#the reason i keep bringing up media literacy is because that seems to often be people's excuse for this sort of thing?

[whittlewillow]

media literacy and analysis is important and all but that doesn't mean there's no such thing as reading too far into something.

almost all the major criticisms i hear towards cottagecore make little to no sense. they'll be petty, they'll generalize, they'll find problems that don't exist, they'll miss the point or appeal, often they'll just lie, straight up.

it comes from people not realizing that it's ok to simply dislike something, so they have to find a way to justify anything they don't like. it's not media literate to think "how can i make this seem evil regardless of whether or not it actually is?"

i can't speak for everyone who likes cottagecore but let me explain why I like it. i think 3 of 4 of these are the same for most cottagecore fans:

number one reason id it's pretty. number two is that it's carefree and relaxing. it's not a realistic depiction of being a farmer 100+ years ago but it's not supposed to be. it's an idealized fantasy world. i think most people have dreamed about living with nature or only having to do fun work, that's what cottagecore is. all the work you see in cottagecore content is usually simple, sanitized versions of real and difficult tasks like animal husbandry or farming, but they're seen through rose tinted glasses that make them seem fun. and that's ok, because it's a fantasy about a fictional past that never happened. fantasies don't have to be entirely realistic, can you imagine how boring that would be? number three is that it's very feminine, and i'm a very non-passing trans woman who rarely feels feminine and that gives me a lot of grief, so of course hyperfeminine fantasies like this appeal to me... number four is that i like nature.

that's it. it doesn't have to be super deep.

we could read into that further, why those things are important to us. why do people think it's pretty? why is it important that it's feminine? whatever. that's a good thing to discuss, but what is NOT good and what is NOT an example of practising good media literacy is jumping to conclusions, making assumptions based on very little evidence, or generalizing all people who like this aesthetic into one misogynistic, racist monolith.

psychoanalysis is pseudoscience. you cannot make enormous assumptions about the minds of every member of a massive and diverse group of people based on their interest in low-stakes feminine fantasy worlds. also, side note but i just noticed, you rarely hear these complaints when it comes to more masculine fantasy.

also, so many people talk about cottagecore like it's some kind of organization?? weird. take like, 20 steps back. it's obviously a fandom. maybe a subculture sometimes.

-

i think a lot of yall just want something to hate.

but there are SO MANY THINGS more worth hating than this.

why don't yall try hating fascism or something? and like, ACTUAL fascism not the imaginary fascism that yall like to apply to anything you don't understand.

try hating project 2025, or the ccp's concentration camps for muslims, or russia's annex of ukraine, the anti-homosexuality act in uganda, the war in gaza, neonazis...

ppl want cottagecore to be evil SO BAD and it's weird

[bengiyo]

Hi! I'm here for the ask game and ready for you to choose violence! I'm interested in questions #3, 12, 18, and 25. If you don't mind, I want to narrow these questions to BL only, unless you have a particularly violent non-BL answer that's too good not to share. I don't have any specific BLs in mind, but if a restriction like "only those that finished or will finish airing this year" or "not this year" is interesting or productive, have at it. Thanks!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

I'm just gonna keep talking about La Pluie. I saw multiple reactions calling most of episode 8 boring. I am sorry, but if you came to the show interrogating the concept of soulmates and were bored because the two romantic leads said that they choose each other even if they aren't destined to be together, I think you are too jaded and need to take a break from romance.

Sincerely, it baffles me to see people engaging with genre stories and seemingly getting mad that a show is playing around with the conventions of the drama. The spoiler culture brain rot is destroying media literacy and it really makes me sad that it seems like we're chasing the high of something new and unexpected. This on the website of the people reading the same kind of fanfic for the umpteenth time to get their fix.

I just don't get going into romance and being mad that they're doing the big romance things in a show literally about big romance.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I am going to interpret this to mean a character that the fandom doesn't like, and not just someone that folks don't know about. I could write about Uncle Man from 21 Days Theory, and I've already written about Framboise.

So I'm going to write about Korn from UWMA. Sometimes I will say on the podcast that "y'all don't like gay men when we're not pretty, funny, sexy, or entertaining." I have to suffer through comments about how Kao is a bad actor or that Korn sucks all the time, and both are wrong. Y'all just don't care about the stoic gay boys that try their damndest to pass and quietly suffer.

