The Left Brain Child thread got me wondering....how do you fellow parents of gifted children view this activity? My son is very talented on the computer and it has extended beyond games but begins there. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

While I have seen many other kids be completely fine with screen time (TV, movies, gaming, etc.), it has a negative effect on our son unless we severely limit his access.

However, he is very talented with computer work in general. It didn't take him long to master basic programs like word processing and spreadsheets. Several years ago, he learned ALICE (a simple object oriented language for kids) and then jumped into Visual Basic with both feet. Now, he is fairly compentent in VB and can create basic programs for lots of purposes. He also loves Lego Mindstorms NXT and would probably be classified as "advanced" based on camps he's attended with actively-competing teams.

I think that gaming time can be separated from understanding programming. Our son has been working on designing a computer version of a board game that he created, and he gets a lot of enjoyment out of troubleshooting and figuring out how to make the game better from a user perspective.

Not a parent answering, but a gifted former child...video games can be a wonderful gateway to lots of fun educational tech stuff. When I was 10, I did a two-week summer program at my city's science museum where we designed a video game from scratch. We did everything from programming to level design and graphics ourselves - building skills (now that I look back on it) in art, maths, logic, language, and other areas. I also got into web design, which turned into an educational hobby and later a business - while my high school friends were getting minimum wage at McDonalds, I was getting $50 an hour for building websites, plus I had to learn a bit about business to do my own marketing, invoicing, etc.

Beyond that, I would suggest you do some research into video games (or better yet, join in your son's interest and explore them yourself) that are not designed as "educational games", but have plotlines that prompt the player to think deeply about the story and their own choices. For every "Die Hard", there's a "Dead Poets Society", and the same is true of video games.

zhian,

I appreciate your reply. I like the way you took your interest and took it further. Are you still working in the computer field?
My take on the gaming is the same as yours, that it is a gateway into more technical and advanced things such as programming. He has discovered a lot of really great tech. information in his quest to improve his gaming. This year he may have an opportunity to learn some real programming from an advanced (gifted) high school student. I think this will be great for him as the high school student will probably show him a lot of great "cheats" and tricks along with the more formal programming making for a more interesting and engaging learning experience.
I have two older sons (18 and 21) so I am pretty familiar with video games and Yes, good advice, I got involved and shared their interest as well. The son I am discussing in this thread is 8 and he is drawn mainly into rpg games such as Zelda(Wii) and Pirates of the Caribbean (online).
Do you have any games that you would recommend for either the Wii or the PC?

My son as well can adapt quite the attitude if left on the computer too long. EVERYTHING becomes an intrusion - food, school, sister, sleep.

What type of programming is your son using to recreate his board game?

Actually, I'm a teacher - currently teaching music in Beijing, but starting my MA in Gifted Ed in January.

As for recommendations, I'd have to say your son is in the right place with RPGs. Online RPGs can get repetitive and boring, especially if you're not drawn by the social element, but traditional offline RPGs are known for their strong and thoughtful stories. I'm not sure about what would be appropriate for your son - video game ratings aren't that useful to start with, but gifted kids mature at their own pace, so I'd suggest you read reviews or ESRB pages on some of these and see what you think. That said, check out something from developer/writer Ragnar Tornquist. "The Longest Journey" and "Dreamfall", which I loved, are probably too mature for your son (no violence but plenty of bad language), but "Syberia" might be okay. The development company Bioware is THE name in single-player RPGs these days; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is great, and not just for fans of the franchise. The aging Myst and Monkey Island series are classics, though I'll admit I've never played either myself. Monkey Island is very much a kid's game, and might be too simple for a gifted eight-year-old.

For games a bit more "out there" in concept and execution, try the ones mentioned in this article - World of Goo, Machinarium, and Braid especially.

The problem we have is that my kids, age 3 and 6, are constantly asking to play the video games. They would do them all the time if I let them. I don't think a lot of screen time is good for them. If they are glued to the TV or computer, they aren't playing in other ways. In fact, right now my dd3 is throwing a tantrum on the floor because I told her she can't play the new Spongebob video game that her brother got for his birthday (not my choice - it came from his aunt). I get tired of the begging - it will be a beautiful day here and my son will come home from school and not care about playing in the backyard - he'll want to go straight to the video games. We use the timer a lot. One compromise we have is that if it is educational, I will let them play it more. We have a few that I feel are pointless and mind-numbing - maybe I need to figure out how to remove them from the computer... I'll just tell them they broke??

I will say LadybugMom that when my son was little(3 or 4) he would throw temper tantrums over losing on a game or being asked to stop playing. He loved them so much that they became great currency in changing behavior starting with the issue of self-control. If he lost control at the game or when asked to stop he would lose his game privileges for the rest of the day or for longer depending on the behavior. He has long since learned to walk away from a game when he is getting too worked up and when told to turn it off I am often greeted with requests to "finish this battle and then turn it off". He only gets really bad if I let him play more than an hour or so.
As for SpongeBob, I kinda like him although I pretend otherwise. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........

