Introducing your children to video games

E

Eiolon

Member
I was 7 when I first started playing video games, and 9 before I owned my first console (NES). I was asking my 5 year old what he wants for Christmas and he responded, "An iPad and a DS".

That kind of came out of nowhere. I had gotten rid of my consoles before he was born and been a PC gamer since. I know he see's the iPad on TV a lot but never thought he knew what a DS was.

So, for those who are parents, what age did you let your children start getting into video games? He has had a Leapfrog for the last couple of years but barely plays it. Just not sure if I want to him to enter that world yet.
 
i am not gonna introduce to it. This is not needed for his development. He will know about it and will eventually play but this is unnecessary habit for the most part. I will how ever introduce him to different sports and outdoor activity. for your question ds will suffice.
 
crazy monkey said:
i am not gonna introduce to it. This is not needed for his development. He will know about it and will eventually play but this is unnecessary habit for the most part. I will how ever introduce him to different sports and outdoor activity. for your question ds will suffice.
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Best answer right here. I hate it when folks try to force their kids on what they like sorta like the guy forcing his kid through Zelda and making the character a girl or something. Let them find out about it and introduce them into it when they are ready not forcing them your hobby.
 
If they show interest, I will provide, but until that point I won't try to be the one to make them play video games. But as I plan to still play them, I do suspect they may be curious about them.
 
If I ever have kids I'll probably won't be able to stop myself from introducing them to video games. That said, I probably will limit them to a certain amount of hours per week and force them to take up a sport as well as a musical instrument. I know for a fact that video games fucked up my life to a certain degree and now looking back I wish I had practiced a sport and learned to play an instrument. Gaming is not without merit though. I suspect that introducing them to video games at an early age will be a great way for them to learn English which they will greatly benefit from the rest of their lives.

First game I'll use to introduce them to gaming: Super Mario World.
 
I don't have kids yet, but I'd wait as long as possible before introducing them to video games and buying them their own devices. They'll spend more than enough time in front of a screen later on anyway and activities in "the real world" are more important and more beneficial for their development.
I know that kids want this stuff, but I hope that I could be strict regarding this matter.
If I'd have kids I wouldn't allow them to play video games regularly until they go to school (so age 6) and I propbably wouldn't allow them to own their own devices until they'd at least be 12. But even then their video game time would be very limited and I'd supervise them. There's just so much more stuff to do than to sit in front of a screen.
 
I'm not some self hating gamer who will say "I hope my kids never get into games", but I won't force them to play anything either. When they see me playing and ask to play, or show a little interest on their own terms, we will play.
 
When I was a child videogames weren't even invented until I was 6. (Well, Space Invaders, I know Computer Space was months after my birth but that's not the point.)

I did try to keep my son from games but one of his cousins had a DS when he was 2 or 3 and that sparked his interest. I try to get him to play old games such as Frogger or Bubble Bobble between sessions of Bad Piggies or Plants vs Zombies to at least give him an idea of the past though.
 
I'm not a parent but the first game my parents introduced me to was Super Mario World I believe.. Or was it?

Shit I can't even remember the first video game I've ever played..

This is going to bug me.
 
if they're interested, let them play, if not don't force em, simple.

in your (OP's) case it's super easy, he wants the DS, so get him that and some good games.
 
crazy monkey said:
i am not gonna introduce to it. This is not needed for his development. He will know about it and will eventually play but this is unnecessary habit for the most part. I will how ever introduce him to different sports and outdoor activity. for your question ds will suffice.
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First post nails it.
 
My oldest daughter got a DS around age five. We monitored her closely with it and there were some mild hiccups along the way. I think it really promoted her reading skills when we wouldn't help read the menus for Pokemon, in particular and she was forced to work things out on her own.

Our younger daughter who is now six, is about a year behind the older one reading-wise and I keep getting the older one to stop "helping" on the DS, which basically boils down to taking it out of the other's hands and getting through the tough bits which require reading.
 
I would go with the DS because its cheap and has plenty of games. See how well he takes care of it before buying more expensive products like an iPad.
 
Good heavens no! Video games are evil things! Why would I ever want to introduce a child to horrendous anti-social murder simulators?
 
crazy monkey said:
i am not gonna introduce to it. This is not needed for his development. He will know about it and will eventually play but this is unnecessary habit for the most part. I will how ever introduce him to different sports and outdoor activity. for your question ds will suffice.
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Pretty much. Ideally, he'll play but in a moderate amount.
 
Force vs. Introduce
Habit vs. Hobby

...