Korn is a tragic character because he was trying to be the man that he was expected to be, and then Intouch came along. He was harsh to Intouch throughout much of their romance because he knew what he was going to do. You can see the pain leaking out of that man's eyes the entire time. Intouch tried to save him. Hell, they brought Perth Tanapon to cry about their deaths to hammer home how sad the whole thing was.

It just makes me really sad sometimes around here that we're only ever going to get worked up about the loud and flamboyant characters, or the especially pretty and charming ones.

I am here for characters like Korn (UWMA), Mamoru (Kabe Koji), Shiro (WDYEY), Mitsuru (EY), Teh (IPYTM), Cairo (Gameboys), Shin (3WBF), Inthawut (180DLPTU), and many more.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Currently, I feel some kinda way about how people keep looking for reasons to hate Patts in La Pluie, as if his ideal partner signalling is somehow to be mistrusted. It's just a bit sad for me that folks seem determined to hate the lead in this.

I don't really ever get second lead syndrome that often, so everyone on the Lomfon-Tai train confuses me. Lomfon is RUDE, and I do not fuck with that boy.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Not a specific complaint, but I've said many times around here that I really hate when folks abuse the tools of criticism to say that they didn't like something. Y'all really don't need to pathologize why you don't like something and reach for flaws in the storytelling or production to justify why you don't like something.

We are a niche fandom. We are not seeing the huge sums of money poured into our productions that huge setpieces are going to get. Y'all need to show a little fucking grace to the creators bringing these things to us.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

[jenner-benjamin]

Xu Bing

‘Book from the Sky’ by Xu Bing, 1987-1991- mixed media installation (installation view at Crossings/Traversées, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1998).

Xu Bing is a multi-disciplinary printmaker who is world renowned for his prints, calligraphy and installations that discuss the purpose of language. In a year where I have been questioning where my practice fits in relation to print it has been useful to explore Bing’s past works. 

The body of work that he is most known for is ‘Book from the Sky’. This was a huge project wherein which Bing carved over 4000 woodblock characters that appear to be Chinese but were in actual fact completely void of semantic meaning. He explains that the conceptual reasoning behind the work was to provoke confusion and unease in his audience, given their attempts to read the illegible.

‘Book from the Sky’ is a great example of the combination of printmaking and asemic writing. Though it is not strictly handwritten, the character forms exude a handwritten feel due to the emphasis placed on the calligraphic mark. This is similar to the ‘lostalgia’ typeface that I made but lost faith in due to its inability to communicate gesture and emotion. The typeface became an experiment that exists ‘just because’. I think the most notable difference between 'lostalgia’ and 'Book from the Sky’ is that Bing made his characters intentionally to instil a discomfort in his audience whereas I came from a place of inquisitiveness. 

‘Book from the Sky’ by Xu Bing, 1987-1991- relief printed artist’s book.

I am motivated by the many ways in which Bing installed and presented these prints. A great many artists’ books laid in rows on the floor, scrolls hanging from the ceiling and suspended on the walls. It really looks to be an all encompassing experience, and one that confidently announces his cultural identity through the synergy of subject matter and presentation. 

My peers and I will not be experiencing an end of degree exhibition this summer, but I have been thinking ahead for future exhibitions nonetheless. In particular I have been contemplating how I might curate my drawings and prints in a creative way that highlights my own identity. Seeing the many ways that Bing has displayed his work has shown that there are unique ways that asemic works and book arts can be exhibited away from the standard white wall gallery, eye-level hanging aesthetic to which we are accustomed. 

‘Square Word Calligraphy’ by Xu Bing, ink on paper - 1994-present.

‘Square Word Calligraphy’ by Xu Bing, ink on paper - 1994-present.

‘Square Word Calligraphy’ is an ongoing body of work by Bing that shows the meeting of Eastern and Western calligraphy. He combines the two writing styles to create a new ‘species’ of language. Though the characters look a little uncertain, they feel different to the nonsensical forms found in ‘Book of the Sky’. The audience feel a sense of accomplishment and relief when they learn the characters are decipherable. 

