Do You Let Your Children Play Video Games?

When it comes to video games, Jean and I have a pretty simple and straightforward rule:

No guns, no blood, no bad language and, obviously, nothing that’s sexually suggestive.

So I know what some of you are probably thinking:

It’s still possible to purchase and play Pong?

Our boys actually play a very limited amount of games on Wii, usually sports-themed and always very innocuous in nature.

But we know parents who feel strongly that any type of video game is just a bad idea and a poor use of a child’s time. Whether or not it’s gaming, Facebook or watching television, there’s no question that the average child is experiencing far more “screen time” than ever before.

I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.

There are only so many hours in a day, and childhood is a finite season of life. Is it possible that we’re doing our kids a disservice by allowing them access to tools that discourage creativity and hamper the development of social and intellectual skills?

Whatever happened to cultivating a child’s imagination? This generally only happens when it

Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, kids, parenting, pop culture, technology May 16, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura