TV and Video Games
winteryspruce
I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that TV and Video games are
not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments , insights . Thanks
Dede
not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments , insights . Thanks
Dede
Michelle Leifur Reid
On 9/25/06, winteryspruce <Beelight@...> wrote:
video games have no or little value as far as education and that a
child (or even an adult) who is not limited will become a couch potato
or video junkie (as if those are bad things.) There is also the
misconception that a child (or adult) who is unlimited will do
*nothing* but watch tv (or play games). During the deschooling
process this may look like what is going on. Until a child can trust
that TV or video games truly are unlimited and accessible to them as
they want they may glom onto these things as a way to try to preserve
them or "soak in" as much as they can before it is taken away again.
Part of the change has to come in your perception of what is valued.
If you never get to a point where you can see television as important
as a book, piece of clay, math, running in circles until you fall down
or making shapes out of the textured ceiling in the living room then
you will always feel that television is inferior.
There are quite a few articles at
http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling that deal with the topic of
limitations and, in particular, limiting television and video games.
Michelle - who allows herself to knit as much as she wants. :)
> I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that TV and Video games areThis gut feeling probably comes from a schoolish thought that TV and
> not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments , insights . Thanks
> Dede
>
video games have no or little value as far as education and that a
child (or even an adult) who is not limited will become a couch potato
or video junkie (as if those are bad things.) There is also the
misconception that a child (or adult) who is unlimited will do
*nothing* but watch tv (or play games). During the deschooling
process this may look like what is going on. Until a child can trust
that TV or video games truly are unlimited and accessible to them as
they want they may glom onto these things as a way to try to preserve
them or "soak in" as much as they can before it is taken away again.
Part of the change has to come in your perception of what is valued.
If you never get to a point where you can see television as important
as a book, piece of clay, math, running in circles until you fall down
or making shapes out of the textured ceiling in the living room then
you will always feel that television is inferior.
There are quite a few articles at
http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling that deal with the topic of
limitations and, in particular, limiting television and video games.
Michelle - who allows herself to knit as much as she wants. :)
Vanessa
Hi,
There is also a website that is : sandradodd.com/videogames, that
talks about video gaming, and how kids learn from it. I've read it
and found it very interesting. I hope this helps some.
----Vanessa
--- In [email protected], "Michelle Leifur Reid"
<pamperedmichelle@...> wrote:
There is also a website that is : sandradodd.com/videogames, that
talks about video gaming, and how kids learn from it. I've read it
and found it very interesting. I hope this helps some.
----Vanessa
--- In [email protected], "Michelle Leifur Reid"
<pamperedmichelle@...> wrote:
>Video games are
> On 9/25/06, winteryspruce <Beelight@...> wrote:
> > I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that TV and
> > not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments ,insights . Thanks
> > Dedeand
> >
>
> This gut feeling probably comes from a schoolish thought that TV
> video games have no or little value as far as education and that apotato
> child (or even an adult) who is not limited will become a couch
> or video junkie (as if those are bad things.) There is also thetrust
> misconception that a child (or adult) who is unlimited will do
> *nothing* but watch tv (or play games). During the deschooling
> process this may look like what is going on. Until a child can
> that TV or video games truly are unlimited and accessible to themas
> they want they may glom onto these things as a way to try topreserve
> them or "soak in" as much as they can before it is taken awayagain.
>valued.
> Part of the change has to come in your perception of what is
> If you never get to a point where you can see television asimportant
> as a book, piece of clay, math, running in circles until you falldown
> or making shapes out of the textured ceiling in the living roomthen
> you will always feel that television is inferior.games.
>
> There are quite a few articles at
> http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling that deal with the topic of
> limitations and, in particular, limiting television and video
>
> Michelle - who allows herself to knit as much as she wants. :)
>
Deb
--- In [email protected], "winteryspruce"
<Beelight@...> wrote:
videogames" with "reading and journalling" in that sentence:
"I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that Reading and
Journalling are not a good thing in unlimited amounts."