This revelation is welcomed further upon entering Bing’s installation that is an imitation of an adult literacy class. The exhibition space includes textbooks, videos and practice papers to evoke the sense of being in a classroom. In effect the viewer becomes a student being taught how to write this new language. I think this interactive method of exhibiting is not only novel in its execution, but also inspires an excitement about writing by hand. This is an area of focus that I am keen to address at the moment. I intend to include this participatory notion in my ‘Fantasy Exhibition’ written report as a means of testing ideas for the future. Setting up some sort of participatory performance area would have been something I would have liked to have explored if the degree show would have carried on as we would have hoped. 

‘Book from the Ground’ by Xu Bing, mixed media - 2003-present.

The third and final example of Bing’s works that I have been reading about is ‘Book from the Sky’s companion volume, ‘Book from the Ground’. Bing noticed on his travels that despite where he was in the world he could understand the icons and symbols that directed him towards the shops or the toilets or where to eat. He began to collect these pictograms and curated this source material into a novel that tells the story of a day in the life of an office worker. 

He wrote this book in such a way that anyone from anywhere in the world could read it, regardless of their cultural background, educational history or linguistic ability. Bing realised that contemporary culture is so saturated with informational logograms and pictograms that this universality meant the story would not need to be translated. As such, the book could be published anywhere in the world and still be understood. In contrast to ‘Book from the Sky’, this novel aims to one day bring to fruition Bing’s vision of a universal language. I have come across this notion before from my research around ‘Esperanto’. 

The idea of a globally inclusive language seems to be one that asemic artists address quite often. This is such a big question to think about, and might be one to come back to in the future. I am looking ahead to the possibility of further research, and this inquiry is food for thought for a potential research proposal. 

‘Book from the Ground Software’ by Xu Bing, computer software and mixed media installation - 2003-present.

In terms of exhibiting this work, Bing made a database software of symbols that users can access, entering words in English or Chinese that will be translated using his lexicon of signs. In essence this software becomes a go-between method of communication between the two languages. This forward thinking project will regularly become outdated due to the rapid rate that technology is advancing, and so Bing will keep his software as up to date as possible - like the dictionary in the real world.   

These are three varying examples of how language has been explored to confuse, to inspire and to communicate. I am grateful to have happened across Bing’s work, I feel so excited that there are artists that are using linguistics in such a creative way. I am particularly encouraged by ‘Square Word Calligraphy’, solely for the fact it urges the spectator to be part of the performance and to advocate writing by hand. Much of the ideas I have garnered from this research have stimulated thoughts for later proposals, I have begun to think about discourse around ideas of asemic writing, narrative and universally understood languages and this has been a solid starting point from which I can branch out and build upon.   

[acompleteunknown2024]

i keep returning to this because it's just such a cruel way of talking about this movie or really about any piece of art..... and like it's coming from people who seem to posture as progressive and you can tell that what they're thinking to themselves is "well i'm just giving this movie full critical consideration like i would any other movie because to hold back my vitriol would actually be to coddle trans people and not think about their art with as much complexity as i do the art of cis people so this review is actually fair and enlightened" but that is absolutely not what most of these reviews and comments that i've read are doing at all and is also a way of behaving that is just so removed from the reality of transphobia in the world and does zero introspection re: any transphobic biases this person may be influenced by. there is something so condescending (not to mention straight up false) about acting like a movie is only garnering acclaim because trans people relate to it. as if the trans viewers that this movie spoke to all completely lack artistic eye and taste and critical thinking skills and media literacy. as if we are stupid irrational babies who can only go "ooh! transness on screen! guess i'll call that a good movie!" and didn't have reasons for enjoying it that had to do with, oh, i don't know, artistic merit or anything? AND. as if being emotionally moved by a piece of art is a bad reason to give it a good review? is that not like. the point of art? to say "i was moved by this" is often to say "these stylistic and formal and narrative choices all worked together to bring this emotional reaction out of me and this is why i think this movie is effective" like that is kind of a central part of film criticism. if you're going to write off emotion as a valuable reason to praise a piece of art i really don't think you're understanding film as a medium. and obviously it's not that i don't think that people who thought this movie was bad shouldn't express that but i really wish that they would realize that no matter how "leftist" they call themselves they're not having these opinions in a vacuum and that on some level their meanness about this "weird" trans movie and inability to take it seriously or engage with it meaningfully and the way they are laughing at and discrediting anyone who liked it as "desperate for trans movies" or "afraid of offending trans people" juuuuust might have some transphobic roots. so like maybe interrogate that a little bit first. and also you can probably do without punching down at trans filmmakers and being harsher on queer artists than cis straight ones. just my thoughts!

