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Do you allow your children to play video games?

Do you encourage your children to play video games?

What consoles and games are the favorites?

What is your take on the brain type games (Big Brain Academy, Brain Age, Flash Focus)?

I do let them play video games in moderation. I do not encourage it but they want to play. We have a Wii and they love it!! They also both have DS's and they play with them too. Guitar Hero is a favorite as well as Pokemon games, Mario Brothers games, and Star Wars Legos is a huge favorite. I personally really enjoy My Word Coach as does DS10.

I think the brain type games are very, very fun. My nephew has Big Brain Academy and it is very fun to play. We have that as a board game and really enjoy it too.

I think Guitar Hero has helped my DS10's visual tracking issues somewhat as you really have to track the notes and then strum at the same time. It's probably not great therapy but I think it helps a bit. These games are also great socially as many of the children play them and they talk about it at school and discuss strategy, etc.

Allow - yes. Encourage - no. Sometimes my DH will play on the weekend. If DS2 sees DH playing, he'll ask to play the race car game. I'm not sure what it's called. I think we have an XBox 360. It doesn't bother me that DS2 plays this game with his dad. It feeds into his love of *wheeled* things. DS2 enjoys selecting the make/model and attributes of the cars. He also enjoys purposeful crashing.

Allow, though not often. Most often they play games on the Hot Wheels website, though occasionally they'll also play on Webkinz or DS6 will play on a math games website.

If the kids are on the computer, I can't be...so you know how rare they're on based on how often I post!

I was originally anti-video game, based on what my SIL says about it (trouble getting her boys away from it - it has kinda become a discipline problem/tool in their house). But now I've been looking at creative ways to improve processing speed since at least one of them is slower in that regard, and yesterday I gave DH permission to buy an old nintendo on ebay, along with simple games (mario/duck hunt). As it is, the kids (DS5, DS5, and DD7) are constantly begging to get on the computer. Plus, a while ago an incredibly brilliant friend of ours happened to mention that he played countless hours of video games in his youth (didn't seem to hurt him or his social skills. He has achieved some great things). I also bought some educational software, but so far the only one they like is Math Missions, and I have it set up on an old computer. If anyone has recommendations for software for this age group, I'd love to hear them.

We don't have a video game system or any little handheld thingies.

Our DS8 has his own computer that he mostly uses for lessons. He is allowed to go to a small handful of websites (everything else online is blocked) and has a few games on his computer. Most of the time that I allow him to play computer games these days, it's chess or Civilizations III.

Tara

Civ 4 with the "Warlords" expansion pack is better, Tara. By a lot! GREAT improvements there, and I've been a fan of Civ since the late 80s, so I know whereof I speak.

Thank you for that suggestion, Kriston.

Do you know if Civ 4 limits actions to what would be historically accurate? I admit that it bothers me a little when DS talks about how he has placed the Sistine Chapel in Mumbai, or that Alexander the Great is controlling a land in the 19th century.

I know, I know...I'm a control freak!

Tara

No, sorry, everything can be built anywhere. It's part of the competition. To be honest, I think its nice that a game even includes the ability to build the Sistine Chapel!

However, there are civilization-specific city improvements and military units. For example, only the American civilization gets the musketeer and only the French get the salon, and these special things carry bonuses to the civilization who builds them. That's a nice touch, I think.

Also, the set-up for building a bigger empire is less frustrating. You can build bigger without the HUGE penalties, so it's more fun to expand.

Perhaps if you want more details, we should take this to a PM, lest someone think I work for the game's makers...;)

I PM'd you! Thanks.

Tara