Last night I watched an episode of "The Simpsons," where Marge discovers the internet after being called out at a PTA meeting for not having an email address! Soon she's doing price comparisons on paper towels, checking the weather without having to look outside, and playing a role playing game that seems like a combination of Everquest and World of Warcraft called "Earthland Realms." She gets completely sucked in, spending hours online, not sleeping, and then discovers that the evil, most destructive character is, of course, Bart. Soon she is "mothering" her evil knight in the game (much to his dismay). Redecorating his lair with Hello Kitty was the final straw causing Bart to accidentally kill mom in the game. Of course he revives her, and then is killed by the rest of the players and decides to just "go outside and play."

One of the things I tell parents when I'm speaking is to find out what games their kids like to play online and play it with them. It's an easy way for parents to understand the appeal and the addictive nature of some of these games and ideally to set limits on how many hours your kids spend playing them (if you don't get sucked in first yourself!). "The Simpsons" episode also speaks to the natural tension that will happen if you try to get too close or spend too much time inside your kids' digital worlds. That said, I interviewed a mom for the book who regularly beat her two sons at their favorite video game. Like everything else in parenting teens, it's push and pull -- you need to step inside their digital worlds to get a better understanding of how they are spending their time, and then you need to step back out.

Here's a great commentary from Wired on the challenges of being a gamer and a parent. And check out Common Sense Media's video game reviews and ratings.