still not sold on if i saw the tv glow was Good and i certainly have critiques but i was scrolling letterboxd to see if others' opinions would guide me at all and man it really doesn't help that most negative reviews of it on there are just the meanest most jaded asshole on the internet acting like they are about to be crucified on the cross for hating this movie

[is6621]

Technology & The Classroom: A blog for our class about technology By Katherine Vitale

I recently read a case about Amazon in one of my other marketing classes, and found myself amazed by how many products Amazon has that I have never even heard of.  In keeping with my last blog post about Alexa, I decided to look into Amazon’s services a little bit more and found what seems like one of Amazon’s passion projects— Amazon Inspire.

Amazon Inspire is the self-proclaimed “destination for K-12 educational resources.” It operates like an ideas marketplace, although all of the content is free to download. Essentially, teachers, administrators, or anyone with high-quality, relevant K-12 resources can upload and publish to Amazon Inspire. Teachers are then able to easily discover and gather quality educational content, and engage in a community of educators and people who are passionate about K-12 education. The site functions similarly to Amazon’s site that we are all familiar with. Users can search by features (ex: grade level, resource type, subject), and pick which resource is best suited for their needs by relying on the reviews of their peers. Amazon Inspire uses a rating system, so users can easily find the best content.

Furthermore, Amazon has engaged large corporations to share content as well. For example, BioBuilder has the goal of “bringing tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms.” Therefore, they published content focused on current questions and experiments in the field of synthetic biology. This initiative aims to support teachers as they try to encourage STEM careers in the classroom, largely by providing resources that are more up-to-date and applicable than a biology textbook. The Newseum, located in Washington DC, also decided to publish content, specifically focused on explaining and defending the First Amendment. In a time where the trustworthiness of “the media” is often questioned, the Newseum aims to teach students about the First Amendment and increase their media literacy. By using history and providing teachers with access to the Newseum’s primary sources, the Newseum aims to create educated students who are able to analyze and synthesize information and media by themselves. Both of these companies have nothing to gain from publishing content on Amazon Inspire, but use this platform as a way to give teachers access to exclusive content that will enhance their lesson plans. Amazon Inspire will help educators discover digital resources published by their peers and invested companies, and will hopefully improve the quality of education across the country.

After exploring this service specifically, I was inclined to learn about other ways that the “digital classroom” is becoming a reality. While I wasn’t expecting this to be a literal digital classroom, I discovered one school in Central California where kids are attending virtual school. Connections Academy is a high-quality, tuition-free online public school for grades K-12. Although this concept seems foreign, 93% of parents agree that the school’s technology tools improve their child’s learning experience. A study shows that online schools can provide students with the same level of achievement as traditional brick-and-mortar schools serving similar students. Although these schools are likely largely beneficial for people that struggle to go to a physical school (ex: for social or physical reasons), it is not difficult to imagine these schools becoming increasingly commonplace. Especially as many public schools do not receive adequate funding, digital schools could be explored as a way to “level the playing field” and allow students in low-income areas to access better education.

Lastly, I discovered that many school districts are experimenting with virtual reality in the classroom, specifically in middle and high schools. Schools are actually a good place to experiment with VR, even though the tech background is often not there. Since teachers are so open to learning and willing to take risks and experiment for their students, adaptation is often successful. Kris Hupp, the director of technology and instructional innovation at a small school district in PA, says that VR in the classroom is powerful because of how closely it can be linked with what students are learning on a day-to-day basis. For example, in an Environmental Science class, students are able to use VR to actually explore different biomes, or in a Social Studies class, students can attend presidential inaugurations as if they were actually there. Furthermore, the interest in pursuing STEM careers peaks in middle school and then sharply declines, especially among girls. In middle school, 74% of girls express an interest in engineering, science, and math, but only 0.3% choose computer science as their college major. By incorporating innovative technology into the classroom from a young age, students may discover a deeper passion for technology and continue to pursue this interest in higher education.

