lefty1foot

Here's the deal – my just turned 6 and 4 year old boys are big time
into gaming. I kid you not when I say they spend their morning, noon
and nights bopping back and forth between the pc, Gameboy and their
newly acquired holiday gift – Gamecube.

The house is filled laughter, as well as frustration, when the games
just don't cooperate for their desired outcome. I see how much they
are gaining from their fun, which dh and I participate in as well.
(Their skill has far surpassed mine!) Their interactions with one
another, as well as navigating the games, in terms of cooperating,
problem solving, critical thinking amaze me. The questions that are
sparked from requesting I pull up a cheat or walkthrough to assist in
getting to the next level or yesterdays inquiry of "Mom, what's
four-three-triple three"? (43333) which was a score across the screen.
He's become quite interested in numbers and words (constant "what's
that say). This week has been about 12-hours/day of games. I cringe
when I write that, yet I see it being about so much more. Am I
blinded? Cuz I keep telling myself it's all good. Please talk to me
people. Help me regain may sanity!

TIA
Susan
(proud unschooling mama to Evan-6 & Seth-4)

wifetovegman2002

--- In [email protected], "lefty1foot"
<lefty1foot@y...> wrote:
>
> This week has been about 12-hours/day of games. I cringe
> when I write that, yet I see it being about so much more. Am I
> blinded? Cuz I keep telling myself it's all good. Please talk to me
> people. Help me regain may sanity!
>


Sounds wonderful to me! Oh wait...sounds like my house! At least
when we get a new game or two.

We've found it goes in spurts. New games bring about marathon
playing, then there is that wonderful feeling of "Done!" that comes
when the credits role and the last boss has been defeated, and a sigh
of contentment escapes and the games are put down for a while.

Sounds like you are in the middle of a "spurt". Bet when the weather
warms up and the games aren't so new, they will move on to other things.

And maybe if you are getting cabin fever, take an afternoon and go to
the zoo or the playground. The games will still be there when they
get home.

~Susan M in VA
wifetovegman

Deb

If it's a problem, we've got the same one;-)

My Dh and Ds will spend pretty much all day playing video games
sometimes for long stretches on end. Right now they aren't because
they're spending most of their days with BrikWars. And we just found
a game called Battle Ball (board type game with dice and ugly
looking figures and 'carnage markers' that is sort of like football
or rugby but not exactly) that is likely to become a big time
occupation (I like it too which is nice, I can't do videogames, I
get motion sick with most of the ones they like). BTW DS is 7 1/2.
He's been playing gameboy and videogames since he was 5, smack in
the middle of the same age group as your boys. Sometimes he did/does
play for hours on end. Other times not. They also like Age of
Empires 1,2,3 and StarCraft and can play them (and the scenario
editors that come with them) for hours.

So far as I can see, when they've had enough they do something else.
Kind of like hot dogs - sometimes DS eats 4 at a sitting, sometimes
he opts to just have a salad instead.

You're not insane (okay well maybe you are but this isn't a symptom
of it! lol)
--Deb

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 25, 2006, at 1:02 PM, lefty1foot wrote:

> Am I
> blinded? Cuz I keep telling myself it's all good. Please talk to me
> people. Help me regain may sanity!


Let them play.
It won't be forever.

If they were reading that much, or playing soccer that much, you'd
probably be proud and not worried.


Sandra

Su Penn

I asked on the Always Unschooled list some weeks ago for advice about
helping my 4 y.o., who was interested in video games but not skilled,
get skilled. We ended up buying a Game Cube in the post-Christmas
glut of old video game systems on eBay. Eric's skill with the
controller improved immensely in one morning with his Daddy and a kid-
appropriate game. Now he's really into Animal Crossing and plays
several sessions a day. I think it's great because:

He's wanting to be a homebody lately and this is one more option for
the days we're spending at home.

He and his dad are having sweet times together. My partner is so
patient with Eric when he just wants to wander around digging holes,
or go in and out of his house, or try on all his outfits one after
another. I need to work on gaining more patience with this kind of
stuff myself. But we've all been enjoying our time together playing
the game.

He is also using the game to gain all kinds of skills, including:

map reading

reading (already he can recognize some of the repetitive words and
phrases that show up in the dialogues. We read the rest to him.)

problem-solving

making plans and strategizing (the other day he said to me as I was
playing, "If you go over the bridge instead, you can drop the comic
book off at Candi's on your way to Doc's," or some such)

finances (he's got a mortgage to pay off on his little house!)

number recognition; dealing with different magnitudes of numbers (in
the hundreds and thousands)

The conventions of video games

He has also brought from the game into the real world:

A complex game with his little brother of delivering things to
imaginary friends all over the house.

Wanting to write and receive notes (characters in the game write
letters to each other)

An interest in going to a real museum like the one in the game.

As far as I can tell, it's all good.

You're not blinded--you've managed to let go of ideas that aren't
useful for you. You can see what is right in front of you--that your
kids are having a great time and doing great. Good for you.

Su

On Jan 25, 2006, at 3:02 PM, lefty1foot wrote:

> This week has been about 12-hours/day of games. I cringe
> when I write that, yet I see it being about so much more. Am I
> blinded? Cuz I keep telling myself it's all good. Please talk to me
> people. Help me regain may sanity!