Video games definitely helped my son socially. It gave him something to talk about with other kids when he couldn't really talk to them about sports or his other interests. His friends love to come to our house to play with the PS3. They play other friends online who couldn't come to the party but have their own PS3, and my son has met his friends' friends who enjoy the same games. They have so much fun with this and there is no way I would deny my son this little bit of fun.
I want my son to have some good memories of his childhood and I know he will remember some really good times with his friends.
My son plays games like Professor Layton's Curious Village. It has logic puzzles that require math knowledge and it is a fun way to keep him thinking about math, which is his least favorite subject.
I try to find fun ways to encourage my son to keep learning and video games and computer games have always been a part of it because they work for him. The only time he plays games that don't require thinking or strategy is when I want him to memorize or listen to something that he might think is boring. I can read to him and he can easily answer questions about what I read and he retains the information. I think he is able to pay better attention to what he is learning while playing a video game than he is if he were not playing a game. My husband and I used to listen to a radio at work when we had to do work that was tedious and boring. But I know that one of my son's friends tunes everything else out when he is playing a video game so it would not work for him.
