After becoming a parent, the author experienced mounting anxiety that evolved from fear of concrete dangers to worry about their daughter's emotional vulnerability. The anxiety crystallised into an obsessive concern that inevitable childhood disappointments—like a treasured toy breaking—would permanently damage their child, a fixation the author recognises was rooted in their own psychological need to protect against pain.

The breakthrough came through playing Grow Home, a platformer where a small robot explores a foreign world whilst a distant computer monitors its safety. The author discovered the game's tension between independence and protection mirrored the psychological work required for healthy parenting: accepting that children must encounter setbacks to grow. This realisation, extended to how games more broadly present optimistic, measured responses to adversity, helped the author reframe their anxiety and move beyond the impulse to shield their daughter from necessary struggle.