The question, are video games good for you? I have been giving tuition to young children & teenagers in my neighbourhood for about 2 years now. And often, parents would always bring up the topic of ''my child is addicted to video games'', ''his grades are undesirable'', etc. Some got so worried & helpless that they resorted to the extreme way of confiscating the child's laptop & setting passwords on the log on [such that they gain complete control over when their kid's usage of the computer]. From what I know through small chats with my students, they tend to get very frustrated & irrtated the moment they were told that they could only use the computers on weekends for a few hours or they discovered that they could not log on to their computers. Some will even get aggressive with their parents & tend to be more rebellious by getting in schools fights or problems with school regulations just to spite or get back at their parents. From what I understand, they retaliate because they felt threatened & that freedom is being invaded, hence the violence comes about.

Some of the parents I know of will paste up posters/articles on gaming addictions, self-discipline & so on in their child's study room. I understand the parents' genuine concern over their child & really desperate for ways to stop their children from being addicted to video games. But one point that they did not realize is that things will get worse from their way of setting passwords or restricting the child's computer usuage. Situations snowballed & get more serious when their child became more rebellious to prove to their moms & dads that they will not be controlled & the poor desperate moms & dads will either give them a tough scolding or ground them hoping that their child will learn well.

In my own opinion, I always believe that solving problems harmonically requires two hands to clap. Why instill a sense of threat in the children by restricitng their freedom? It's normal for humans to retailate to circumstances that we feel unpleasant to us. We'll get tensed up. What I feel that is the correct way is to gather & have a calm chat whereby both parties confide in each other. Parents should confide to their child about their worries & request the child to lessen the time spent on video games, instead of completely ban the usage of computers so that the child will feel less threatened & feel that his mom & dad respected his freedom & asked for permission? It would not strain the relationship further.

Actually, allowing young children to play video games is not completely bad. It is just that video games are to be played in moderation so that things that are needed to be done are not ignored. Firstly, video games have social development on children. They can gather together with their classmates/friends just to play XBox or playstations or even online games at home. They will make some good friends with classmates/neighbourhood kids & will look forward to attending schools more. Equipped with strong friendships with classmates, they will participate more in school activities, engage more in school projects & all in all, their grades will definitely improve. Parents can also join in & engage with their child through playing video games together on weekends/family days. Through this opportunity, they can understand their child more & are able to enter their child's inner world. Make it an enjoyable gathering & children will get less addicted to playing online games as they look forward to playing video games with their moms/dads more than playing by themselves. Child-parent relationship will improve & things will eventually gets better. Their child will also be more sociable & willing to voice out their feelings & thoughts.

Secondly, challenging video games can instill a sense of achievement in children. In a video game, be it be a mulit-massive-online-role-playing game or just you versus the computer, winning instills a strong sense of achievement & for parents who have never once picked up a game controller, they will never understand. Having the sense of achievement allows the child to feel confident & will definitely rise the mood of the day. Of course, we should keep always keep in mind that we shouldn't let our moods be completely determined by the winning/losing of the game. This is true for my case. When I was still a kid, I used to play Comand & Conquer, Diablo, The Sims, Get Medival, etc with my brother alongside guiding me. I used to be very hostile to my brother as we could not get along well but through gaming, we patched up quickly & our relationship eventually got better. Everyday we would spend a few hours in turns to play games online & after that we would do our school work together. We even planned for my mother's birthday celebration together! And I was really shy in school which result in me having almost zero friends. But once, I timidly shared with my classmates about my gaming experience & while mumbling, I really thought that they would not pay much attention to what I said. Instead, the bunch of us got excited & started to share tips on the games we played. I made lots of friends & gained confidence along the way. I had a fulfilling childhood.

Thirdly, video games aren't downright bad for kids as in certain games, they train our eye & hand coordination (example: Counter-strike) & leadership as someone has to give commands & instructions to counter the terrorists. We will brainstorm on strategies & in certain unpredictable situations, we'll try to outsmart the enemy team with our quick wits. In other games like 12Sky, Flyff, MapleStory, kids get to explore the various maps in game & learn to observe, do critical thinking etc. One addition point is that video games that have nice graphics can allow kids to immerse into a whole new world where there is lots of room for creativiy & imagination. Along the way, it also serve as a channel for kids to get away for awhile from the hectic schedules & harsh reality. It is a form of destress actually. In a nutshell, if everything works well together, with moderate playing of computer games & self-discipline, playing video games are not that bad afterall. Right parents? =D