I'm guessing your gut feeling says "well, reading is a Good Thing" -
that's where you need to stop and think that through - why is
sitting still and reading any better than sitting still and watching
TV? (not that my DS sits still all that much when he's watching TV
or playing videogames anyhow though lol). Most likely it's because
we've been trained and conditioned to see the printed page as
something "worthwhile" but TV is "trash", right? Reading is
broccoli, TV is Fritos. But, what do you then do with people who
learn BEST by hearing sound, seeing color, absorbing movement,
rather than through black text on white paper? Perhaps reading a bit
on learning styles might help there (since it has the imprimatur
of "experts" which can have an impact on our school trained selves
more, perhaps, than unknown virtual people here online).
For us, DS (8) has never had limited TV or videogames - he uses them
as a resource along with books, magazines, toys, paper and markers,
sticks, rocks, leaves, hammer and nails, etc. He has been known to
turn off the TV because it's interfering with something he wants to
do ("the noise is distracting me"). He's free to watch TV after
we've gone to sleep - last night, he took some geomag magnets with
him to his room to play as I was falling asleep. I woke up an hour
or two later and went to check to make sure he didn't wake up with
magnets embedded in his cheek and he had already put them away and
was just sitting in bed reading. When books and TV are equally valid
options, neither carries more weight.
http://www.sandradodd.com/t/economics.html is a good article based
in economics regarding restricting access to things.
--Deb
<Beelight@...> wrote:
>Maybe, to get some perspective on it, think about replacing "TV and
> I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that TV and Video
>games are
> not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments , insights .
>Thanks
> Dede
>
videogames" with "reading and journalling" in that sentence:
"I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that Reading and
Journalling are not a good thing in unlimited amounts."
I'm guessing your gut feeling says "well, reading is a Good Thing" -
that's where you need to stop and think that through - why is
sitting still and reading any better than sitting still and watching
TV? (not that my DS sits still all that much when he's watching TV
or playing videogames anyhow though lol). Most likely it's because
we've been trained and conditioned to see the printed page as
something "worthwhile" but TV is "trash", right? Reading is
broccoli, TV is Fritos. But, what do you then do with people who
learn BEST by hearing sound, seeing color, absorbing movement,
rather than through black text on white paper? Perhaps reading a bit
on learning styles might help there (since it has the imprimatur
of "experts" which can have an impact on our school trained selves
more, perhaps, than unknown virtual people here online).
For us, DS (8) has never had limited TV or videogames - he uses them
as a resource along with books, magazines, toys, paper and markers,
sticks, rocks, leaves, hammer and nails, etc. He has been known to
turn off the TV because it's interfering with something he wants to
do ("the noise is distracting me"). He's free to watch TV after
we've gone to sleep - last night, he took some geomag magnets with
him to his room to play as I was falling asleep. I woke up an hour
or two later and went to check to make sure he didn't wake up with
magnets embedded in his cheek and he had already put them away and
was just sitting in bed reading. When books and TV are equally valid
options, neither carries more weight.
http://www.sandradodd.com/t/economics.html is a good article based
in economics regarding restricting access to things.
--Deb
jlh44music
"winteryspruce" <Beelight@...> wrote:
insights . Thanks>>
How old are your kids? Have they always unschooled or were they
ever in school?
My dd is 14 and was in school up through 6th grade. She's been
deschooling (healing) for over a year, which means mostly playing on
the computer (now it's almost exclusively World of Warcraft), but
also sometimes video games or TV. For me it's hard to imagine that
she wouldn't get "bored", but that's MY point of view, because I
have many different interests and don't like to do the same thing
day in and day out. It doesn't mean she isn't thriving (and
healing) - she has the freedom and space to learn more about who she
is.
She had migraine headaches and anxiety towards the end of her last
year in middle school very frequently. This has all disappeared.
