Fun Child Games

Many videogames for the children have huge positive potential in addition to their entertainment value.

Also, many studies proved that there has been considerable success when games are designed to address a specific problem or to teach a certain skill.

According to Dr. Mark Griffiths, most reported effects of videogames -particularly in the popular press – appear to centre upon the alleged negative consequences. These have included his own research into video game addiction, increased aggressiveness, and the various medical and psychosocial effects. However, there are many references to the positive benefits of videogames in the literature. Research dating right back to the early 1980s has consistently shown that playing computer games(irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times, improved hand-eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem.

Videogames help educate your child about aspiration, success, and disappointment. Children get experience with both winning and losing—and learn that no matter what the result. Games also give you the chance to teach your preschooler about rules, about integrity and honesty, and about luck. Games also can help increase your child’s ability to focus her attention.

Besides helping to accustom your child with “life lessons” and to practice valuable social skills, most good children’s videogames also afford preschoolers the opportunity to hone certain academic skills. Most videogames for preschoolers engage either counting or color matching, for instance.

What’s more, curiosity, fun and the nature of the challenge also appear to add to a game’s educational potential.

More often than not, quite a lot of people are saying that video games are unhealthy for the children. Well, let us see in this article if that speculation is really true or just another scapegoat for the parents who would rather see their movies than letting their children play video games.

The Bad Side

Well, according to some experts, video games can be connected to many problems of children and youths today: obesity, lack of social skills, decline in schoolwork productivity, confusion between real and unreal, and aggressiveness (McBeath, 2006). 

Video games are connected to obesity because instead of going outside and getting exercise kids are staying inside playing video games and eat a bunch of chips and drinking soda. This sedentary lifestyle can bring nothing but trouble to youths and is very dangerous to their well being. 

Second, kids who play video games could lack absolutely necessary social skills. When a child plays video games they are isolated and do not like to be bothered. This is one of the problems some people are complaining about.

Third, when a child comes home after school and goes straight to video games they are not likely to stop and elect to do their homework. Video games make school less appealing and could make a child less likely to understand the importance of their schooling.

Another problem is that a young and impressionable child could possibly see what they are controlling on a video game and mistakenly think that they can do the same. 

Lastly, children who are playing violent video games are being desensitized to this at a young age. Violent video games are even more damaging then seeing it on television because the player is controlling the violence and is most often rewarded for it. 

The Good Side

Well, so much for the bad side. This time, we will present the good side and we will carefully scrutinize each and every bad aspect of video games and see if these are true and accurate.

First and foremost, the obesity problem of the kids cannot be blamed to video games because even though there will be no video games, children will always crave for junk foods. Besides, its  the parents’ primary obligation to look after their children’s diet.  

Secondly, contrary to the allegation that video games can deprive children from social skills, it is rather a good activity to enhance a kid’s social skills. When a child plays, he/she is establishing a social skill with his opponent. Also, when a group of children talks about a certain game, he/she will have the guts to join the conversation because he/she knows the game well. It will be easy for him/her to establish a conversation with other kids if they have common interest- in this case, videogames.

Third, it is not true that video games can make the school thing less interesting. In the contrary, you can make video games be a source of motivation for the kids. For example, you might say to your kids that you will allow them to play video games on Saturday if he/she will do good in his/her school works.

With the problem on confusion between real and unreal, it is not really a problem. When playing video games or when a child is into something that he/she is not so aware of, it is the parent’s responsibility to explain to their kids carefully what the thing is all about.

Lastly, with the problem on aggressiveness, it is as well a parent’s responsibility to look after their kids. To be honest, not all video games are for children. Games that involved bloody schemes shall be played only under the parent’s supervision. Try to look for the rating and see if the child who will play is mature enough to handle the game.

As a conclusion, the negative effects of video games are not valid and are not true. All activities of the kids, not just the videogames, can be harmful. That is why, parents must always be on the rescue of their children’s needs. Do not deprive your kids totally from playing video games. Do not stick to the idea that video games are not good. See the brighter side of video games. After all, whether we like it or not, video games are part of the total and holistic development of the children.

Whether we like it or not, video games have become a very common mode of recreation for children as well as adults. Most often, we hear negative issues of video games, be it development of excessive aggression by the children or preference of indulging in video games by children over other activities. Yes, it’s true that these negative concerns do exist but the other side of the story cannot be just ignored.

Many research proved that playing video games can actually do good. One of the many things that video games do to players is that it helps advance their English comprehension skills. That is because computer games are usually in English. No one can deny the fact that a lot of big English words and terms more often than not appear on them that really enhance someone’s vocabulary.

Included in the numerous benefits that can be obtained from playing electronic games is that it helps cure color blindness. Mollified players can distinguish even the most delicate of color differences. That is due to the fact that games come in a lot of different colors. Being good in color acumen has potentials and can be pretty helpful in our everyday life.

Today is the era of technology. Every child has to grow up to be an adult in the age of high technology and developments. No one can deprive away from new and upcoming technology. Video games are a fun way to make your child feel comfortable with the technology and embrace it without intimidation. But in spite of these, be vigilant in choosing the right video games for your child.  Look for games that are challenging and exciting without being violent. Try to find games that advocate kids some thrills and the chance to experience control in a non-violent way. Find games that have the appropriate Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating for your child’s age. After all, all games can be bad if proper guidance is not carried out.