[laughs]

Yeah, it is great because for those, then the parent isn't like, "Oh, you only have an hour." It's, "No, you get to play when you're in Ms.

Devon's class." And not only does that help with those screen time limits that different families have, but it also elevates the screen time, because when a kid is playing Minecraft with a group of friends, it's a very different experience than when they're playing alone and by themselves.

Um, another big thing though, like, the number one thing that parents value, that kids value, is the game is really just where we meet.

Like, we all speak the same language, right? That's just where we meet, but the goal is really building soft skills like confidence, communication, teamwork, collaboration, all of these things that you build when you do any sort of group activity.

So I, I really like to compare it to, like, a book club.

People will put it on their schedules, and they're like, "Thursdays at 5:00, you have Minecraft class." And so the kids come every week, every Thursday at 5:00.

Do you mind sharing about that, like what your experience has been?

Like, what, what would be the impetus for a parent reaching out to you and teaching their kids to game?

You know, that is one of the most common questions I get asked, and it's a valid question, right? Because we know how it is when your kiddo is on the, on video games for hours on end and you're like, "Go do something else." So I've seen parents approach it in a couple different ways.

The first way is Miss Devin's classes become the screen time monitor.

I have a lot of students who come in, and at the end of class I'll be like, "All right, guys, we're out of time," and they'll be like, "No, Miss Devin, just five more minutes, 'cause I have to put my Switch away once class is over." So now I'm kind of the one who's, like, monitoring that time rather than the parent.

That's part of it, but one of the biggest complaints that parents have when their kids game is that their kiddo is all alone in their own little space, antisocial, right? In the basement, in the corner, and it's just them and the screen.

But the whole point of our classes is it's a social club, and so they come and they're still playing that game that they love, but now they're also socializing with their peers who also love that game, and it creates this amazing community, and it gives these kiddos a place where they belong, because a lot of gaming kids and adults, they don't feel like they have a community.

You know, we have things like book clubs and volleyball clubs that schools will sponsor, but if you're a gamer, there's not really a gaming club.

What would you say to them to encourage them to get out of their season of stuckness?