海角大神

Today is Mario Day, named for the classic Nintendo game character who spawned his own series of adventures, which presents an opportunity for parents of gamer kids to boot up the bonding in some very unique ways.

Mario Day is a pseudo-holiday, celebrated on March 10 because somewhere, deep in a teen lair somewhere, a gamer looked at a calendar and saw it was 鈥淢AR.10鈥� which looks suspiciously like MARIO.

And thus Mario Day was hatched.

Mario is the pizza-loving plumber who first appeared in the game 鈥淒onkey Kong.鈥�

So far, the best celebration I鈥檝e found was hosted by the聽DC Public Library in Washington聽聽and involved kids from local art programs creating various projects and eating Mario-themed cakes.

Today, my 10-year-old son went to school wearing his favorite Mario shirt and a red Mario cap made by my mother.

He carried with him some of the 鈥減lushies鈥� (stuffed toys) we made together of various Mario game characters.

While some may roll their eyes at me for encouraging my son to Carpe Mario Diem, I think it鈥檚 important to find unique ways to participate our kids鈥� interests.

My motivation comes from my husband Robert鈥檚 favorite story about a failed attempt made by his father to bond with Robert鈥檚 younger sister Kelly when she was little.

The story goes that when Kelly (now a new mom of a little boy named Baxter) was a child, their father tried to sit down on the floor and engage her in some Barbie action.

He was rebuffed, as only a scandalized little girl can manage.

鈥淣ooo!鈥� Kelly howled, according to family lore. 鈥淒addies don鈥檛 know how to play with Barbies!鈥�

This has become the buzz phrase in our house that鈥檚 used whenever one of us tries and fails to make an inroad into one of our sons鈥� interests.

鈥淢ommies don鈥檛 know how to do LEGOS!鈥� and 鈥淒ads can鈥檛 skateboard鈥� are two laments we have heard when we tried to get in on their play time over the years.

I admit that last year I didn鈥檛 know a Yoshi (the little dragon-looking character that Mario rides) from a Goombah (a brown, snaggletoothed bad guy) until our son Quin announced that he was embarking on a solo sewing project and needed me to take him to a craft store.

I don鈥檛 sew. In my world, sewing is something that happens to other people.

However, Quin was supremely confident because he had studied a series of videos on YouTube 鈥溾�� by a man from England calling himself Goomzilla (after the Mario game bad guy Goombah).

鈥淚 want to make a Luma,鈥� Quin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a star. How hard can it be?鈥�

Beware the words 鈥淗ow hard can it be鈥� when uttered by a child with an obsession of any kind.

This goes for little girls who want daddy to build a tree house or a doll mansion, or boys telling mom that a soapbox derby car is a snap because they saw 鈥淭he Little Rascals鈥� do it.

Therefore, I watched the how-to video with great skepticism and realized it actually looked like something even I could manage.

So we hit the store and bought felt, thread, and needles. Apparently, we also needed a pin cushion that looked like a tomato because Goomzilla had one. So we got that too.

A few hours later, we had two Lumas, one by Quin and the other by me.

I thought it was over.

The next morning, Quin had a sales pitch all ready, complete with video tutorials for making Mario mushroom plushies.

We graduated to mushrooms and I knew we weren鈥檛 going to stop until we reached the summit of making Mt. Yoshi, thanks to聽.

鈥淐ome on Mom! We went this far together,鈥� Quin coached.

The kid had me hooked with the magic word parents long to hear from kids of a certain age, 鈥渢ogether.鈥�

When one of my four sons comes to me with a chance to do something 鈥渢ogether,鈥� I am willing to make that parental stitch in time to save nine.

By that I mean I would rather do the work to bond now, than wait and try and connect with my son at teenage or beyond when he鈥檚 locked in a dark room with a game console and a bag of Cheetos.

The really interesting thing I learned from this is that my sons had all wanted to get me into gaming, but failed.

Seeing their younger brother鈥檚 success at bringing mom into Mario鈥檚 world, they pounced on me, asking for plushies of their own.

They鈥檙e teenagers, but this was the chance they鈥檇 been waiting for: to open a gaming dialogue so I would see and relate to the passion that often leads me to shout, 鈥淪top gaming and read a book!鈥�

I still shout that, but now I say, 鈥淚鈥檓 so excited that you finally got a Shiny (Pokemon), but you still have to get to a place where you can halt the campaign and take time to read or walk the dog.鈥�

They realize my gaming knowledge is child鈥檚 play compared to theirs, but they respect that I make the effort to engage in something they love.

I also know that in honor of Mario Day, I am making pizzas shaped like giant mushrooms with pepperoni for the spots. Now that鈥檚 bonding.