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Community Corner

Moms Talk: Life is a Video Game

Are video games good for our children? How much is too much?

This week’s interactive Moms Talk column focuses on the world of video games.

Question: Do you let your child play video games, online or otherwise? Why or why not?

Celina Ramirez: I think that if one does not keep up with the times you can be left behind. Use of technology is one of those things I continue to struggle to see how much it is a "blessing." At home we all can see that the video industry has its price tag.

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My husband and I prioritize making the best use of our limited time to interact with our children. We have limited the use of TV, the computer, and any other electronics that can take away from having quality time as a family.

By the time we all get home, have dinner, do homework and get ready for a next day for work, there is not much time for gaming. The weekends are usually packed with other things we must do around the house and if we find spare time, we tend to plan for a trip to a nearby park or rent family movies.

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We also realize the financial piece that comes along with keeping up with all the games and latest gadgets. Not only are the consoles used to play the games pricey, but so are the games. Once the novelty wears off, the children tend to ask for more.

We have decided that they can satisfy their need for such entertainment by making use of their allowance for that purpose if they choose.

Our children tend to choose buying music, clothes or other "treats" for themselves over games. Nonetheless, we enforce the ratings placed on the games available and ultimately approve our children's purchases when they buy video games.

Benny Lee: Online activities and video gaming has its place depending on the age of the child, the nature of activities they choose to partake in, and how it's balanced against other activities.

I applied restrictions to my son's online access throughout his younger teen years due to maturity. However, as he got into his later teens, I applied more caution and advisement that wasn't always followed.

The laptop he used crashed a number of times before I decided to teach him how to install operating systems and software on his own in the midst of his senior year. Without the software controls I had imposed previously, he infected and crashed the notebook within hours. Next time it took a day as he applied some caution, and the next time it took two days with added caution.

In five months he had become an expert at reinstallation having reinstalled the operating systems and software more than forty times. Perhaps letting him experience the actual issues with bad websites was a better lesson for him as it made him more determined to beat them.

The question we have to ask ourselves as parents is how much do we need to protect our kids before taking away their ability to adapt and cope with situations? It was an important lesson that was well guided through the experience he acquired.

Lee Thomas: I believe that online gaming can be a useful tool for parents if managed correctly. For example it can be used as an incentive for doing well in school. I also believe that if the right games are chosen it’s a great tool for keeping the mind sharp.

No child should be playing video games more than 10-15 hours a week.

As a parent I don’t believe in shooting games as we deal with enough violence in society. I do think that video games have the ability to help a child become more interested in technology. Many of the video games today are embedded with the latest technology that’s has been created in the interest of children, teens and adults.

Dale Gregory: I feel like a dinosaur when I think of the video games that I grew up with. Pong and PacMan were big hits back in the day.

The first computer game I experimented with was when my son was about three and we installed a nursery rhyme game onto our newly purchased PC. I can still remember him sitting on my lap, clicking on mother goose who would kindly ask him which nursery rhyme he wanted to hear.

I remember feeling both fascinated and fearful at the same time. As I marveled at my favorite fairy tales coming to life before my eyes, I worried about whether my son would ever know the joy of turning the pages of my beloved, dog-earred Mother Goose book.

Intuition told me to keep the screen time to a minimum—just because.

The next progress in media I remember is that my children were allowed to use a Game Boy on long trips in the car. Tetris and Home Alone were favorite picks.

This usually rendered a squabble-free drive; however, I remember turning up the radio to drown out the monotonous video jingles emanating from the back seat.

It wasn’t until I saw Bond, James Bond, with all his weapons of mass destruction that I began to worry about the direction these games were taking. I pondered what the difference was between my teenage obsession with a weekly dose of creature features (the Blob and The Crawling Eye being particular favorites) and the bloody scenes in these video games. Too much reality perhaps?

It wasn’t until my firstborn got to college that I learned how many students were addicted to video games. Many were trying to finance their tuition with online gambling (or burying themselves in mounting debts). Others escaped into cyberworlds where they could creatively procrastinate.

Today my youngest has a much more eclectic potpourri of choices to distract her from studying. Games are just one of many attention grabbers that computers now provide. Facebook, hulu, YouTube – the list is endless. Our Wii seems harmless compared to the hours one can spend sitting in front of a laptop.  So what should we tell new parents with respect to online games?

Research to date shows that parents need to be concerned with two things: the amount of time children spend playing these games, and the content of the games they play. Douglas Gentile in a 2004 article for Pediatrics for Parents points out that current research suggests “the amount of time spent playing video games has a negative correlation with academic performance. And playing particularly violent video games (games where the player can intentionally harm other characters) has a positive correlation with antisocial and aggressive behavior.”

Paul and Gail Dennison in their work on “Brain Gym” as well as Carla Hannaford in her book “Smart Moves” point out that there is a quantifiable relationship between moving the body and how the brain learns.

This alone suggests that too much time sitting in front of a screen for any reason, may interfere with the learning process. And noted childhood advocate Bev Bos continually refers to research that describes how too much screen time causes ocular lock, which shuts down the brain and prevents learning at a neurological level. This is why Bev is always advocating no screen time of any sort before age 3.

I think I dodged the bullet. I intuitively recognized video games could have a powerful effect on my children and therefore I set limits on the amount and content of games they could play. If parents adhere to this rule, they can use videos for learning while at the same time minimizing harmful effects.

Leah Hall: "The Internet Survival Guide for Parents" by Common Sense Media is a good guide for parents. The site also features a list of online game reviews using criteria on a rating system of 1-5 that includes age, ease of play, level of violence. It is helpful in deciding what games are appropriate for your particular child.

My daughter, age 10 1/2, enjoys several online games including a couple on www.miniclips.com: "Gravity Guy" "Forrest Temple" and "Obama Alien Defense." For the curious, this is the description of the last title: President Obama stars in this exciting game in which he defends against a huge alien invasion. Help the President battle the space aliens to save the world.  

Another favorite is Minimonos.com, "MiniMonos is a virtual world for children, focused on sustainability, generosity, community and fun. We're based in New Zealand and we welcome children from around the world to create monkeys and play on MiniMonos!" Monitored dialogue on this site is loads of fun and educational. My daughter has had several intriguing online conversations with New Zealand children about their country and hers while playing games on this site. 

Dawn Valadez: It seems our parents are in agreement: some gaming, with appropriate parental controls can be fun, entertaining, and provide learning opportunities for our children.  Not taking it too far seems the key, as it is with all things having to do with our children.

I was inspired to ask this question because of an interview I heard on NPR’s Science Friday last week.  Jane McGonigal of the Institute for the Future is a gaming researcher.  She believes that new, collaborative games just might change the world.

I don’t want to give it all away because you really should watch her TED talk that I have posted on this site. Her basic belief is that specifically collaborative games provide the space young people, and adults, need in order to think creatively, be inspired, and create change. 

A radical notion? Perhaps, but our current world and community problems from gas and oil shortages, to violence in our communities, to global health problems are so enormous that we must tap into the creative, problem solving energy our children display when playing complex video games.

She wants us to increase our video gaming hours from 3 billion hours a week to 21 billion hours a week.

It is just a thought and might seem shocking at first but pay attention to what your children are really learning, what they are mastering, and what they need to know to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

What do you think?

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