Man oh man is this ever great. Chris Dahlen struggles with his son’s obsession over Plants vs. Zombies—for better or worse, it’s annoying—and, ultimately, lies to his son. The lie? Telling him that a magic word can make him forget everything he knows about a game.

While he enjoys playing Plants vs. Zombies, he enjoys even more the process of thinking about it and playing with it in his head. It’s easy to sentimentalize the mind of a child. We like to picture them as boundless imagineers who can pick up a stick and build a world around it. But kids, like us, need something to work from – a character, an archetype, a story, a weapon – and something to play with in their hands and in their heads.

Dahlen, Chris. “Oceans Away” (Unwinnable: July 3rd, 2012) <http://www.unwinnable.com/2012/07/03/the-kid-v-plants-vs-zombies-2/>.