Will playing games turn your child into a different person?

Let me start with saying that I am not a parent. I do hope to become one some day soon but it is still a working progress. I read an interesting article written by my blog buddy Yvie. She writes that when her son started playing the well known game “Angry Birds”, that her son turned into a different person. He would share stories and communicate as well as he usually does. That he even lost interest in his other toys.

While our technological advances give us new ways of communication and better source of entertainment we can only ask ourselves. Are things really better? I say yes and no to that. Yes because we are not more connected and even studies have shown that playing video games stimulates the brain and self esteem in many cases. Because solving puzzles and feeling good about “saving the world” makes a difference in our daily lives. A sense of accomplishment that is grandiose to say the least. The it comes to the negative part. Videogames, stimulating as they may be, they also isolate us from real achievements in life. Instead of saving the world digitally, how’s about saving the world in reality? Looking outside, I don’t see to many people. It is summer and I don’t see children running outside on the law or playing with friends. When I do, my heart melts because it reminds me of my own youth.

We often think the question “What did we ever do before tecnology?”

I don’t know about you, but I did quite a lot. I explored my surroundings and played outside with my friends. Our games were cowboys and indians, softball using a stick and a pinecone and even played Robin Hood using a home made bow out of stick and rubber. Now that I think about it, the stick was probably my very best friend growing up. I mean it is so simple and you could do anything with it.

I think there can be a happy balance. A great parent know their child and understand what they need. Some children have friends via video games and to those I say good for ya! However, just like we react differently to things, so do children. I believe that we cannot have the same set of rules for all children. My mom actually made that into a point several times that she cannot compare her children because they are all so vastly different. That is why she had to a just the rules to accommodate each child’s needs, which to me makes sense.

I know my children will grow up with video games, but I also know that I will be attentive enough to make sure to take them outside and show them that there is a world out there too, whether they like it or not. That is how I plan to raise mine, how everyone else raises theirs is up to them.

I just hope that my husband wont have them grow up with World of Warcraft. That will be a failure on my part for not supplying them with better options. 😉

One thing they will enjoy will be the motion controls. The luxury of today’s technology is that children do not have to sit still anymore. Imagine all the energy they will burn jumping around like mad! I’ve baby sat so many kids and burning off their energy is the tricky part. I hope that by the time my kid is old enough to join me and my husband in our gaming-ventures, that kinect and motion controls will remain an option. ( Yahtzee had his way, we wouldn’t have any at all). I hope they will not only remain an option, but perfected and made into an available option for all.

I also hope that my example will define what type of person my kid will be. (and maybe his dad if he is nice about it)