I got a text from my best friend the other morning saying that I HAD to download “Pokemon Go” to play with my son.
I’m not gonna lie. I had no idea what she was talking about.
Here’s how the conversation went:
Her: You need to download “Pokemon Go” if you have a smartphone and play it with Noah. Joshy and I walked a mile this morning hunting Pokemon. It makes you want to walk because you can catch them around the neighborhood.
Me: What exactly do you look for? (I was wondering what it’s all about.)
Her: Pokemon. Little creatures that you have to throw pokeballs at to catch.
Me: Lol. So, they show up on the phone?
Her: Yep. It’s cool and kind of addicting, which is good because Joshy never wants to walk with me.
Me: Same ... Sounds fun! Tricking them into exercising while playing video games. I likey.
My wheels started to spin. Maybe this would be a fun way to get my son off his butt and on his feet doing something he enjoys.
So, I downloaded the app — it’s free — that afternoon and we did a test run in the kitchen to see how it worked.
“Mom, I see one right there!” Noah yelled.
He then figured out how to throw the “pokeball” to catch the creature, which seemed to float above our kitchen sink.
He was excited. Sweet. Maybe there is something to this, I thought.
Later that night I was having a beer with a mom friend at Arizona Beer Company when another mom, Katrina Ellis, walked in with her phone — hunting Pokemon.
Apparently, there was one above my head.
She loves the game, for herself and her kids, ages 9 and 11.
“The kids get excited about going for walks and hunting for Pokemon,” Ellis said. “It’s become a fun family activity we can do while getting exercise. My kids have collected and traded Pokemon cards for quite a while, and now we can share that interest with this game.”
Ginger Begishe, a mom of three kids, told me the app has been a fun incentive for her family’s regular walks.
“We go on walks anyway, but now the kids want to go walking,” Begishe said. “We don’t hear ‘awwwww’ anymore.”
Begishe and her husband like the fact that the game gets the kids interested in being outside.
“The kids actually want to hang out together now,” Begishe said. “I would love to see some other apps be designed with similar aspects. I think it’s good exercise as long as people are walking and not driving.”
I did some poking around Facebook to see what other people were saying about the exercise part of the game. One woman said she had lost two pounds since starting the game, simply because she was out walking more. Another posted that she had been out walking and was feeling motivated to get off the couch.
The biggest downfall for the moms I spoke with is the fact that it’s hard to pay attention to your surroundings, which can be dangerous. So, for them, it’s become a family activity, rather than a solo game.
Ellis says she worries that her kids would be too distracted if the game was on their tablets. So, it’s just on her phone for now.
“It’s a safety issue for me,” Ellis said.
“Whether it be someone waiting for the right moment to hurt or abduct them or them walking out into traffic.
“I definitely can see a problem with not paying attention to what’s around you.”
She also doesn’t let her kids go out to “Pokestops” alone. She said she’s heard reports of people setting a lure, which attracts Pokemon to the stop, with the intent of robbing people who go there.
“As for safety, I don’t think it’s too dangerous unless you are trying to multitask, like playing while driving,” Begishe said. “As for people being robbed, those people are everywhere. We can’t be afraid of them. Just be aware.”
My family decided to give it a solid try one evening in our neighborhood park. I wanted to test the theory that my son would actually enjoy going for a walk. He does go with me sometimes, but is usually ready to go home the minute we get out the door.
My husband, Clint, and I walk behind Noah as he holds the phone, looking for Pokemon.
“I like how it’s a map of the city,” Noah says. “I like how when you move, the guy moves as well.”
“Pay attention to where you’re walking,” I say to him about 1,000 times.
Once we get to the park, he spots a Pokemon by a tree and is able to get it with a Pokeball.
Then he notices something else on the map. So, we follow the map to the park sign.
“What is that?” Clint and I ask him.
“A ‘Pokestop,’” Noah replies.
“What’s a ‘Pokestop?’” I ask.
“It’s where you get ‘Pokeballs,’” Noah answers matter-of-factly.
Duh. Of course it is. There’s a whole lingo to this thing that I’m slowly learning. I should say that I steered clear of Pokemon in the ’90s, so it’s pretty new to me.
“Do you want to keep going?” I ask Noah.
“Yeah. Let’s walk over here. It looks like there’s something over here,” he says and starts to walk more quickly.
We walk into the field, then by the pool and finally by the dog park. We aren’t having any luck finding the creatures. But Noah wants to keep walking.
While I don’t necessarily want him glued to a phone all the time, I do like that he wants to walk the neighborhood. It’s kinda cool. It gives him something fun to do while on the walk. So, for now, I’ll take it.
Of course, Noah is no dummy.
“Oh man. This is how you’re gonna get me out of the house, now, huh?” he asks on the way home.
I try to look at him like I have no idea what he’s talking about and smile.
He’s definitely onto me.