She is also more confident; she used to be hesitent about expressing
herself except to those she was most comfortable with, now she
doesn't hesitate because she's had time to clear out some of the
crap from being in school, and had time to listen to her own
thoughts (if you will... not sure how to explain that right now).
She also enjoys our camping trips (bike riding, visiting places,
hanging in front of the campfire - we've had some GREAT
conversations as a family this summer there). She's been able to
sleep as much as she wants (and, yes, stay up late, she's always
been a night owl, plus she's a teen! they often morph into night
owls even if they weren't before), eat when she's hungry, deal with
starting her period last fall (which was rough for her, even though
she knew all about what to expect), something that would have been
very stressful for her if she had been in school - it took a few
months, now she takes it in her stride. She never liked to read
for pleasure. Her typing and spelling has improved tremendously
because of chatting on line.
Many others here can write about the benefits of choice and TV/video
games, much better than I can. I wanted to share our story as
fairly new newbies.
Jann
>games are not a good thing in unlimited amounts,. Any comments ,
> I'm trying to understand this gut feeling I have that TV and Video
insights . Thanks>>
How old are your kids? Have they always unschooled or were they
ever in school?
My dd is 14 and was in school up through 6th grade. She's been
deschooling (healing) for over a year, which means mostly playing on
the computer (now it's almost exclusively World of Warcraft), but
also sometimes video games or TV. For me it's hard to imagine that
she wouldn't get "bored", but that's MY point of view, because I
have many different interests and don't like to do the same thing
day in and day out. It doesn't mean she isn't thriving (and
healing) - she has the freedom and space to learn more about who she
is.
She had migraine headaches and anxiety towards the end of her last
year in middle school very frequently. This has all disappeared.
She is also more confident; she used to be hesitent about expressing
herself except to those she was most comfortable with, now she
doesn't hesitate because she's had time to clear out some of the
crap from being in school, and had time to listen to her own
thoughts (if you will... not sure how to explain that right now).
She also enjoys our camping trips (bike riding, visiting places,
hanging in front of the campfire - we've had some GREAT
conversations as a family this summer there). She's been able to
sleep as much as she wants (and, yes, stay up late, she's always
been a night owl, plus she's a teen! they often morph into night
owls even if they weren't before), eat when she's hungry, deal with
starting her period last fall (which was rough for her, even though
she knew all about what to expect), something that would have been
very stressful for her if she had been in school - it took a few
months, now she takes it in her stride. She never liked to read
for pleasure. Her typing and spelling has improved tremendously
because of chatting on line.
Many others here can write about the benefits of choice and TV/video
games, much better than I can. I wanted to share our story as
fairly new newbies.
Jann
[email protected]
You might try playing one of the games with her (or watching a show that she is into). This would accomplish two things. It would help you understand the richness of these games and shows. It would also provide a vehicle for you to spend time in relationship to her.
I have found that when I am feeling critical of my child, it coincides with when I am not relating to him. My criticism and sense that something is gravely wrong about what he is doing diminishes when I find a way to join him in something. Usually my preconceptions and gut feelings do not coincide with the reality of what something is like for him.
Last winter, my husband, son and I all played characters on World of Warcraft together. It was our family activity. We had lots of fun and got to interact and problem solve in a lively way. Recently I watched episodes of the anime series Naruto with my son. This allowed me to talk with him about something that intrested him. These turned out to be the right moves on my part and not my worries and criticisms.
Best, Andrea
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I have found that when I am feeling critical of my child, it coincides with when I am not relating to him. My criticism and sense that something is gravely wrong about what he is doing diminishes when I find a way to join him in something. Usually my preconceptions and gut feelings do not coincide with the reality of what something is like for him.
Last winter, my husband, son and I all played characters on World of Warcraft together. It was our family activity. We had lots of fun and got to interact and problem solve in a lively way. Recently I watched episodes of the anime series Naruto with my son. This allowed me to talk with him about something that intrested him. These turned out to be the right moves on my part and not my worries and criticisms.
Best, Andrea
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]