Albertson writer Emmi S. Herman and her two young grandchildren found a new way to bridge pandemic-related separation: Roblox.
Herman was surprised by the connection the video game brought her family, and she explores the power of fun, technology and gaming with her grandkids in her new essay, to be published on March 10 in “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” a literary anthology.
“During the pandemic, I was still sort of a new grandma. My grandkids were almost seven and four at the time,” Herman, who’s lived in Albertson for 35 years, said. “They lived almost 50 miles away. We would see each other almost once a week, but during the pandemic, that became almost impossible.”
“Then out of the blue, my grandson texted me, and said, ‘Do you want to play Roblox with me?’” she said, “I had no idea what that was, but I was all-in,” she said.
Suddenly, the two were jumping over lava pits, passing levels and communicating remotely every day. She said it was clear how intelligent with critical critical-thinking her grandson was, calling him a “digital native.”
“Also, there was kindness,” she said.
She said he would complete levels, then come back to help her finish earlier levels. “Having this connection with him during the pandemic was really meaningful.”
She said gaming together sometimes brought more connection than other forms of communication. By working and playing together, they were able to collaborate and communicate daily.
“It was a novelty to be texting them, but I thought it was great because I could just reach out to them, as if I was in their own home,” Herman said. She said FaceTime was good, but with children’s attention spans, limit conversations to a few minutes.
Herman said the younger grandchild, who was four at the time, was even able to participate in child-appropriate dance and community-building games.
The essay explores modern grandparenting and the search for solutions to modern problems, she said.
She said she submitted the piece about a year and a half ago, and only heard back from publishers in November. “Chicken Soup for the Soul” was first published the same year that Herman and her husband of 46 years, Spencer, had their first child.
“It’s been around for 33 years,” she said. “I’ve always liked their themes. They’re about food or miracles or funny stories. This year’s is ‘Being Grandma.’”
Herman has been a writer for her whole career.
She said she started in educational publishing, where she worked for decades. She said she moved into writing promotional copy for children’s books and authored a few of her own.
In 2016, she said she started writing personal essays about her family, beginning with a deep dive into the importance of vaccinations. She said her personal experience with a sister who suffered from measles as early as nine years old.
“I’m a fierce vaccine advocate,” she said. “I started writing articles, especially around the Disneyland measles outbreak in 2016.”
She said this is an ongoing issue, and she feels a core duty to get the word out about vaccinating against this preventable disease.
