Long Distance Parents

Edited Sunday 08.04.2019 Tuesday 08.06.2019

One Way Long Distance Parents can Still have Fun with their Children from a Distance

Long distance relationships can be difficult, but as a long distance parent, when my child is in need, it downright hurts that I am so far away. Luckily, I get to see him every summer, and a few holidays. …But that just isn’t enough for him or me. If you are one of us long distance parents, you know the feeling.

Skype is great, but not perfect, and the connection can be really bad sometimes. It’s nice that the family gets to say hello at all, except it is short lived. I still wanted to be able to spend more time with him, and have fun too.

He likes to play Minecraft…I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about. It’s a pretty simple game, and the kids really love it. It gives you the ability to create with ease all sorts of cool stuff from buildings, farms, train systems, and much more. It’s an imagination playground!

One day when he was here visiting, he asked me to play Minecraft with him, so I gave it a shot. It was a blast, and we created a house, with a farm that included a garden, cows, chickens, sheep, and horses.

I did some research, and found out you can setup an inexpensive Minecraft Server using Amazon Web Server or AWS. It didn’t take long at all…I just followed an article I found on Google to set it up.

You will need a Minecraft Account for each Player

First things first…you will need to purchase a Minecraft Account for each player and you will need an email address for each account.

You can get your Minecraft account at: http://minecraft.net

I also recommend using gmail or yahoo if you need to setup any new email addresses. Here are the links to gmail and yahoo mail services: https://mail.google.com and https://mail.yahoo.com

You can sign up for an AWS account here: http://aws.amazon.com

…And the article I used to setup the Minecraft Server is located here: http://www.aaronbell.com/how-to-run-a-minecraft-server-on-amazon-ec2/

You can also find some easy-to-follow videos on YouTube, if you like that route better. Just search: “how to setup a minecraft server with aws”

I play Minecraft with my son quite a bit now, and it gives us a chance to work together and have fun at the same time. Plus, it’s eases the pain of being so far away.

If you know any other long distance activities, that help foster a long distance relationship between parents and children, please let us long distance parents know. Thank you.

There may be more current information at this time. Use your favorite search engine to find the latest information and videos for installing a Minecraft server you can use to play with your kids from miles away.