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...how many of you do not have an XBox, Playstation, Wii, etc...in the house?
My children are now young adults. We continually had all game systems at one point or another for many reasons other people shared. In hindsight, I feel it was a huge parenting mistake I made. My children felt this way even though they were very involved in activities, sports, etc. They also think I should have forbid them from drinking soda. They're not overweight. They just feel that soda isn't healthy for anyone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Badfish740
If you don't, how do you explain to your children why they don't have one but their friends do?
I know quite a few wealthy families that don't even have televisions or have just one in the master bedroom for the parents. I have no idea what they told their children but I assure you it had nothing to do with not being able to afford it.
You could try my girlfriend's excuse for not buying happy meals and my excuse for not buying Nike for a child who had wide feet----we're not going to be brainwashed by marketing propaganda.
It might not even be an issue in the near future. Video game systems are becoming less popular due to Iphones and mobile ap games. So you could simply say that's sooooooooooo 2010.
Kids have a right to food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Period.
Adultcentrism is bull. Just as kids respect adults, adults should respect kids. That includes getting them entertainment that they want within reason as long as the kid is not harmed mentally, physically, or emotionally. Who says that people below a certain age deserve less respect? The sad thing is that it's much harder for a kid to work and earn money today than it was in the past. In the past, many children got paper routes, opened lemonade stands, etc.
My question is: If a 30 year old can get a job and go out and buy a video game, why shouldn't a 10 year old have the same freedom to have a (age-appropriate) video game? Freedom, aside from things that require obvious maturity (driving, movie/video game ratings, drinking alcohol, etc) does not depend on some set of numbers that state a calendar date that a human emerged from their mother's womb. E rated video games = 6 and up. That means a 6 year old has the right to play and have such games, if such games are affordable and the child's behavior is not affected. And if the child makes his own money somehow, then there is no excuse to not allow a child to buy something he can legally buy with it. Say a 17 year old wants Grand Theft Auto V, has a job, and earned his own money to buy it. The minimum age for an M rating is 17 years old. So even if he goes in at 8 am on his 17th birthday, he's legally 17 and able to buy it.
Rules have to be bound by reason. For instance, sending your 10 year old to bed at 9 pm is a good idea - children need their sleep, or it will affect them. But a parent cannot tell their children not to, say, wear red clothes. Let's say I had children and hated the color red. I'd still let them wear red - does it cause harm? No.
Authority is to benefit the child and teach him the right ways in life, not to use based on personal opinions or willy-nilly.
I bought my own PS3 to uses as a media center/Blu-ray player so I can't really get behind the "no video game console" thing without being a hypocrite .
But as far as raising my kids, yeah we had them. Still do. ALL OF THEM. My son ended up getting a job at Game Stop when he was 16 and working there thru HS and some of college. He is all about that, the new ones and old ones. It was nice having my home be the place his friends came to play because their parents didn't like it. I know his friends better than some of their own parents do I suspect. We all have a very good and close relationship and it started off with video games. Then computer games, MMRP's, board games, RPG's, miniatures, card games, whatever. It's a very cool social group, gamers, that they would have missed out on if I had been pig headed enough to try to BAN something just because I wanted to flex my power and set rules just to set rules (never was much for illogical stuff like that). I can't even imagine how my shy, un-outdoorsy son (takes after me) would have ended up to be honest. But to each their own. Some people don't have TV's either, but that's a whole other rant! HAH
Adultcentrism is bull. Just as kids respect adults, adults should respect kids. That includes getting them entertainment that they want within reason as long as the kid is not harmed mentally, physically, or emotionally. Who says that people below a certain age deserve less respect?
Adultcentrism is bull. Just as kids respect adults, adults should respect kids. That includes getting them entertainment that they want within reason as long as the kid is not harmed mentally, physically, or emotionally. Who says that people below a certain age deserve less respect? The sad thing is that it's much harder for a kid to work and earn money today than it was in the past. In the past, many children got paper routes, opened lemonade stands, etc.
