Computer and other kinds of video games are now outselling physical toys. Many children prefer to computer and video games due to the increased interactivity and complexity, although actually lack the physical connections. The computer gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar business and there are reasons for parents to be somewhat concerned. Many experts agree that parents should be somewhat concerned with the kind of games that their children are playing. Even in the best of situations, these games could take kids away from physical activities and school works.
These games may provide less than ideal values and messages, related to violence and other improper society-related issues. In fact, many of these games have little to no educational benefits. Games may also contribute to significant physical issues in children. Health experts believe that computer games cause an increased rate of overweight problems and obesity among children. Also, children who play games intensively could run the risk of having RSI or repetitive strain injury. Parents could reduce the possibility of RSI by limiting gaming sessions to only an hour each day.
They could enforce this limitation by putting gaming devices in visible areas of the house. It is a bad idea to let children play in their room, because this could cause game addiction and other problems. If we allow children to play games on their computer, the computer station should be ergonomically correct. So, even if children need to use the computer for a few hours a day, they won’t feel discomfort due to ergonomic issues. It is also important for parents to suggest educational games for their children, because some smaller children could play violent games due to the lack of options.
Some educational games are exciting enough, but could help children build skills, such as writing, vocabulary, math, mapping, geography, science, investigative methods and others. In fact, proper games could encourage children to learn even during their playtime. There are many benefits of educational computer games and many of them are quite affordable. These games could actually help children learn more about difficult topics in school. As an example, many children have a hard time learning match and these games could help children improve their arithmetic skills.
However, there are also problems in choosing proper educational games. Many of them are designed for basic level of learning, such as writing, reading and rudimentary math. There could be very few educational games for larger children and this could cause them to play conventional games due to the lack of options. In this case, parents could help children to find other kind of entertainment, such as outdoor sports and music playing. In order to set up a home-based learning system, we should have a rule that can work. First of all, we should know what make children become much more excited. If children are interested in music, we could invest on musical instruments and they are particularly athletic, we could bring them to sports centers.