While visiting to watch a few of Oz’s favorite videos, I couldn’t help myself … I wanted to see what he thought of their games. I don’t like to think of my son as the subject of an experiment. But he also thinks parents need to understand that when it comes to the affects video games and other new media have on our kids, “This is basically an uncontrolled experiment on these youngsters.” “I think every family is going to have to decide for themselves,” Shifrin says. Don Shifrin, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and former committee chair for the American Academy of Pediatrics says, “There is no definitive answer.
You certainly won’t find agreement when it comes to the question, “How old is old enough to play video games?” At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, educational psychologist and author Jane Healy grabbed attention and headlines by stating that children should not be allowed to play video games until they’re 7 years old to ensure that their brains develop normally.īut Dr.
And while some studies find that they are very, very bad for our kids, others find that they’re not really so bad after all, and still others find that they’re actually pretty good for little boys and girls. What’s a mom to do? Adding to the parental perplexity: Many a respected organization has researched the affects modern media technology has on our children - television, video games, the Internet.
But more importantly, I want him to grow up happy and healthy. It’s a tech-filled world and I want my kid to grow up tech savvy. Yes, in my weakest moments, even I fall prey to the anti-gaming rhetoric. They’re also totally free, and - like all games aimed at the youngest humans - they’re designed to be as educational as they are fun.īut there’s also the paranoid parent side of me that can’t help but worry that video games, somehow, will warp my beautiful boy’s brain - that he’ll become badly addicted to them, that they’ll distract him from important things like school, the great outdoors and a career as a successful whatever. “Elmo’s Keyboard-O-Rama,” “Wheels on the Bus” and “Sounds Around Town” - Sesame Street’s games are the most simple of all possible Web games. Meanwhile, LeapFrog is selling a similar line of machines, including a handheld gaming system called the Leapster 2 (imagine a Nintendo DS mauled by a box of crayons).īut it hadn’t really occurred to me that my own toddler was “old enough” to play video games until - a site that my son and I visit on a regular basis - recently began promoting a section called “Games for 2 Year Olds.” For those still sporting diapers, VTech offers the V.Smile Baby - a gaming console for children as young as 9 months. It’s called the V-Motion and it’s meant to be played with kids as young as 3. Last holiday season, VTech Electronics launched a Wii-like game console that comes complete with a motion-sensitive controller. It’s not like anyone is suggesting that I bust out “Grand Theft Auto” or “Dead Space” for him, but you don’t have to look far to find video games being pitched at we parents to play with our wee toddlers.
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