As a Mom who is very committed to fitness and nutrition, as well as a certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor, I deplore video games. When I started hearing about the Pokémon Go game, I immediately forbade my 18-year-old son from putting the app on his phone.
My thinking was two-fold: 1) I didn’t want him hunched over his phone any more than he already is on Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram; and 2) I didn’t want him driving his car into a tree trying to find some Pokémon thing.
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As often happens with my knee-jerk reaction to things, I have discovered that maybe I’m wrong about this one.
In the days since I issued this edict, I have seen dozens of kids, teenagers and adults out walking around and riding bikes. My friend and I run/walk at 6 a.m. in a hilly park near my home several times a week. Two weeks ago, we passed a group of four pre-teens walking on the path. Sweating. At 6 a.m.! Usually at that hour, we only encounter other middle-aged exercisers like ourselves, a couple of deer and a few elderly folks with dogs.
See also: MetroLink Is Every St. Louis Pokémon Go Player’s Secret Weapon
The next day, I was walking in the evening with my 21-year-old daughter. We came upon three high school boys and one recent high school graduate (all of whom have their driver’s licenses) on bikes – the kind your pedal. With your legs. They were searching for Pokémon and told us the characters are easier to find on foot or on bikes.
Moms Playing with Kids
A few days later, I was driving home from a yoga class at 7 a.m. and spotted a neighbor, Jennifer Dudenhoeffer of Wildwood, and her six-year-old daughter walking with phones in their hands. When I saw her at the neighborhood pool, I asked her about it.
“Yes, we were playing Pokémon Go,” Dudenhoeffer told me. “I love it. We were walking around the neighborhood the other night for 2 1/2 hours. It’s more walking than we’ve ever done.”
Dudenhoeffer said her 12-year-old son Landon originally downloaded and began playing the game, and then her 6-year-old daughter Peyton wanted in on the fun. Dudenhoeffer had to help because Peyton doesn’t have a phone.
“With all the other video games like Minecraft, you sit on your butt and play. This one gets you out and moving and socially interacting with real people. I like doing it with my children for some family fun,” Dudenhoeffer says.
Pokémon Go Basics
If you’ve been living under a rock and you haven’t heard of the game, here are the basics:
- You download the Pokémon Go game to your phone.
- It uses your phone’s GPS to track you, and when you’re playing, it places Pokémon around you. The game is modeled after the cartoon of the 1990s in which people called “trainers” lived in a world populated by Pokémon. The trainers captured, trained and then sometimes used these Pokémon’s to fight each other.
- In the new game, you are the trainer, and you’re catching the Pokémon.
- The game uses your camera to overlay your surroundings with an augmented reality, placing the Pokémon on your kitchen table, in the bushes at a park, etc.
- You can find more details from the official website here.
See also: Everything Parents Need to Know About Pokémon GO
Who’s Playing
So who’s playing the game? Everyone, it seems. I’ve seen teens, pre-teens, young kids, even young adults. According to the New Yorker, the game has been downloaded more than 15 million times.
Loren Elkins, age 25, of Wentzville, is a lifeguard in the St. Louis area. He told me he’s lost nearly 10 pounds since the game launched in the United States on July 6. (It was being played in 26 countries by July 16 when servers began having some difficulties because of demand).
“I’ve walked so many miles playing the game,” he says. “This is just what our generation needs because millennials are the most overweight group in history.”
Sheri Wolfe, age 49, of Hillsboro, is a mom and a successful realtor with Keller Williams Realty. Like many other moms, she initially got caught up in the Pokémon craze helping her 15-year-old daughter Rachel connect with some friends in order to play.
Next thing she knew, she was using Facebook to organize a group to meet near a restaurant in Kimmswick to play on a Friday night.
“It was a blast,” she says. “The thing I really loved about it was that young and old were involved. Grandparents, parents and kids all hunting together. It took me a while, but I got it.
“The kids were teaching us. I worked all day and would have normally gone home to finish up paperwork, but instead I ran home, changed clothes, and off we went to go Pokémon Go hunting for 2.5 hours. We walked around, talked to everyone, and socialized with other parents and kids. I loved it.”
Wolfe says the restaurant where they met stayed open late and had a barbecue for the late-night hunters. “They said they had over 200 people,” Wolfe says.
Because of the fun they all had, Wolfe planned another event last week at a park in Fenton.
Her daughter also volunteered to be her chauffeur to her real estate appointments earlier this month in order to get practice driving and so they could stop in different areas to go Pokémon hunting.
“We drove all over the St. Louis area,” Wolfe says. “She got driving experience, and we got to bond all day. It was a win-win for me.”
Use Common Sense
Wolfe pointed out that she and Rachel stopped and got out of the car to hunt for Pokémon. “I think that’s where common sense is going to have to come into play,” she says.
And she’s right.
Unfortunately, there have been some incidents of accidents and foul-play when it comes to the game. A group of teens used the game to lure and allegedly rob another group of teens in O’Fallon, Mo., last week; and there have been reports of several other accidents involving the game, as well.
Still, if the country is moving more, if families are outside playing together, I think it’s a good thing. In the coming weeks, I can see community groups, neighborhoods, Mom’s clubs, local gyms and churches organizing Pokémon Go events, and that means more people getting outside, walking, and making connections with one another.
Who knew what Pikachu could do?
Michelle Cox is a wife, mother and professional freelance writer/communications specialist. She’s also a NASM certified personal trainer and AFAA group exercise instructor. In her free time, she loves running, reading, writing short stories, and blogging at michellemeltoncox.com.
