VIDEO GAMES?? Is it right or wrong??

[bamachicks8]

No matter what things your child does, if it is new to them then yes it is exciting and everything else will seem less important. Think of things that excite you. For example, when I ordernew chicks. The day before I know they are going to arrive, things get forgotten around the house because I am too excited and busy making sure everything is perfect and ready for the new arrivals. Once they are here the first couple days are the same way. After that I start dividing my time and getting back to normal routine.
With kids it is all in how you raise your children. Do they have respect for others and themselves, do they have morals, do they have punishments for things they need it for, do they understand right from wrong and do they have a good work ethic? My 14 year old is an avid video game player. He is a brilliant young man and is doing great in school. When he gets a game he has been wanting of course he wants to stay up for hours and play it . We have no problem with letting him play his heart out as long as his chores, and homework are done first and then he gets to play. Only on the weekends do I let him play until he drops. During school week he has a time to be off and he follows those rules.
I think it is all in how you raise your child. That goes for ANTYHTHING, drugs, schoolwork, guns, etc. Teach your children the right way to handle things. Give him or her the tools they need to control themselves and situations. They can surprise you.

Expertly said

 

[Reurra]

My sons wash the dishes and sweep the floors every day. (empty the little compost bin into the larger one after scraping the dishes)

They help with my chickens every day (which they like because they have a couple of hens of their own)

Fill the wood box every couple of days, check the cat box for cleaning.

Clean the bathroom once a week.

My eldest is 13 and my youngest is 11.

I dont think that is asking too much. They have time to play, but most of the time they are always goofing off with chrose so a 20 minute job sometimes takes 1 hour. i tell them "Hey, youre wasting your time with all this talking and giggling!" they know better, but they do it anyway lol.

Homework has never taken them more than 30 minutes. One math sheet for my eldest and some reading for my youngest.

I have always been told my kids are the nicest most polite boys around. They are very kind and very caring for people and creatures. They get numbered lines for extreme punishments, or they get grounded from movies or their friends house.

 

[Tomtommom]

It really depends where they grow up. Around here there are a LOT of badly mannered kids and I do feel it rubs off on them. The four year old started Head Start this year and I can tell he has picked up some behaviors from the other kids..

I fully believe EVERYONE should do their part in a home, just like you Reurra. I hope my boys will grow up to appreciate the things we have in life..

 

[gg706]

My kids do have access to video games. I do feel sometimes they play too much and make them shut it off and go find something else to do. I am afraid kids are so accustomed to playing video games that creativity and imaginations are falling short. Without video games sometimes I get the "there is nothing to do, I am bored" I think video games are to blame. I also want to make sure my kids don't waste their life playing video games. However much time is spent playing the game really is life ticking away and thrown away. If I was told I had so much time to live...I certainly would not spend ANY of it playing video games OR watching TV. So I try to instill that aspect into my kids. They are too young right now to really care about that. But one day it will make sense to them and I hope they think about it.

 

[Mattemma]

My dd plays sims and ,my ds plays minecraft. I find those OK.No way would I want to pay monthly for WOW. I have a friend whose son is on that WOW ALL the time.Kid probably sleeps in his chair in front of the computer.We have ps2 a wii and even got them nintendo ds for the car.They pretty much collect dust. I cancelled cable 2 years ago when it went to 68 a month.Get free movies from the library.

I do think some of the combat games are far too similar to the simulations used in the military training,and I don't like that.Makes killing like a video game.They put on some music and kill real people in combat.....just like they used to in the games. I watched some of the video clips of soilders on the front .It was sad to see how people treated people.Those types of killing military of GTO games are not ok for our house. I do like the sports,driving,creation games.To each their own.

 

[Mattemma]

Our kids recently received I-pads through their school. My son told me yesterday that almost everyone is playing games on their I-pads in the mornings. When he discribed how most of the kids were silently sitting against the hall walls and playing games before school, it sounded almost eerie to me.

I always joked with dh that it will just be a mater of time before computer implants will be offered.We have glasses that can show a computer screen,so it is just a matter of time before we add that plug that goes right to the brain! My mom works in a restaurant and most people(all ages) are on their moblie/computer internet.Playing games,txting.They talk long enough to place an order and then back to the internet.No interaction with each other.Families all clicking away.Sad.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

We have let our boys play XBOX at will as long as they maintain a 3.0 average. If it drops below that due to them not doing their homework(some classes are just flat out difficult, like calculus and stats) then we take away play during the week. If their grades drop below 2.0 then we take it away completely until it is back up to 3.0 or higher, and then only on weekends for remainder of the trimester. Then they start over with a clean slate each trimester. This has worked well with our boys.

 

[Tomtommom]

I enjoy creation games.. even at 30 years old (heck, I still play with their Duplo haha). As you said, there's a huge difference between good games and bad games. Sims and Minecraft can be hugely addicting, but atleast it develops creativity and even some social skills.

To me chicken keeping is a game. Even life is a game, really.. just wait til you get to the end boss (you even get to put your name on a stone slab scoreboard, complete with how long you lasted in the game). Everything you put into the game reaps a reward of sorts. You work, you get rewarded with coins, you spend the coins to have a place to live, you spend coins to purchase furniture and home upgrades.. you spend coins to purchase health points (food, medical care). It's all one big game, only earning the coins is not as easy as the stuff on a screen.

I get to rambling now.. anyway. Some games a good practice for the real world.

 

[Spifflove]

Everything in moderation is fine. But video games are highly addictive. It's sorta like saying its ok to have a few drinks. One will lead to another, then another.

If you allow your children to play video games and tv more than 2 hours a day prepare to reap the consequences:
a. Hyperactivity and Attention deficit
b. Permanent lost boys unable to hold relationships or a serious job.
c. No grandchildren or grandchildren very late when you are too old to enjoy them; or single parent raised grandchildren.

 

[gg706]

I have given this thread some thought....I am going to severly limit the use of the video games. Life is too short already and to spend hours a day playing video games alone is not a good spend of life time. We have started some plans of building a tree house and rope swing in a few months so the kids have more to do outside. We also bought a pop up camper to use as soon as the weather gets warm...I have decided the video games are NOT welcome during family camping trips......they will be staying home.