I'm making my girl cheat on her husband.

The other night I popped my head into Jordyn's bedroom to say goodnight. She was lying in bed with her pink laptop, as usual. "Whatchya doin'?" I asked. "Playing Sims," she replied with a smile. Which is what I expected her to say.

Since she purchased The Sims 3 computer game (using $50 of her own babysitting money) a few weeks ago, most of her computer time has been spent playing that game. And I'm OK with her playing Sims all the time, because, in my rationale...it's gotta be better than surfing the interwebs, right?

My parents bought Jordyn a laptop as a reward for her earning silver honors at the end of 7th grade. The intent of the laptop is to help Jordyn in her future academic pursuits. However, she received the laptop after the school year ended...so, I can't really begrudge her for the non-academic activity she's been engaging in. It is summer vacation after all.

What I did not expect Jordyn to say as I was tucking her in was this: "I'm making my girl cheat on her husband." Giggle. Giggle.

HUH? What? Seriously??

If you're not familiar with The Sims 3 video game, don't worry. Neither was I, really. So, after this disturbing statement of hers, I had to Google it. Wikipedia had this to offer:

• The games in The Sims series lack any defined goals. The player creates virtual people called "Sims" and places them in houses and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires. Players can either place their Sims in pre-constructed homes or build them themselves.

Maybe the part about lacking any defined goals and satisfying their desires should have tipped me off about the sort of trouble you can get your Sim into.
n the beginning of The Sims 3 game, she told me all about creating her Sim. What she looked like, what she named her, the type of clothes she dressed her in. Then she decorated her house, then she got married, then she had a baby and she named her Ava.

All of this sounded innocent and perfectly harmless to me. And, honestly? I was glad she was actually playing with this $50 investment of hers instead of letting it collect dust on her desk.

"WHAT?! You made your girl cheat on her husband?!! Why would you even do that? That's not funny, Jordyn. That's not funny. Seriously, why would you do that?"

"Oh Mom, it's no big deal. It was just a kiss. Her husband doesn't even know about it."

There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin.

How do I explain to my 13 year old daughter that marital infidelity...in any way shape or form...IS a big deal, and not something to be taken so lightly? And that just because someone doesn't know that they're being cheated on doesn't make the cheating any less wrong.

Have I mentioned lately how loooooong the next several years are going to be for me? I'm sure this episode will lead to at least 4 gray hairs.

Oy.