Video Games versus Toys (babysitter, baby, parents, activities)
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Personally, I dislike video games and tablets for kids- I don't think that they have any redeeming value when it comes to learning and I also believe that they stifle development in many ways.
There are actually many educational and developmental benefits to playing video games.
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Playing outside or with Lego's or coloring will always be better for a child.
Perhaps. However, it really depends on all of the factors doesn't it? Any of those activities taken to an extreme or done in isolation are bad. Video games are not the isolated anti-social activity they used to be. At least not among games that many kids enjoy.
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Our children are never allowed to play with video games or smartphones or tablets and we can tell a difference between our kids and other kids who are allowed to play on them and the difference is usually negative.
If you have a son, this places him in the 1% of boys who do not play video games. If you have a daughter, this places her in the 6% of girls who do not play video games. Citation in the Psych Today article above. You are essentially depriving your children from even experiencing something that has become a cornerstone of popular culture.
I would be interested to see if you could expand on the "negative differences" you perceive among kids who play video games compared to your children. What ages are your children? What exactly are these differences and how do they manifest themselves? As pointed out, you are basically saying that your children are noticably "better" than say ~95% of the kids in the US. That's a strong statement.
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Just like a previous poster said, unplug the gaming system for ALL of your family- that includes you, OP.
Yes and no. My main gripe is your insistence that video games are bad, period. They are not. There is nothing wrong with video games in moderation as a form of entertainment. It's when they become all consuming as they seem to be becoming in the OP's household. The OP would be good to limit them in order to encourage other activities and preferably ones that are active.
My kids play video games. They have tablets, laptops and consoles. We are however also a very active family that spends a large amount of time engaged in various sports including helping run the local leagues. My son is almost 10. He plays three sports, spends a ton of time outdoors playing with friends and he is a hard working student. Sometimes he spends an entire Saturday playing video games. Sometimes with a friend, sometimes just online with a friend, sometimes just by himself. It's one of his ways to relax. So, in your humble opinion what would you say about the fit, healthy, social, "all-star" who spends the occasional Saturday afternoon "blowing things up" on his computer?
The average male video game player is over 18 and is a middle class professional with a college education.
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All you're teaching your kids is that it's okay to just zone out in front of a video game for hours on end. Teach them skills that they'll need in order to be successful in life, not how to blow apart buildings and knock crap down.
They may be learning more than that...but, the OP should look to moderate the time his kid(s) spend playing games. That may mean needing to lead by example.
Yet this wasn't about physical exercise, this was about Video games versus toys (both very low calorie burning activities).
It seems you have a more balanced approach then what you implied. FWIW, my son was still solidly into toys at 5. However, that was 5 years ago, times have changed since then as I see with my daughters who are 5 and 6. My daughters have more screen time then my son did at that age, but they still seem to enjoy toys as well and using their imaginations.
I will say that my son had completely given up on toys by 8 or so, far earlier than I did as a child. He still "wanted" them, but didn't really play with them, so we stopped buying them. Lego sets he asked for last Christmas consisted of him assembling the minifigures into an army that sits on his shelf while the sets went unbuilt. Some of my son's friend's parents report that their kids had been out of toys by 6 or so.
I don't think your son is unusual, but make sure you maintain some balance, especially at 5. My younger kids "balance" has a lot to do with her older siblings crazy schedules.
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Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird
I'm not super interested in proving you wrong because all your effort will go into not listening and discounting my work because all you want it agreement. Why do people ask questions if they don't want real answers? I'm so confused, it keeps happening.
"Your" work? I'm assuming you are a researcher of some kind? It shouldn't be hard to find something to prove him/me wrong should it?
Why? There have been four articles published showing that there are in fact positives to video gaming. I agree that playing in excess to the detrimant of anything else is bad. However, in moderation with other activities...there's nothing wrong with it. Keep the average playing time to around 1-2 hours a day over an extended period of time and it's fine. Meaning, it's OK to "waste" a random Saturday playing video games if you spent the past week unplugged doing other things.
Your reluctance to back up your statement while asserting your correctness invalidates your argument.
Certainly nothing wrong with video games... and as others said monkey see monkey do. Son sees dad plays games and is into it so he certainly wants to get involved, and of course he loves it to the point where if you allowed he could sit forever. Sounds like you're trying to balance other stuff around it... and that's good.
Our 20 month old is absolutely in love with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Gets to the point when she wakes up or comes straight home from daycare she immediately says, "Minnie Mouse"... and points to the TV. A lot of times we just explain that Minnie is sleeping and we have to do other things... lol.
Good news is there's no TV watching at daycare... so we don't mind at all that in the morning (especially when we're both getting ready for work) we put on one episode for her to watch. Then at night she gets to watch another one and enjoy one of her other favorite things to do, which is snuggle!
video games is like crack. The hierarchy is video games, tv then toys. There is a lot of research that says tv and video games really arent good for kids of any age. We are only home 2 hours a day, so I tend to let my kids do what they want to unwind, but I am about to pull the plug on screen time on weekdays. They seem happier when there is no screens on. But...I want screens for those two hours LOL.
My kids are 7 and 9
There's a lot of research that says the opposite as well. That gives the conclusion that either can be beneficial if used in moderation.
Extensive hours of video games aren't healthy for young children. They need normal play to develop all sorts of motor and mental skills. Sitting in front of a TV pressing buttons for hours is going to stifle development of fine and large motor skills and lord knows how many types of development.
Personally, I dislike video games and tablets for kids- I don't think that they have any redeeming value when it comes to learning and I also believe that they stifle development in many ways. Playing outside or with Lego's or coloring will always be better for a child. Our children are never allowed to play with video games or smartphones or tablets and we can tell a difference between our kids and other kids who are allowed to play on them and the difference is usually negative.
Just like a previous poster said, unplug the gaming system for ALL of your family- that includes you, OP. Video games are for teen boys, not grown men. All you're teaching your kids is that it's okay to just zone out in front of a video game for hours on end. Teach them skills that they'll need in order to be successful in life, not how to blow apart buildings and knock crap down.
I've met plenty of adults who never played with video games and are complete morons .
Everything in moderation is sound advice no matter what. (Unless you want to get extreme and mention something like drinking poison or wrapping your child in bubble wrap.)
My boys have played video games since they were 8 or 9 and still do now at 15 and 16. They also get outside, help around the house, read, do school work, draw and my 16 year old even still loves Lego. Obviously he's not just putting together kits and playing with the pieces anymore. I have to say I find it sad that some people's kids stopped playing with toys at 6 or 7! What did they do?
The whole video game thing is really just common sense. If your kid plays for 2 hours and sometimes wastes a whole day on the weekend playing, it's not a big deal. They have plenty of time to do other things. I agree it is much better than watching TV and people do that for hours too.
I'm not super interested in proving you wrong because all your effort will go into not listening and discounting my work because all you want it agreement. Why do people ask questions if they don't want real answers? I'm so confused, it keeps happening.
So post some links about the ill effects of moderate video game play for toddlers. I'm of the opinion that mostly anything is moderation is probably OK and mostly anything to the extreme is probably a bad idea. Anyway: What Happens When Toddlers Zone Out With an iPad - WSJ
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