Why It Is Good To Game With Your Kids
We’ve all heard the negative stories about kids being addicted to computer games, children becoming more aggressive due to the seemingly realistic and often violent video game content and the solitude like tendencies plus lack of communication with only the occasional grunt from the bat-like cave of a teenage boy or girl when asked if they are okay.
Well it doesn’t have to be that way, in fact it can be a fun way to engage with our children, learn new skills not to mention vocabulary. Video gaming can be a wonderful learning tool, provide great family time and be a very useful downtime tool in which to get to know your teenager especially boys as this is the time they are most relaxed, in their comfort zone and will actually be willing to talk to you, the parent about more or less anything, if you just take the time to just hang-out and play a video game with them.
Let the Games Begin!
In the early stages of a child, we as parents are very eager for them to learn to read, do basic arithmetic and develop their cognitive skills in preparation for kindergarten and primary school. The way in which we do that nowadays is to not just buy them building blocks to play with but we purchase interactive video games with many linked to tv or film franchises, for instance Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, Thomas the Tank Engine just to name a few. But we look at these VTech, LeapFrog branded items as learning tools, not video games when in fact they are both.
As the child gets older their appetite for the type of video game changes as they are now influenced by their peers. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be learning anything, quite the opposite in fact, they now may want dancing, or racing type games or wrestling games and if they are into sports or dance and you are to take this as an opportunity to purchase one of the latest games and join in.
If you’ve taken them to one of the many after school activities such as football practice or dance class then why not set aside some time on the weekend to play the latest FIFA or Just Dance game?, Chances are they’ll want to practice any new or special move they have learnt in the real life situation thus promoting exercise co-ordination and developing further abilities. Those board game family nights can now be played on a video console and with the children usually being more familiar with the technology it will gives them a sense of maturity that they can now give you instructions on what to do.
Quizzes and mystery games are a great tool for developing reasoning skills and also being competitive in a healthy environment is a great life skill for the future. If your child is more into futuristic, scientific or historical role-playing games then this can be tied in with and used as visual examples when assisting them with homework or when going on trips to museums, planetariums and so on.
In a nutshell gaming with your children can be a great aid for parents by
- A great educational tool
- Assist with cognitive skills
- Create a close family bond and a be used as a communicating bridge
- Develop life skills
- Can be used for family exercise
- Most of all it is FUN.