Gamer Parents

[shoryuken4u]

Any gamer parents here? I have a 5-year old son who loves Lego Batman and Ratchet & Clank (on both the PS3 and DSi XL). I rarely let him play "adult" games but recently he's been enjoying ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. A question for the parents (and non-parents)--what age is too young for video games and how often do your kids play video games?

[soera]

Im a bad example. My 4 year old plays Mortal Kombat. To me, its just a game ... a toy in a sense ... so its hard for me to tell my kids they cant play them. They like watching me play the Saw game and they dont think anything about the violence and what not. They watch my 14 year old step son play GTA and all the fps games and even though there is nudity and curse words and what not, it doesnt even seem to be noticed.

I guess its all up to your own personal preference. I dont believe in censorship of any kind or any way myself.

[darko]

I'm not a parent, but I'm an uncle to a child of gamers. It has been my observation that games can be used as development tools at a very young age. My niece is now 7 and she is about 2 years ahead of her peers in school. Not all of that can be attributed to playing games, but some of it definitely is. She wanted to learn how to read when she was 4 because of some horse game she was playing.

It's all about development IMO. If your child can handle it then by all means.

[shoryuken4u]

I dont believe in censorship of any kind or any way myself.

I'm not a fan of censorship in the least, I just feel uncomfortable exposing my son to negative things because I'm concerned he's not quite old enough to grasp the fact that you don't emulate things you see in video games or on television. However, it's the parents job to educate their kids and teach them right from wrong--you can't blame GTA or South Park for your kids bad behavior. Although you still have to take into consideration that a 5 year old is not always going to exercise common sense. lol.

It's all about development IMO. If your child can handle it then by all means.

I think video games can be a great medium for not only entertainment but education as well. I remember playing Math Blasters and the Mavis Beacon penguin game (teaches kids how to type).

Speaking of old games I played in school--does anyone remember Oregon Trail? I played it in elementary school on an ancient Mac.

[kingrat101]

Oh my Gawd! The Oregon Trail!? such an awesome game! I havent played it in years either but that was one of the first games that started me on video games in general

[kimimi]

Another gamer parent here! My son just started school, he's four years old. He's a great co op buddy - anything from Kirby to King of the Monsters is better when I'm playing it with him

[tpugmire]

I have 3 teenage girls (Please kill me), and the oldest is into Legend of Zelda, but not the old stuff, pretty much Ocarina of Time and newer.  She also plays a handful of other games, but nothing special.  The middle one is too cool for games, so whatever.  She will sit down and play Mario Kart Wii with me once in a while, or maybe Guitar Hero.  The youngest plays probably more than the others, but she is very specific, Guitar Hero, or Soul Calibur.  I haven't seen her play any other game in quite a while.  My wife will play Dr. Mario and kick my ass every time, she's also pretty good at Mario Kart Wii.

[shoryuken4u]

Oh my Gawd! The Oregon Trail!? such an awesome game! I havent played it in years either but that was one of the first games that started me on video games in general

My family would always drown when we crossed the river! Or all the kids would die from illness! I was terrible at that game but it was fun.

Another gamer parent here! My son just started school, he's four years old. He's a great co op buddy - anything from Kirby to King of the Monsters is better when I'm playing it with him

I know! I have no interest in Lego Batman, but when we play together, it's really fun. He's always fussing at me for slowing him down (I'm not particularly good at the game clearly).

I have 3 teenage girls (Please kill me)

LOL--what great luck to have 3 girls!

[scott]

Speaking of old games I played in school--does anyone remember Oregon Trail? I played it in elementary school on an ancient Mac.

I loved Oregon Trail! I saw they released a version for the 3DS and I am seriously tempted to pick it up.

[jcalder8]

My son is 6 and he plays games as much as I let him. I do restrict the type of games that he plays, the amount of time that he spends playing and the number of games he plays in the day.

It is not true for all kids but I have noticed with him that after he has watched a more violent movie he will punch and kick the next day. Because of this I make sure that he doesn't play very violent games.

I restrict the amount of time that he spends to make sure that he spends time with his friends and family.

I restrict the number of games that he plays because I have found that once he gets to a difficult area of a game he will just grab another game so I let him pick and play one game a day.

Oregon Trail was awesome in school. Nothing like "My Butt" dieing from a snake bite.