Teach your children well
Video games should be an essential vitamin in your child’s diet. Game early, game often I say. With a 14-month-old at home and a new baby on the way in August, nothing excites me more about being a dad than sharing my passion for video games (among other nerdy things).
I think part of the joy of parenting is the ability to share in their new and untapped world experiences. Plus it gives you a chance to catch up on gaming. Naps don’t last long enough to boot up a game on the PS3, so I’ve recently adopted handhelds. But I digress. Not only is it beneficial to the bond you develop as a parent, but gaming helps develop young minds.
According to experiments done at the University of Rochester in New York, people who play action video games can process visual information more quickly and can track 30 per cent more objects than non–video game players. Playing video games also helps develop excellent hand-eye co-ordination skills, which are easily transferable into competitive sports.
Video games also train children to approach life using creative and analytical processes. Cause and effect. Mario falls down a hole? You pick yourself up and start the level over. It also teaches children the basic principles of scientific investigation: hypothesis, experimentation and conclusion. Video games are almost a better pre-school than actual pre-school. To top it all off, video games now get kids up and moving with new systems like Kinect and Nintendo Wii.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to advocate parents plug their kids in and walk away. Nor am I suggesting letting children play any game they want. With great power comes great responsibility. Play appropriate games for their age. Contextualize the content in the games they play, ask questions, and for Miyamoto’s sake join in! Video game time should be bonding time.
I look forward to my little button-mashers starting their training. Our world is quickly digitizing and I can’t think of a better way to prepare your little Luigis than to plug in the controllers and hit start.
1 Comment
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skye stegenga Jan. 30, 2012, 2:18 a.m.
at first i was trying to decide if this is satire, but unfortunately it may not be. screen time is not recommended for children under two, and is not considered beneficial to developing minds. however, i do remember a couple of years of video game playing when i was around ten, and even 'bonding' with my parents while playing tetris together. many children do not grow out of the phase, though, and are addicted to gaming. i hope glen's' partner spends lots of time reading story books, taking the babies to the playground, and socializing at baby groups. these creative moments give babies the best time with their parents, and the best opportunity to learn life's lessons. leaving your children unplugged for as long as possible certainly won't hinder them in our technological world. ps glen: if baby has just fallen asleep, it takes less time to open a favourite novel than it does to boot up a PS3.