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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
How do you manage this stuff?[/quote]

I focus on the positives they are getting from "video games". That includes knowing what they're playing and understanding from my own research what experts say the positives of that game are. If I am seeing those positives, then I wouldn't have a problem with them getting some screen time in that game. If I'm not seeing the positives, or if they're trying to play other games, I'd either learn that new game and approve / reject it, or take away their time for going outside of our agreement or its not being beneficial.

But this is a delicate subject because like junk food, its something that the kids want and if we outlaw it in all forms, then it invites them to either rebel and try to find ways to get around it or then when they are introduced to it at a later age (say an adult) they will not know how to manage their time with it and may find themselves flunking out of college because they can't stop playing games (I had a good friend who did this, and it was weird. He just stayed in his room from second semester freshman year until the middle of sophomore year when he flunked out. And he was into so many things outside of video games, like being a gym rat and study groups and stuff. But I think once freshman year hit him and especially when he broke up with his girlfriend and started playing video games more, he just stopped hanging out with us).

There's also a question of what is a video game. Do you differentiate between online chess and board chess? websudoku vs sudoku in books? There are some PBS Kids games (more for younger kids) that are good at teaching concepts outside of school. There are a lot of flash cards "games". Then there are RPG type games that I'd put into two categories - the more mystical and fantasy but nonviolent or less violent, and the more violent ones. I definitely try to steer my kids away from those more violent games, but this is not a conversation of "don't go here". Its more a thing of "doesn't this game look like fun" where the thing I'm dangling in front of them is a game that I've studied and trust more than a violent one. [/quote]

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