I'm a Mom of 4 & Here's Why I Think a Meta Quest Is a Summer Parenting Must-Have

Yahoo

2 days ago

If you asked me the best part of my day, you might think my answer is a little ridiculous — but I'm not trying to gatekeep, so here is my confession: I'm an almost-45-year-old mother of four, and I am obsessed with my Meta Quest VR headset. (And yes, it's my Meta Quest headset. I actually bought it for my kids, but commandeered it for myself once I figured out how freaking amazing it is.)
Before the pandemic, I taught Zumba for 10 years. When the world shut down, so did the dance studio where I taught … and at first, I floundered. I needed some sort of physical activity in my life, but I'm admittedly not a gym person; if I'm gonna stick to something, I need something that feels fun and empowering — not like a workout, but like I'm building some sort of skill and getting a workout in the process. So I started playing Just Dance on my kids' Nintendo Switch, which I still love. I played it religiously for years, buying each new iteration of the game. But by December of last year, I was ready to incorporate something new. And there was a Meta Quest 3 underneath our Christmas tree — our big 'group gift' for the kids. Little did I know that it would become just as much of a gift to me!
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I discovered the Meta Quest VR game Supernatural: Unreal Fitness during Christmas break, and OMG. I am dead serious when I tell you that six months in, I try not to miss a single day of Supernatural, with the exception of a few days here and there when I'm sick or busy (or, let's be real, just feeling lazy). It has two types of workouts: boxing, and flow, which is a lower-intensity session where you hit targets with sabers (if you've ever played Beat Saber, it's kinda like that). Both boxing and flow are set to music, and you can find a playlist for every type of taste: country, rap, EDM, rock, whatever moves you. You can also choose your intensity, so you can challenge yourself without feeling overwhelmed. It's also an amazing workout — I consider myself physically fit, having worked out almost-daily for the better part of two decades, but it still leaves me standing in a puddle of sweat that I have to mop up with my T-shirt between rounds (hey, I didn't say I look glamorous doing it). Best of all, it's leveled up the muscle definition in my arms to a degree that nothing else ever has — which I didn't expect, but is obviously a huge bonus.
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I also love that there's a community attached to Supernatural. In the game and the app, you can track your progress and cheer on others' progress, which helps keep me motivated and accountable. You can do a group workout if you want to switch things up (I do at least one of those every day). And I love every single one of the coaches — Coach Doc, Coach Leanne, Coach Raneir, Coach Mindy, Coach Mark, and Coach Dwana. They each bring their own style and brand of encouragement to their workouts. I totally fangirled the other day when I messaged Coach Leanne on Instagram and she actually answered! Squeeee!
Of course, as much as I adore Supernatural (you know, in case you couldn't tell) it's not the only thing I love about the Meta Quest. No matter what you're playing, it's a completely immersive environment, like you're standing in the middle of some cool, exotic locale, and it's absolutely breathtaking. I've 'been to' the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia, Chile's Atacama Desert, Iceland's Blue Lagoon, the Great Wall of China, and more — and that's just in Supernatural. But I've also sat in a secluded cartoon cave, where lush foliage sparkling with water droplets adorns the walls, and the only sound is the tranquil pond around me — and on a sunny beach surrounded by softly rustling palm trees. Those locales are in my other favorite VR game, Bait!, which is an animated game where your mission is to catch certain types of fish — it's oddly relaxing, but when I want to liven things up a little, I can compete with my kids in multiplayer mode (on the other Meta Quest headset I bought them when I stole theirs). And when I want to take my relaxation seriously, there's Tripp: a super-immersive meditation app that has the coolest guided meditations, breathing and focus exercises, and just really amazing virtual spaces that take 'zoning out' to the next level.
But, I'm also a mom whose kids are home for the summer, and as much as I love using the Meta Quest to completely check out, there are also times when I need to answer important questions like 'Who's at the door this time?!' and 'What was that bang?' and 'Why do I smell burning?!' Which is why the Meta Quest's 'passthrough mode' is a busy mom's bestie — you can literally just tap on the side of the headset when you need to see what's going on in the real world, and get a real-time view of what's happening in your surroundings without even taking off the headset.
Of course, I do have to share 'my' Meta Quest — because my kids love playing as much as I do, and yes, even my teenagers still enjoy it. That's another reason I'm such a fan: It may technically be a screen, but it gets them up, moving, and connecting — with each other, and even with their long-distance friends back in Iowa, where we used to live.
I say 'no' to a lot of things, but when my kids ask for a new Meta Quest game, they know their odds are pretty good. Is that because I'll probably end up playing it more than they do? … Well, the odds of that are pretty good too.
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