Technology is becoming a larger and larger part of classrooms, if not becoming the classroom itself. As computers become a larger part of society, the integration of this technology into the classroom will hopefully develop an educational passion for these disciplines. At the very least, technology provides the opportunity for teachers to connect and figure out how to better their teaching, whether incorporating new tech or not.  

Sources:

https://www.amazoninspire.com/

https://www.amazoninspire.com/faqs#GettingStarted

http://www.thesungazette.com/article/news/2018/09/12/central-valley-students-take-seats-in-virtual-k-12-school/

https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/09/qa-vr-innovator-kris-hupp-best-ways-bring-tech-schools

https://www.idtech.com/blog/stem-education-statistics

[serastepsforward]

On Earth Media

     My fields of study in higher education were largely under the umbrella of Film & Digital Media with a focus on criticism, context, and media literacy, though I did enjoy a light introduction to some production techniques.  I also went through a minor in Electronic Music Production where I honed some audio engineering skills and knowledge.  After graduating and moving back home to a city widely considered to be a major media hub of the planet, I found myself finding difficulty landing steady work in the more analytical side of media.  Currently I support myself modestly through occasional freelance sound design/audio mixing jobs.

     On my journey so far, I have taken note of the wide spectrum of media available for public consumption on the subject of cryptids, UFOs, and psychic ability.  Nowadays, through the wonders of the internet, the average citizen of Earth has access to a plethora of research, hypotheses, and even hard evidence.  Due to this ocean of availability, however, it can sometimes be difficult to parse fact from fiction or earnest research from cynical entertainment.  I enthusiastically accept this challenge!  I absolutely love to consume the gamut of Earth Media for the purpose of gaining insights and truths.  My excitement sometimes can get the best of me though, as I’ve shared some pretty ‘out there’ videos with some friends that almost cost me their trust!

     One of my first “hints” I would tell friends after I first delved into the Disclosure Project was to Pay Attention To How Beings Are Depicted.  Does the piece of media you’re watching purport itself to be a documentary?  Was it broadcast on television with commercial breaks, structured with incentives to keep the viewer watching?  Are the dramatic reenactments similar in tone to a horror movie?  How does the music make the viewer feel?  Does the program want you to feel dread over comfort?  Fear over Love?

     During my reentrance to the paranormal in October 2018, I found myself drawn to the exploitative fodder of Zak Bagans’ Ghost Hunters.  Here was a group of investigators who believed in what they were researching, had repeated experiences both individually and shared, and displayed a kind of understanding regarding the energies with which they would interact, but for some reason I guess in adherence to the formula of their process they go about their contact research with downright aggressive, often hostile intentions.

     At first I treated each episode like a kind of comedy, laughing at these silly men who shouted vague threats into the spirit world.  The more I watched, however, the more it became apparent they were simply going about everything in the worst ways.  They were able to retrieve substantial bits of evidence but their means of communication were often far too fearful, angry, or unfocused.

     Bagans and his team serve as a useful avatar for all those who would rather not “let the cat out of the bag” so to speak.  Showmen who aim for capitalistic gains through self promotion, branding, and secretly ineffective methods are perfect for keeping the public curious enough to keep watching but skeptical enough to not “buy” every aspect of a show, or an entire phenomenon for that matter.  (I do not claim there to be anyone behind this as some sort of conspiracy, these are merely observations I’ve made about things we do as Earth Humans.)

     I noticed a very similar framework comprising the show Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet.  My introduction to this show was after I had already been initiated through several lecture videos on the psychic and gentle nature of Sasquatch People, so I once again attempted to make my way through a few episodes interpreting it all as Comedy.  “Silly Humans,” I would tell myself.  However, knowing what I had been told, aspects of this program began to make me physically queasy.  Eventually I found I would be hit with waves of nausea whenever I’d try to watch media that depicts Sasquatch People, Star Nations, or other friendly cryptids in any sort of threatening or scary way.  I did appreciate the peaceful nature of the researchers on Finding Bigfoot, they seem to be curious with good hearts.

