Video Game Debate

[karrie]

Okay... short and sweet...

I try to keep my nearly 8 year old son from playing any game that trivializes the act of killing people or things, because he is at an age where he just doesn't have an empathetic bent yet. He has yet to grasp the notions of death and pain truly and fully as his sister has. Until I feel he's thoroughly grasped those concepts, I don't want to normalize the sight, even the poorly rendered pixellated sight, of death for him. As he gets older, as these things sink in (why does this seem to happen slower for boys?), then I have no qualms about him playing more advanced video games.

It became apparent the other day though when my son visited a friend's house that not all people share my views. He came home raving about how much fun Halo 3 was. Fer frick sake.

How young is too young? Is there ever an age where these games are 'appropriate'? Do others go by some developmental milestone like I have?

I'm curious about people's views on this

 

[In Between Man]

Having no children my opinion is irrelevant, however if I did have a child I sure as heck wouldn't allow video gaming in my household at all. You only get one life, so I would be sure that my child doesn't waste a moment away from their training. Any free time my child has would be closely monitored.

 

[VanIsle]

Okay... short and sweet...

I try to keep my nearly 8 year old son from playing any game that trivializes the act of killing people or things, because he is at an age where he just doesn't have an empathetic bent yet. He has yet to grasp the notions of death and pain truly and fully as his sister has. Until I feel he's thoroughly grasped those concepts, I don't want to normalize the sight, even the poorly rendered pixellated sight, of death for him. As he gets older, as these things sink in (why does this seem to happen slower for boys?), then I have no qualms about him playing more advanced video games.

It became apparent the other day though when my son visited a friend's house that not all people share my views. He came home raving about how much fun Halo 3 was. Fer frick sake.

How young is too young? Is there ever an age where these games are 'appropriate'? Do others go by some developmental milestone like I have?

I'm curious about people's views on this

As long as kids can watch a show on TV, turn to another channel and see the same "dead" person still alive and well, they will not understand death. How can death be real if the same person is alive and well in the next show. Just watch any soap opera. They come back to life after 5 years for goodness sakes. We have a tendency to shield our kids from death in real life. It may be a part of life they need to learn in order to understand that it's forever.
As for the games, I have one G.child that is allowed to play all video games. He lives in a world of pretend. He has trouble making friends because the other kids are not that way. I would give anything to put a stop to it.

 

[karrie]

Having no children my opinion is irrelevant, however if I did have a child I sure as heck wouldn't allow video gaming in my household at all. You only get one life, so I would be sure that my child doesn't waste a moment away from their training. Any free time my child has would be closely monitored.

I don't think your opinion is irrelevant.

And I think that's a totally fine choice to make for your kids. I hate when my kids sit in front of the damn thing.


BUT.

I also appreciate the fact that they have common dialogue with their peers on some level, even if they're not allowed to play the 'cool' games. I've had to balance what I want with also allowing my kids to fit in. I think that's got to be one of the most repugnant parts of being a parent.

If I'm not willing to cave on the candy and processed lunch paks that their friends tease them for not getting, at least they can play some video games when they can't be outside. It's kind of all a balancing act.

 

[In Between Man]

If I'm not willing to cave on the candy and processed lunch paks that their friends tease them for not getting, at least they can play some video games when they can't be outside. It's kind of all a balancing act.

I hear ya. Ya gotta pick your battles with them. I just think I would be likely to make them read a book when they can't go outside. No video game console at all, that way there's no choice. They'll be mad now, but they'll be a lean mean knowledge machine when they grow up.

 

[shadowshiv]

Having no children my opinion is irrelevant, however if I did have a child I sure as heck wouldn't allow video gaming in my household at all. You only get one life, so I would be sure that my child doesn't waste a moment away from their training. Any free time my child has would be closely monitored.

You make a good point, but there are video games out there that children can play without having to worry about violence. They can teach teamwork, sharing, and can just be a lot of fun. I find the Nintendo systems are the best for this type of gaming. For example, my ex-girlfriend had two young daughters who enjoyed playing video games, but they played kid-friendly video games. And these were games that adults could enjoy as well(and enjoy them with their kids). I played a fair bit of the Mario Party games with them on the Game Cube. The games were not ultra-violent and I do not believe there was any death in those games either. Another game they enjoyed playing was Animal Crossing. It taught them how to save money, grow crops, mail things, etc. and there was no violence in at all. In fact, it taught them things.

Some days the weather outside is too awful to do anything, but you could still play games inside. Besides the video games we would also play boardgames. Either way, their minds were stimulated in a positive way. They would also play outside a lot, so they were not lazy by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm not saying your way is wrong, and that people have to let kids play video games. I just wanted to say something from my point of view. Neither of our views are wrong, just different.:smile: