Children and Their Video Game

The children's form of entertainment has greatly evolved as years pass. During my childhood years, my enjoyment comes from my group of friends who often play hide and seek with me. We also play street football and dodge ball during summer vacation. However, if you will ask the kids now, the only thing they know is to play football and basketball, but not in the playing courts but in their video games. Stacks of CD games and chips often accompany them. The onset of online games has even opened a completely new level of gaming, having online alliances and rivals. They are a type of entertainment that is only one of its kind, because they persuade players to participate and eventually become a part of the game's screenplay

I have been watching my first-born son since he was acquainted with computer games. He was only 1 year old and a half when he started playing counterstrike and currently he is going nine. I have seen positive and negative effects on him that made me appreciate and at the same time dislike this new generation form of entertainment.

Positive Effects

The positive effect on him is that he was able to develop a remarkable ability to comprehend mathematical computation and analysis without difficulty. If I will be comparing the development of the analytical side of his mind, I can say that he is way beyond his classmates and group of friends' level. I have even compared him to his 12-year-old cousin and there are times that he could grasp math word problems effortlessly. There are several studies that mentions positive effects like this, examples are enhanced cognitive function (which is what I've seen in my child), improved hand and eye coordination and better visualization

Negative Effects

However, there are also research that shows several negative effects on the child like becoming more aggressive and violent, and even high blood pressure. However, I've seen traces of being assertive and intense with my child; I believe that this is something a constant calm and loving discussion can control. What I was more concerned with was his routine of eating and then sitting down and playing video games with either the computer or his PSP. He has less friends and is slowly becoming chubby. Though fat blockers like garcinia extract can help, I still don't want him to grow and live a sedentary life.

As of the present, I believe he has outgrown his unusual affinity to video games and this is still because of playing games (NBA) in his PSP. Probably he wanted to experience the thrill of being able to shoot the ball in the ring that's why he decided to go from theoretical to actual encounter. As of the present, he constantly accompanies his Dad to his practices and even tries to dunk on a regular basis.

My child's experience might be different from other children but I believe that there are several things crucial to every growing youngster- enough freedom to learn and explore collaborated with adequate amount of discipline and copious amount of love and understanding.