Zhian,

Where will you be pursuing your MA in gifted ed.? I am finishing up my MA in Elementary Ed. I really wanted to pursue gifted ed. but since there are no state mandates for gifted ed. in Massachusetts my chance of teaching in a G & T program were slim to none.

Update: After she finished her tantrum, she started happily playing with the Mousetrap board game set up on the table.

This is a great thing to do Ladybugmom! Take out three or four toys and set them up to look inviting. If all the toys are put away my kids, even at 7 and 8, will wallow around and complain there is nothing to do. Another trick, start an activity yourself and see how fast it becomes the thing to do!

I have a lot of friends whose sons at one time or another forsaked many things the previously enjoyed to stay totally glued to games and TV. In discussing it, we came to the conclusion that is was the fathers' fault for not being more involved with their sons - maintaining that connection with them. So, now, they play with their sons on the games, even if they suck at it, to maintain that connection. They also enforce "family nights" where no games or TV - where they do anything they want.

This has worked quite well.

I know Mr W loves his videos and TV, but he also loves helping me do repairs (hands me the tools) and mow the yard. We only allow videos in the AM when we are getting ready and maybe some on the weekends. He is a lot more fun if he has had no TV, that is for sure.

I have to say, I HATE the term "screen time". To equate all television programs or all video games with each other is bad enough (think of the difference in mental stimulation between, say, "Hannah Montana" and "The Dead Zone"). To equate the two of them, a non-interactive medium with an interactive one, is even worse. There are plenty of video games that spark more thought than the very best "real toys".

Ladybugmom: I must advise you that your son is almost certain to know you've lied to him if you tell him his games "broke".

Austin: it's great to hear about parents playing games with their kids. My mom used to try and we always had a great time figuring out how she'd managed to get herself into whatever ridiculous situation she had found (it usually involved facing backwards and not realizing it)!

Breakaway: I've just been accepted to the University of Connecticut's MA program in Educational Psychology with a focus in Gifted Education. I'll be doing most of it online (summer courses in CT). It's a great program with a great reputation - Joe Renzulli is still a teaching faculty member (at 73!), the National Resource Center for Gifted and Talented is on the campus, and the Neag School of Education is consistently top-ranked. I also considered the University of North Texas. You can find more info on Hoagies.

Zhian,

I am very familiar with the program as it is the one I intended to attend, in the same format as you will be. I wish you great success in your studies. I am quite envious!

I was speaking out of frustration. I wasn't serious.

Ah, well I did wonder, but it's the sort of thing MY mom really would have tried...:D

I just need to come up with some guidelines - x number of minutes per day and use it as currency when I need him to pick up toys etc. Usually when I tell him he needs to pick up toys first, he forgets about the video game and plays with the toys instead of picking them up (easily distracted). I've been sick for the past 3 weeks with H1N1 so it's been really easy to just say "sure - you can play a video game while mommy lays on the couch!" I'm just now starting to feel human again so we need to get back into a routine.

limiting TV & computer game time in Parenting and advocacy has some ideas.

This is what I do. On a school day 1/2 hr computer time allowed and 1 hr on weekend. I keep it a little loose. If they are playing something good for them and it's a rainy day they can do more.

We had some problems with games getting too intense and behavior issues related to computer. Last summer, I took away all my son's game time on the computer and got him a online writing course which he loved. After the summer, he got games back except for one and he's not messing with me anymore on this.

DS loves the computer also and sometimes mentions wanting to be a video game designer. I'd love to hear more info about those that got their kids into programming.

Zhian,

Just to let you (and everyone) know...We downloaded free demos of Braid and World of Goo and the kids love 'em! Both require some great strategy and higher order thinking skills. Braid is very challenging but beautiful and very cool. Goo is challenging and cute. Thanks for the suggestions. We would have tried Machinarium but it was not available.

We used to allot 15 minutes of computer time a day for our DS4 and DS6. But then we started making them earn their computer time and it's worked out great!

They each have a jar, and during the course of the day, they can earn 1 minute, 5 minutes or 10 minutes chips (poker chips). They earn chips by being kind to one another (playing nicely for a period of time together, DS6 reading books to DS4, etc.) and other behaviors that need to be modified. This shifts over time.

They still can have only one computer time each day, but they can choose when to do it. Then if they earn more chips that day, they carry over to the next day.

We also make exceptions at times when they are doing something educational on the computer. For example, during the summer my DS6 used Time4Learning. Sometimes he spent hours on there, but he was learning a lot, so I was fine with it.

Here's a few thoughts based on what's been written here.

I found that we do better in our playroom to a few things left out all the time for the kids to choose from. Every few months take most of the stuff and put it away and bring out different toys and games. I think when they look at the same old stuff too long it becomes boring.

Whenever my kids say they are bored I would say that is telling you to use your imagination to come up with an idea. Let me know if you need more ideas.

I think this has something to do with why my son is a project guy. Ex. the kids came up with the idea of their own library. So they made several books and library cards. It was lots of fun.