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I think it makes sense. I do not believe video gaming is evil or necessarily harmful. It is like anything else...moderation is key. We have several gaming systems in our home. We also have a rule about gaming during the week during the school year. Between school, sports, work and a social life, my son (and most of his friends I'd guess) generally has plenty of different things to do so honestly it really doesn't even come up too often. That said, I do know a few kids (mostly boys) who would be perfectly happy to do nothing else 24/7. It would not surprise me to find out that other addictive behaviors run in their families. I don't think that behavior is typical of all teens who game though.
We've never found video games to be a problem with our three boys. The two youngest have PS3 systems in their dorm rooms, and we have a Wii in the basement. Once or twice a year when they get new games for Christmas or their birthdays, they may spend a few days beating it, then it's forgotten for another 6 months.
I do think they can be a concern for younger kids, and any child who isn't naturally social. We do have a couple of grade-schoolers in our neighborhood who sit inside after school and play, rather than being out with the other kids. That would raise a red flag for me.
My youngest told me last week his dorm was having a video game marathon. I figured it was the new Call of Duty game that had them all playing, but it was Donkey Kong!
Yep, I'm going to agree that it's really not that big a deal in our home. The xbox get's used more for streaming netflix that gaming. Like others, my son will play out a game with a friend when he first gets it, then not much after that. He can go quite a while without playing anything at all.
I agree that video games are not harmful in and of themselves. They tend to become a problem when a teen is already troubled.
This is my take on video games as well. A child who has social problems may compound them by squirreling himself away from the world and not dealing with those problems. However, for the vast majority of kids video games are just entertainment and not a symptom of some huge problem.
Have to agree with everything said here. Villifying video games as destroying kids and society may be common these days, but I fail to see the harm of anything done in moderation (obvious exceptions would include crack and heroin, lol). I think the problem starts when the video games begin to become the only form of socialization a kid has.
Video games have been a staple in my house for years, at one point I even had two kids working at GameStop. But this has been a very positive thing for the most part, and very social. It started a when the kids were young, first just having a friend or two come by to play a video game, then groups of kids, then LAN parties, and of course the online computer games, board games, war games, card games, tournaments, and now I have a table set up in my garage for Warhammer. There really isn't a room in my house that doesn't have games of some sort in it. But I can't lie, they did get distracted from school work and I really had to keep on that. I can't just place this on video games though, my family always played games after dinner and my husband has been gaming (fantasy baseball, wargames, etc.) with a group of guys every month for over 30 years. My kids were helped through awkward times in their lives by being part of online guilds and talking with people that helped them see that there was more to life than teenage drama.
Kids used to use TV as a babysitter, now it's videogames.
My kids are younger, so I can't speak for the teen aspect, but my son is 10, and the biggest negative I see associated with gaming at this age is lack of socialization. Don't get me wrong, I allow my kids to play, but not during the week, it's too big a distraction from school work. The biggest issue is at the younger ages for boys most socialization revolves around video games. Play dates, birthday parties, virtually all talk etc, all video games. I have sought out some like-minded parents, and if we set up play-dates or get-togethers, then the kids can play video for a while, but have to do other things too, especially play outdoors (where they inevitably re-enact the video games they just played. Oh well!).
My son also earns his weekend video game time by playing chess, jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike, playing basketball. My daughter is 7, and is not the slightest bit interested. It's all about balance.
My kids are younger, so I can't speak for the teen aspect, but my son is 10, and the biggest negative I see associated with gaming at this age is lack of socialization. Don't get me wrong, I allow my kids to play, but not during the week, it's too big a distraction from school work.
How much school work do they get that they don't have time for school work and a little game time? In my area ES aged kids get home around 2:30. Evening sports practices start at around 6:30. That's 4 hours. Do they really need 4 hours a day to do school work?
I am all for having a rule that school work gets done before anything else, but I don't understand what the difference is if they play video games after they are done with their school work, especially when the weather is cold and it gets dark early.
You certainly have the right to do things the way you want to do them, but I am curious why it would matter if they play video games AFTER school work is complete.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zimbochick
The biggest issue is at the younger ages for boys most socialization revolves around video games. Play dates, birthday parties, virtually all talk etc, all video games. I have sought out some like-minded parents, and if we set up play-dates or get-togethers, then the kids can play video for a while, but have to do other things too, especially play outdoors (where they inevitably re-enact the video games they just played. Oh well!).
What's the difference HOW they socialize?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zimbochick
My son also earns his weekend video game time by playing chess, jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike, playing basketball. My daughter is 7, and is not the slightest bit interested. It's all about balance.
I guess I can't see any point in making a child do things YOU want him to do before he can do the things he likes to do. I think that if kids complete their own responsibilities to school work and their family they should be allowed to do what they want to do.
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