Heather

Here are two (of many) books you might enjoy on the benefits of gaming...
(I took the review clips from amazon.com)

Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! by Marc Prensky

"Prensky debunks the accepted wisdom that video games are harmful to
children. Instead, he contends that games can teach a multitude of
skills, including problem solving, language and cognitive skills,
strategic thinking, multitasking, and parallel processing. He cites
research showing the benefits of games in teaching skills children
will need in a twenty-first-century economy, pointing to the military
use of games to teach strategy, laproscopic surgeons who play games as
a "warm-up" before surgery, and entrepreneurs who played games growing
up."

Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson

"Worried about how much time your children spend playing video games?
Don't be, advises Johnson—not only are they learning valuable
problem-solving skills, they'd probably do better on an IQ test than
you or your parents could at their age..."

enjoy!

heather m
in rainy! tucson