This past year, I often took my family to a nearby YardHouse with an arcade called the Game Room next door. My daughter Radley was just drawn to it, which is something she must get from me.

Going to the arcade with my family is one of my favorite childhood memories. My brother and I even worked together at an arcade in our teens and twenties.

My wife was really against me taking my daughter, saying the sensory exposure to lights and sounds may be too overwhelming at her age.

It’s not something my wife was inventing either.

Pediatric researchers really do warn that screen time and loud noises may be too much sensory input for a toddler’s developing nervous system. Researchers who measured sound levels inside real arcades found them peaking at 89 decibels, which is as loud as a garbage disposal, and a sound my daughter hates.

But there’s other research showing that families who game together bond together.

Multiple weeks in a row, I asked about it, and my wife kept saying no. But my daughter just kept walking over to check the place out.

One afternoon after lunch at the YardHouse, she started moving around the restaurant. She grabbed my hand, said “Daddy, come,” and led me to the arcade.

It became part of our routine until it closed at the beginning of last month. I’m honestly trying to find a new one we like to visit with her. I still wonder how bad it actually is for her. The truth is, she never gets screen time at home. We refuse to give her an iPad at restaurants.

At home, she plays with her toy kitchen, doctor kit, and magnet tiles. Radley’s a happy kid with a big imagination. Independent play is normal with her.

I don’t feel I’m a bad dad for taking her.

I spent three years “flashing” claw machines – arcade lingo for climbing in and re-propping the toys – as an arcade attendant. I have an eye for how those claws are set to grip. I’ve won her at least 15 stuffed animals ranging from a Care Bear and Spiderman to Super Mario, Peach, and Donkey Kong.

Maybe it’s bad, but I feel like the greatest dad in the world when I win her one, and she goes climbing in the claw machine hatch to fetch the prize.