I'm looking for a cartoon from the mid-80's, possibly by Gary Larson,
that depicts a kid playing video games and the parents are looking on.
 In the space above there are several want ads for future employment such as
Wanted: someone to save the princess.  I think it was captioned
something about "parents can dream".

Here are three links to a Larson cartoon,"Hopeful Parents":

SeVENup's Homepage: Parents
http://sven.com/joke_parents.gif

Classic Gaming: Far Side - Hopeful Parents
http://www.classicgaming.com/tmk/mania/images/farside_hopeful_parents.gif

Wizbang Blog: Larson
http://wizbangblog.com/images/Larson_0068.gif

The first link above should be the most legible, since it is an
836x1024 image. Be sure to view it full-size for maximum legibility.

My Google search strategy:

Google Image Search: far side parents
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=far+side+parents

Google Image Search: hopeful parents
http://images.google.com/images?q=hopeful+parents&hl=en

I hope this is precisely what you need. If this is not the correct
cartoon, or if anything is unclear or incomplete, please request
clarification; I'll gladly offer further assistance before you rate my
answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

thank you for such a quick response.