Are Your Kids Hooked On Video Games? How To Stop The Fights!
The most difficult things for me to understand being a mom is the way involved my girls are in video games. As a child I wasn't very big on video games, I was much more focused on reading and playing outside. Sure, I had a video game system as a kid, however it did not entice me as it does to my girls.
Like many other parents nowadays, I fought endlessly with my girls about video games. My girls were obsessed with them; they always aspired to find the coolest games console as well as the newest games, although Barbie video games were their most favorite. I can remember when my youngest received Barbie: The Island Princess for the DS for her birthday 1 year. As soon as she opened that Barbie video game, no other presents mattered. With her new Barbie game on hand, off she went to her room where she remained for what seemed hours.
I found myself literally in awe over this strange hold that video games appeared to have over the children. I had read all of the warnings in parents' magazines that speak about how bad video games were for children. I had even seen numerous reports on the news talking about exactly the same things and how several studies were done. With all this not so great news about video games, I was determined to stop them within my house. I grounded my girls from video games for days at any given time, sent them outside to spend time playing in the sun. I signed them up for dance lessons, took them over to the park, quite simply, I exhausted myself looking to distract them from the video games they seemed to love very much.
As you can imagine this battle against computer games within my house was exhausting. It looked like no matter what I did I really could not change my girls' minds over online games. I'm not really the type of parent who gives in to her children or am I the type to surrender when I want something. However, it seemed like this battle against computer games was going to defeat me. So, instead of attempting to fight their obvious desire for Barbie video games along with the pleasure these games gave them, I made the decision to evaluate them.
I grabbed my daughters DS and her Barbie Groom and Glam Pups game, the most recent favorite Barbie video game, and started playing it. I probably got about five minutes in to the video game and was at a total loss as to what to do. It's no surprise that that video games still baffled me as an adult. Instead of throw the game down in disgust I called my daughter to the room to assist me. The surprise on the face when she saw me playing her video game was priceless.
My daughter sat down beside me and patiently taught me what I was needed to do. Before I knew it I started having a lot fun, sitting there giggling and laughing with my daughter, and I was even tinkering with a video game. My daughter and I probably sat there for 2 hours, before I remembered that it was way past time to put together dinner on the table. I quickly jumped up to go cook dinner, but seeing the look on my little daughters face made me stop short.
Rather than rushing out towards the kitchen, I sat down to talk with my daughter. My daughter was confused. She wasn't able to understand why I'd stop playing video games with her to go cook dinner because we had been having a good time. Oh how nice it truly is to be young! Rather than just leaving her puzzled, I explained to her that yes I'm having fun, however had to attend to my responsibilities as well, basically if I didn't cook dinner, nobody would eat. I also reassured her that after dinner we were able to sit down and play even more video games.
You see by taking some time to recognise my kids' pleasure in video games, I was capable of seeing things I had never witnessed before. Video games may very well be fun, even more fun than reading a novel. However, I still was on a pursuit to curb how much my kids played video games. Now I understood why they liked them. I found myself even enjoying them. Nevertheless, that did not mean I supported my children playing them nonstop, I knew that boundaries would have to be set.
In talking with my husband, who probably enjoyed online games a whole lot more than the kids did, we thought we would set up a family game night, only we chosen to do it two nights each week. Two times a week after dinner my daughters would go pick their favorite Barbie video game, which surely each one had her favorite. My youngest daughter loved the Barbie: Island Princess video game, while my older daughter preferred Barbie Groom and Glam Pups. We all took turns selecting the games for family night. And, in the process, every person benefited from spending some more time together as a family.
The Thing I learned, as a parent out of this experience is that trying to ban something usually just isn't worth the battle, I favor to save my battles for the really big things. If you take the time to listen to my kids and open up my mind, I realized that all the studies were just that a bunch of studies, only I understand the kids, and only I can analyse if video games are hurting the kids. Now I actually have come to realize that video games are wonderful, they can even be really enjoyed together as a family. Therefore, although we never fight over whether or not video games ought to be played. We do have issues with moderating the length of time is allocated to video games. Now I will not surrender that battle. Just about everything needs moderation!