Do some gaffers really view their gaming in such a negative light?

I know I won't even have to introduce games to our kids when they come around because our house will be filled with gaming stuff they'll be growing up around it. Like hey daughter let me introduce you to all this stuff that's been sitting on our shelves your whole life already and that you see us playing everyday, hehe.

OP, get him a DS I reckon.
 
I have 3-year old twin girls and bought this simple 2D platformer type game for the Kindle Fire where you have one button to jump and another to speed up, and the goal is to make it to the end of the level without hitting any obstacles. Kind of like Moon Patrol from back in the day. Anyway, one is horrible at it and crashes at the first opportunity, but the other kicks that game's ass. It's amazing, seriously. She even gets the little trophies scattered around the levels.

I think it's an example of how quickly kids can pick up on things. She figured out the rules of the game without any input from me, and devised ways of getting through the level all on her own. Pretty neat stuff.
 
My younger brother and I spent years begging our mom for a video game system. She held out for a long time. When she finally caved, we got an SNES bundled with DKC one Christmas. We were on the moon.

But we weren't obsessive with it at that point. Because before we ever got a console, we were forced to play outside. A lot. We could watch one half-hour of TV on the weekdays (which really, kind of sucked- I might be better for it though). Playing outside so much really helped me with my creativity I think. And long after we had gotten an N64, a Gamecube, a PS2- we would still return to outdoor activities.

So yes, I think it's a good idea to hold off for a while if you can. 5 is still pretty young to introduce something that could possibly become an obsession. And for fucks sake, don't buy him an iPad.
 
Roto13 said:
What's with you people acting like life isn't better with video games?
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a good majority are pointless. a smaller subset are designed to be addictive. they're habit forming. there really isn't going to be a way to have them develop without knowledge of the games, introducing them at a young age isn't exactly necessary. i get that there are some educational games, which certainly aren't entirely bad, and some educational aspects of other games, but it'd be much more prudent to try and "introduce" them to reading novels or books. when they do eventually (which they almost assuredly will) start to play games, it'd be in their best interest to moderate it.
 
I have a four year old daughter. She's been playing games since about a year and a half (touch based games/Leapster style stuff). I tell her video game stories at bed time (mostly Legend of Zelda type stuff). She has a 3DS but is really bad at games.

Scribblenauts has helped her learn how to spell a ton of words.
 
BigNastyCurve said:
Why are you so afraid of introducing him to videogames? They're certainly no worse than watching episodes of Dora over and over. Lighten up.
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Well if he pick his TV shows carefully they can be educational. I mean tons of research has been done on TV shows like Sesame Street on its educational value.
 
Roto13 said:
What's with you people acting like life isn't better with video games?
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This. I can't see how videogames are any worse than playing sports. Both can become obsessions that are taken far too seriously and both have benefits.

Children need a good balance I think and I have no problem that my little boy (3) plays Mario Kart with me. He get's LOTS of outdoor time and loves being outdoors more than anything but he also loves playing Mario Kart with Dad.

I actually think some games can very much help with their development in areas like problem solving and fine motor skills. Now I wouldn't play CoD or Zombi U with him of course, but I think games like Scribblenauts might very well help with his spelling in a fun way (I haven't played it with him but we'll see). That said, I don't treat videogames as his first line of education, no way.

I suggest just introducing your children slowly with games you both play together. Don't let them spend lots of time buried in a game and ignoring everything else because we know they need lots of other stimulation and experience.

It also strikes me as weird that some of you think you're forcing yourselves and your hobbies on your children. Did your parents do that to you against your will? Do you worry about forcing dressing habits, manners or what they eat on them? Children learn from their parents and sharing hobbies and activities is every positive for building strong relationships with your children. If it's also something you like, then it helps your child understand that mum and dad also have hobbies they like to do. It makes you appear more rounded I think.
 
My kid is 4 and half and has been playing for about 9 months. He got interested once he became aware of the ps3 (games, controller etc) and the wii. I picked up Skylanders for a good price and that was really the first thing he played. Since then we've played through Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One and Lego Batman 2.

I have no problem with him playing games with me instead of watching tv. It's something we can do together (besides, have you tried watching Blue's Clues?) and being a gamer he'll be well aware that I won't fall for any of that "I just need to get to the end of the level" crap that most kids fool their parents with.
 
Jesus, some fun Dads in here. "It's not needed for their development", good lord they're a fun past time, not everything has to be an important learning experience.

The single fondest childhood memories I have are playing Zelda with my Dad. Have some fun with your kids, bloody hell.
 
