Today I got up early to tackle a very long to do list. I made it all the way to item nine which was pick Jonas up from school. We went into the school yard and I let Maggie take off running to the playground while I waited closer to the Kindergarten door.

I turned my head for all of twenty seconds to speak with another mother and when I looked up Maggie was on the ground surrounded by the playground monitors and a few of my friends. My initial thought was, “Ok, she fell. She’s fine.” I didn’t even run over, I walked slowly, calmly to her, knelt down and saw her eyes rolling back in to her head and a very strange expression on her face and watched her twitch oddly. Then she let out a huge breath and started to scream.

Apparently, as Maggie was running at full speed on the playground, another boy was running as well and the two collided. Because the other little guy is built like a tank and probably had a more direct path, Maggie flew backward, hitting the back of her head on the concrete as well as her eye where the two kids knocked heads. It wasn’t pretty. In fact it was pretty darn freaky, and one of my good friends (who happens to be Maggie’s nursery teacher) had a front row seat for the whole thing, and in her panic at my daughter’s rolling eye and contorted face just sat there saying, “Not ok! Not ok! Not ok!” I’m glad she did the freaking out so I didn’t have to. Another mother called for an ambulance and while we waited Maggie slowly went from twitchy knocked out weirdness to crying to being very still and quiet.

At this point in the waiting, Jonas teacher came over to me since I had neglected to pick up my son. While my daughter was in a very bad way she proceeded to alternately inform me of my naughty, naughty son’s totally awful behavior in school that day and talk to the 911 operator. Timing, woman, TIMING. There’s an ambulance coming for my daughter; as long as my son didn’t set fire to anyone, I’m really not focusing on him right now.

So the ambulance people arrived and Maggie perked up a bit during the ride. By the time we got to the hospital, she was her normal self with the addition of a huge bruise starting around her eye. The verdict was a concussion.

I’m a little fried now from all the worry and flurry. I’m always very good in the immediate crisis, but after it is dealt with I go a little weak in the knees.

Chris and I have had one ongoing parenting disagreement. He is all about video games and I think they are a time waster. I also think that too many children are playing games with far too much adult content. I am very careful not to desensitize my children by exposing them to crass behaviors, violence and gross sexual content. I want them to reject these things and think that they are horrible until they are old enough to have enough understanding to handle them. Even then, I want them to be more like me and cringe at the thought of violence. I want their sweet, innocent spirits to maintain some of that innocence, even in a world that turns farther and farther toward the macabre and evil and away from beauty and peace.

Enter the Entertainment Software Rating Board. This website is an awesome resource for parents who want to allow their children the fun of a video game, but who want to make darn sure that what they are exposing their children to is good clean fun without a hidden agenda. On this website you can search for games based on age level, content level or title- so if you are doing your holiday shopping and you need to make sure that what Jr is asking for is appropriate for him, you can.

Why can you trust the ESRB? The ESRB is an independent review board. They review by both age and content, and they are responsible for making sure that the game companies adhere to responsible marketing practices. They want you to be able to make an informed choice.

On top of this helpful tool, they also offer something really great. It is a Parental Controls section where they give you a step-by step guide to setting parental control features on popular video game consoles. When you consider how well versed our kids are in technology these days, most of them understand how to work parental controls. Those of us who are less involved in gaming need to understand how these tools work. Also, parents need to be watchful about their kid’s Internet downloads and make sure that they aren’t making unauthorized or illegal modifications to software and hardware that remove protective controls.

This is a great resource for parents in this age of overwhelming technology. It already helped me give the ok to a game Chris wanted to buy for Jonas. I feel good about saying ok because I know exactly what my son will be exposed to- and I know I’m there to make sure it will be in small doses so he won’t be wasting too much time.