Like many other parents nowadays, I fought endlessly with my girls about video games. My girls were obsessed with them; they always aspired to find the coolest games console as well as the newest games, although Barbie video games were their most favorite. I can remember when my youngest received Barbie: The Island Princess for the DS for her birthday 1 year. As soon as she opened that Barbie video game, no other presents mattered. With her new Barbie game on hand, off she went to her room where she remained for what seemed hours.
I found myself literally in awe over this strange hold that video games appeared to have over the children. I had read all of the warnings in parents' magazines that speak about how bad video games were for children. I had even seen numerous reports on the news talking about exactly the same things and how several studies were done. With all this not so great news about video games, I was determined to stop them within my house. I grounded my girls from video games for days at any given time, sent them outside to spend time playing in the sun. I signed them up for dance lessons, took them over to the park, quite simply, I exhausted myself looking to distract them from the video games they seemed to love very much.
As you can imagine this battle against computer games within my house was exhausting. It looked like no matter what I did I really could not change my girls' minds over online games. I'm not really the type of parent who gives in to her children or am I the type to surrender when I want something. However, it seemed like this battle against computer games was going to defeat me. So, instead of attempting to fight their obvious desire for Barbie video games along with the pleasure these games gave them, I made the decision to evaluate them.
I grabbed my daughters DS and her Barbie Groom and Glam Pups game, the most recent favorite Barbie video game, and started playing it. I probably got about five minutes in to the video game and was at a total loss as to what to do. It's no surprise that that video games still baffled me as an adult. Instead of throw the game down in disgust I called my daughter to the room to assist me. The surprise on the face when she saw me playing her video game was priceless.
My daughter sat down beside me and patiently taught me what I was needed to do. Before I knew it I started having a lot fun, sitting there giggling and laughing with my daughter, and I was even tinkering with a video game. My daughter and I probably sat there for 2 hours, before I remembered that it was way past time to put together dinner on the table. I quickly jumped up to go cook dinner, but seeing the look on my little daughters face made me stop short.
Rather than rushing out towards the kitchen, I sat down to talk with my daughter. My daughter was confused. She wasn't able to understand why I'd stop playing video games with her to go cook dinner because we had been having a good time. Oh how nice it truly is to be young! Rather than just leaving her puzzled, I explained to her that yes I'm having fun, however had to attend to my responsibilities as well, basically if I didn't cook dinner, nobody would eat. I also reassured her that after dinner we were able to sit down and play even more video games.
You see by taking some time to recognise my kids' pleasure in video games, I was capable of seeing things I had never witnessed before. Video games may very well be fun, even more fun than reading a novel. However, I still was on a pursuit to curb how much my kids played video games. Now I understood why they liked them. I found myself even enjoying them. Nevertheless, that did not mean I supported my children playing them nonstop, I knew that boundaries would have to be set.
In talking with my husband, who probably enjoyed online games a whole lot more than the kids did, we thought we would set up a family game night, only we chosen to do it two nights each week. Two times a week after dinner my daughters would go pick their favorite Barbie video game, which surely each one had her favorite. My youngest daughter loved the Barbie: Island Princess video game, while my older daughter preferred Barbie Groom and Glam Pups. We all took turns selecting the games for family night. And, in the process, every person benefited from spending some more time together as a family.
The Thing I learned, as a parent out of this experience is that trying to ban something usually just isn't worth the battle, I favor to save my battles for the really big things. If you take the time to listen to my kids and open up my mind, I realized that all the studies were just that a bunch of studies, only I understand the kids, and only I can analyse if video games are hurting the kids. Now I actually have come to realize that video games are wonderful, they can even be really enjoyed together as a family. Therefore, although we never fight over whether or not video games ought to be played. We do have issues with moderating the length of time is allocated to video games. Now I will not surrender that battle. Just about everything needs moderation!
About the Author:
Author has many years of experience in child development and education. For more information on barbie online games, be sure to check out the Barbie the Doll website.
