mamasita

My son is 3 and has PC games and we play spongebob on the ps2 together. I don't have a problem with it as long as he's not playing violent games or anything that will teach him bad behaviors.

forumSEO

You should limit the time playing computer games each day, you dont want to start bad habits. You could buy some picture books and read to him on a regualr basis. I think that PC games are great but not in big loads. Try keeping the number of hours under 5 per week.

mamasita

He already has picture books and we read together every day. I would bet my son plays more than 5 hours per week.
I can see concern if he starts disengaging from life, or his activity level drops, or if it's replacing other things that he needs to develop, but for now very educational games and such, I'm not stringent like so many people think you just have to be to protect your kids from the evil tv and pc's. Right now he's playing with his cars. He likes to crash them in to each other. I'm not worried about that either.

Gramma

Wow. I would never have let my children spend time on the computer or watching TV. It's just not healthy. Watching a lot of tv can cause them to not be as smart as they would have been.

mamasita

Well there is a very two sided debate to the value, or lack thereof, of television to the younger generations. Some feel it's bad for them or that it should be strictly limited. Others feel that there are benefits to be had from it, like rapid language development.

I'm somewhere in the middle. My son has a computer, and I watch him on it, but he hardly spends his day vegging there. He has a dog that he spends far more time with, he bosses me around and we play board games and play outside, so I'm just not worried.

For sure everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and as long as we exercise those opinions with care and consideration for our children, I'm sure things will be alright.

I won't hesitate to put a nice strict limit on my sons computer or tv if I ever notice him disengaging from life or becoming unhealthy with the priveledge.

crisbaby

I also play video games when I was teen before. Since that video games before is not as high tech as today it would be better for our children to play video games because it would enhance their skills, thinking, psycomotor, and ability to decide what to do. I vote for video games for our children

New2BabySteps

You have to remember though, nowadays there are educational videogames out there. Just go look at Wal-Mart and check out some of the PC games. there's games for pre-schoolers, grade-schoolers...anything really.

Even with the Nintendo DS now - they've even now (this is factual) they have seniors playing games like Brain Age - Train Your Brain in Minutes A Day. There's Sudoku games too. There's all kinds of games that kids can play.