The more your children play video games at the expense of television, the less they are exposed to marketing.
The more your children play video games at the expense of television, the more likely they are to expect to control what they watch. Gaming, by definition, requires interactivity.
The more your children play video games, the more demanding they become of those games. With a small bit of informed parental criticism, their taste in games improves along sensible lines.
It seems to me that gaming is an experience that is at least as immersive as sports and just as legitimate a social activity. I have found that my children invite me to participate in their gaming, simply by watching them play. It is exactly the same dynamic - they are taking pride in their gaming achievements and it is part of my duty as a parent to watch their progress and cheer them on.
It is my opinion that the parent who forces their children to studiously avoid all gaming is creating the same dysfunctional social dynamic as the parent who forces their children to avoid sports.
In my house, we have two televisions with DVRs, three computers, three gaming consoles (Gamecube, XBox, 360) and seven bookcases. My 3 children aged 10, 12 & 13 are all three in Scouting and Awana. They are allowed to play video games Thursday through Sunday with no violent gaming allowed on Sunday. They are all honor roll students. We subscribe to Gamefly (four game plan) and each child gets to choose a game as do I. Currently they are deeply into The Sims (makes me look good huh?), but play all of the games popular with their peers. They all have varying interest in gaming and computing but each has a developed critical sensibility in their television and gaming appetites.
I believe that one cannot develop judgment in a vacuum. If all the games look the same, whom are you going to depend upon to decide which games are better or worse?
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