Well, this thread started off weirdly...

Eiolon said:
LOL - he's been watching Pokemon for 3 years now, not realizing it was a video game until now.
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I'd say letting kids play videogames isn't any worse than letting them watch TV. Just make sure they don't obsessed.
 
crazy monkey said:
i am not gonna introduce to it. This is not needed for his development. He will know about it and will eventually play but this is unnecessary habit for the most part. I will how ever introduce him to different sports and outdoor activity. for your question ds will suffice.
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This.

My kids are never getting exposed to video games. Fuck that. It's martial arts, team sports, social family activities like camping, boating, and fishing.

No fucking video games. Terrible fucking habit that is a waste of time with no redeemable value whatsoever.

Edit: Just read through the rest of the posts, seems like I'm not alone. and yes. If I could send a terminator back in time to destroy my consoles and my games, I would have done so.
 
DrPirate said:
This.

My kids are never getting exposed to video games. Fuck that. It's martial arts, team sports, social family activities like camping, boating, and fishing.

No fucking video games. Terrible fucking habit that is a waste of time with no redeemable value whatsoever.
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I feel like I have walked into bizzaro gaf.
 
Gaming was my babysitter as a child.

So I'm not sure how I'm going introduce it with my little one. She sure does love Fruit Ninja though.
 
I don't intend to force my future kids to play video games, but I will introduce them to them, alongside almost every other hobby I can think of.

I have a huge range of interests now, so introducing my future kids to different ones (like sports, crafts and whatever else one can think of) to see what they do and don't like is something I intend to take seriously from the moment they're born. In terms of games I plan to have them try different genres. If they don't like single player games, we'll play multiplayer; if they don't like platformers they can try RPGs; if they don't like puzzle games they can try music rhythm games; if they don't like games in general they can find another hobby.

I never really got into games until I was around 10 or so myself, due to the games I played before then simply not interesting me, so I'm not going to make that mistake with my kids by limiting the types of games they can play simply to what I like.

I've mentioned before (in a similar thread about kids and their game tastes) about my nephew (now 12 years old), who despite having a father who loves FPS and racing games, has a big interest in Mario, and a few days ago asked me "why are Japanese games better than ones over here?", which made me smile.
 
DrPirate said:
This.

My kids are never getting exposed to video games. Fuck that. It's martial arts, team sports, social family activities like camping, boating, and fishing.

No fucking video games. Terrible fucking habit that is a waste of time with no redeemable value whatsoever.
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If they're such a terrible, awful past time, why are you posting on a gaming forum?

Games are fun. Children like fun. What on earth is wrong with some of the miserable bastards posting here?
 
Eiolon said:
I was 7 when I first started playing video games, and 9 before I owned my first console (NES). I was asking my 5 year old what he wants for Christmas and he responded, "An iPad and a DS".
.
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I was 4 when I got my SNES for xmas, I wouldn't be too surprised, but that age video games are already circulating within his group of friends.
 
Despera said:
I think he's being sarcastic?
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I'm not being sarcastic. I hate the fact that I like video games.

the only redeemable value is visuo-spatial coordination improvements and reading, other than that? Absolutely tremendous waste of time.

Look, none of you have to agree with me, I don't care. And I'm not projecting myself on you guys. If you guys game and have great lives and no regrets, that's fantastic. I wish I spent my highschool years getting with women, working a part time job, playing a sport, learning an instrument, learning a language, etc.

But nope, I spent my youth addicted to Counter-Strike. This is where I, personally, have failed. I regret it, my opinion is only reflective upon myself.
 
DS with a game or two, and (enforced) restricted playtime. Like, 30 minutes up to an hour?

I've seen some parents use video games and tv as a babysitting tool and their kids look like zombies. lol.

If you ever do consoles, try to stick to multi-player games with the whole family.
 
DrPirate said:
I'm not being sarcastic. I hate the fact that I like video games.

the only redeemable value is visuo-spatial coordination improvements and reading, other than that? Absolutely tremendous waste of time.
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Life would be thoroughly dull if you spent literally every single waking moment doing things that were 'useful' uses of time.
 
Okay, let's get this out of the way. Gaming can be destructive. God knows that a few people I know had bright futures completely destroyed by addiction, and that my grade school years were ruined due to them.

But calling it an activity without any redeemable value whatsoever? Come the fuck on. With moderation gaming is fine. That's what parents are for.

I mean, if your child's only form of entertainment is gaming that's a problem yeah. But what's the harm of giving your child an hour or two of gaming time when they're being productive in other ways?
 
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