reappeared this year. I didn't hear of it in between.

It never really went away. I have a dd19 and ds21. My lovely dd expected me to rush home and wait in for the postman because her game was arriving Hmm
But i have a lot to be grateful for, as my DS is dyslexic and the pokemon games gave him the insentive to read. We used to play name a pokemon beginning with A, B etc.
Even now if my DS is feeling a bit down i will buy him a pack of cards to cheer him up, even though he doesnt actively collect them any more
YANBU. It is idiotic and means people are even less connected with their surroundings than usual. I find it appalling that adults are just as bad, just as obsessed with this game as their children are. It's pathetic.
nonsense, it gives a talking point, i listen to the car mechanics discussing it in their tea break Grin