Video Games - Balancing the Fun and the Folly

 
Gaming. Is it good or bad?  We live in a world where digital gaming starts as early as infancy and goes through adulthood. (A man recently sued a gaming company because he became addicted to the game and lost his job.) No doubt there are many positive aspects of digital gaming too. Positive or negative, this ever increasing phenomena and the access our children have to it isn’t going away soon. (Last fall Activision bought the mobile phone game Candy Crush for $5.9 billion. – Yes, billion with a “b.”)
 
How do we as parents approach it? While there are many good resources out there with input on this question, we wanted to give you a few thoughts that are maybe outside of the normal ways to approach gaming as a parent, especially if it is becoming too much a part of your family’s life. 
 
Obviously if your teen is playing games to the exclusion of responsibilities, physical activity, good communication with others and so on, gaming is too high on the priority list.  If gaming has become your go to resource to keep your teen out of trouble, off the street, or away from unwholesome friends and if you’ve come to rely on it as a babysitter of sorts, gaming may be too high on your priority list.
 
Here are 3 ideas to help you counteract the gaming and replace it with some other activities that bring much better rewards than an extra life, a new spiro-zapper to kill the zombies or a bonus round.

1. Have your teen take a Spiritual Gifts analysis. You can find a good one by clicking here.  Once you and your teen have an idea of the gifts he has been given by God to serve others, help him strengthen these gifts.  Make an appointment with your pastor or youth pastor to discuss the gifts your teen has and ask where they might be used in your church.  Think of ways your teen can serve with their gifts in your neighborhood, with people you know or at another local Christian organization like the YMCA, a Christian camp or charity. Tons of places need good volunteers. 

 
The good thing is that your teen will desire to help in these ways because one of the truths about our gifts is that God has wired us to want to use them.  Now, laziness may be another problem, but using our gifts is one of the best ways to beat the flaw of laziness too in our teens because they see results and are energized as they serve.

1. Consider a summer Adventure Camp program. This will help your teen get active, enjoy the outdoors and learn some leadership, communication skills and teamwork. There are many great programs across the country.  One is our own WildHeart Adventure Camp. We would invite you to watch the video, compare our prices (hint – we are less expensive than others because we function as a ministry of Victory Academy for Boys.) and read about the skills your teen will learn at WildHeart.

1. Help them start their own business. Here are 37 ideas to stir your thinking. If they aren’t the entrepreneur type, perhaps you can look at our article on helping kill the boredom in the summer where we give an idea for encouraging your teen to get busy at home with a point system that works for teens up through 17 years of age. Check it out here.

 
If you feel we can be of help to you or you are interested in WildHeart Adventure Camp, please contact us today.

Here are the other 3 articles on Gaming that we came across recently. They aren’t all from Christian sources, but we felt you’d find them interesting.
 

 
 
Study Finds Video Games May Have Positive Effects on Kids
 
Researchers at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues at Paris Descartes University and a number of other European universities assessed the association between the amount of time spent playing video games and children’s mental health and cognitive and social skills.  They found that playing video games may have positive effects… Click the link to read more.
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Certain Adolescent Brains Can’t Stop Gaming. That’s Good and Bad – Here’s Why

researchers employed magnetic resonance imaging on 106 boys ages of 10 to 19 — all of them seeking treatment for internet gaming disorder. The researchers then compared the findings to 80 boys without the disorder to see just how their neural wiring differed. Click the link to read more.
 
10 Things Every Parent Should Know About Gaming

A common trick young people pull is to ask extended family members and friends to give them games with higher ratings than appropriate for birthdays or as Christmas presents. If your kids have a generous grandmother or unassuming uncle from whom they typically receive gifts, make sure these folks know what your standards are and how to check ratings. Click the link to read more.
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