I don't think it is a matter of respect. A parent's job is to make the decisions they think are right for their children. For some people that means not bringing video games into their home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wawa1992
My question is: If a 30 year old can get a job and go out and buy a video game, why shouldn't a 10 year old have the same freedom to have a (age-appropriate) video game? Freedom, aside from things that require obvious maturity (driving, movie/video game ratings, drinking alcohol, etc) does not depend on some set of numbers that state a calendar date that a human emerged from their mother's womb. E rated video games = 6 and up. That means a 6 year old has the right to play and have such games, if such games are affordable and the child's behavior is not affected. And if the child makes his own money somehow, then there is no excuse to not allow a child to buy something he can legally buy with it. Say a 17 year old wants Grand Theft Auto V, has a job, and earned his own money to buy it. The minimum age for an M rating is 17 years old. So even if he goes in at 8 am on his 17th birthday, he's legally 17 and able to buy it.
Children have a right to food, clothing, shelter, and education. The law says that is what parents must provide. Anything else is at the parent's discretion. I am not one of those parents who provides the bare minimum for my kids, but I am not moved by this talk of "rights." My kids have video games but not because they have the right to have them. They have them because my husband and I have allowed them to have them. The same goes for my 17 year old driving our cars. He has a drivers license but that does not mean he has a right to drive. We decide if he can do that because we are his parents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wawa1992
Rules have to be bound by reason. For instance, sending your 10 year old to bed at 9 pm is a good idea - children need their sleep, or it will affect them. But a parent cannot tell their children not to, say, wear red clothes. Let's say I had children and hated the color red. I'd still let them wear red - does it cause harm? No.
Authority is to benefit the child and teach him the right ways in life, not to use based on personal opinions or willy-nilly.
I agree that rules should be bound by reason. However, the parents are the ones who retain the right to make the rules because they are parents. If parents think their child will be harmed by something they should intervene because it is their job to do what they think is best for their child, not what you think is best for the child.
Posting in the thread about the kid waking up at 5:00 a.m. to play XBox got me thinking about video game free households. In this age where children have access to every electronic device imaginable, how many of you do not have an XBox, Playstation, Wii, etc...in the house? If you don't, how do you explain to your children why they don't have one but their friends do? We're a very outdoors oriented family, but we don't live in the dark ages either. My wife and I both have laptops, she has an iPad for work that my daughter already plays with because they have a lot of great educational apps for toddlers, but I'd really prefer that we NEVER get a video game system. That said, I do see the value in it for a rainy day-I had one as a kid but never really used it much. Anyway, just curious what the experience of others has been in this regard.
I'm pretty sure if you never let an XBOX in your house they will never ever play video games in their whoooooooooole life.
I bought my own PS3 to uses as a media center/Blu-ray player so I can't really get behind the "no video game console" thing without being a hypocrite .
But as far as raising my kids, yeah we had them. Still do. ALL OF THEM. My son ended up getting a job at Game Stop when he was 16 and working there thru HS and some of college. He is all about that, the new ones and old ones. It was nice having my home be the place his friends came to play because their parents didn't like it. I know his friends better than some of their own parents do I suspect. We all have a very good and close relationship and it started off with video games. Then computer games, MMRP's, board games, RPG's, miniatures, card games, whatever. It's a very cool social group, gamers, that they would have missed out on if I had been pig headed enough to try to BAN something just because I wanted to flex my power and set rules just to set rules (never was much for illogical stuff like that). I can't even imagine how my shy, un-outdoorsy son (takes after me) would have ended up to be honest. But to each their own. Some people don't have TV's either, but that's a whole other rant! HAH
You are the best parent on this thread so far gauging your reponse. Logic, reason and letting kids naturally gravitate towards modes of entertainment that they enjoy with parental oversight.
The rest of these video game banning "parents" Moderator Cut don't even realize their kid will be playing on their friends PS3 portable as soon as they get to school, or in library on the computers, or during a sleepover at a friends house (here is a secret, they will probably also look at porn and other things!).
Moderator Cut
Last edited by Jaded; 08-23-2013 at 08:20 PM..
Reason: Rude, personal attacks, name calling
I guess I don't really understand the difference between letting kids use a laptop or iPad and video games? So many parents have no idea what their kids are doing online. I was talking with a parent this week who stated her kids are not allowed to play video games. Ironically it was her son who introduced my son to Steam, an online gaming site where you can play Xbox games on a computer. She obviously had no idea.
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