     There does exist a surprisingly productive clip from the show available on Youtube.  The regular research team is joined by paranormal investigators Greg Newkirk and Dana Matthews (a pair I first saw in their docuseries Hellier last month) who introduce everyone to the wonderful Kathleen Odom, a psychic who regularly acts as a medium between us ‘hairless humans’ and the Sasquatch People.  I’ve seen several videos of Kathleen reading the transcripts of her interviews with various Sasquatch Friends, each time I am deeply moved.  This scene, albeit short and ‘weird’ enough to be perhaps forgotten by more skeptical viewers, contained some of the most vital research I had seen from the show thus far.

     Unfortunately, several Earth Humans who study Sasquatch People try to split researchers into separate camps.  There are many attending events or conferences who in their hearts “believe in Sasquatch,” but will heckle or walk out on a speaker who brings up the psychic connection to other paranormal phenomena.  I believe this division to be unproductive and unnecessary!  There is also the perpetuated mentality of hunters and more violently-minded scientists who have convinced themselves the only method of gathering proof is to somehow possess a dead body.  Even just typing those words out now has filled me with a deep sadness.  I pray someday soon we are able to reach such fearful minds and coax them toward love.

     It is largely the fault of lifelong conditioning through our all-too-digestible media that we still fear our unseen friends.  We’ve become fluent in the language of Horror Tropes: shadowy figures, disembodied whispers, glowing eyes, and snapping branches automatically read to most of us as DANGEROUS because of the movies, television, songs, and stories we’ve lovingly consumed all our lives.  In almost all of such cases however, I have been reassured that these are merely indicators of a curious presence in our midst.

     Many Earth Humans are also culturally encouraged to ‘protect our own’ through toxic expectations of distorted social roles such as masculinity or parenthood (often rooted in sexism and racism), to ‘stand our ground’ & ‘defend our land’ even when the ground or land was never ‘ours’ to begin with!  For many, particularly those who cling to the established institutions and beliefs of our standing civilizations, it will take a fundamental uprooting of their own core values before they can begin taking more productive steps forward.  To those unused to tapping into their own sensitivity or vulnerability, it can feel as if their understanding of spectral extremes are suddenly swapping.  It may very well feel like Right becoming Left or Man becoming Woman (and vice versa) as binary beliefs are stripped away in service of a gentler and more fluid understanding.

     The other day sitting in traffic I thought, monsters are just friends we haven’t met yet.  If we are able to keep our emotions in check during an experience of high strangeness or even direct contact, I am assured the results will be exponentially more rewarding.  When I say “keep our emotions in check” I don’t mean to suppress our emotions, I mean to put Love First above fear.  Intention is everything, as it is reflected back; fear will be felt by all parties if it is allowed to grow.  This is precisely what I wish to work on for myself in the coming months and years.  Focusing, calming, approaching each experience with genuine Love from my heart space.  Every day I can feel this love replacing more and more old fears.  Even though I am still very much a novice, this mindfulness has already begun to improve some of my personal and professional relationships.  It’s all so very exciting!

[andrewdburton]

My travel and speaking schedule for 2020

It's that time of year! I've been sorting through speaking invitations and comparing event schedules to my personal plans. I now have a rough idea of where I'll be in 2020 — and when. (As I finalize details, I'll update this post to reflect any changes.)

This year, I'll be traveling much less than last.

In 2019, I was away from home something like 3-1/2 months out of twelve. That was too much. In 2020, I'm deliberately saying “no” to opportunities. Still, I enjoy meeting and connecting with other folks who want to improve their lives — and the lives of others. So, I've agreed to a handful of engagements.

Here are the highlights from my “money event” calendar for the next few months.

“Intro to FIRE” Project (March 31st)

Before I do any travel, I have to do some work.

At the moment, most of my energy and attention is devoted to a five-hour audio-only project that I'm writing for Audible and The Great Courses. They've recruited me to create an introduction to financial independence and early retirement. It'll contain ten half-hour lessons on topics ranging from purpose to profit.

My first deadline for this project was January 31st. I turned in half of the course (which totaled about 20,000 words) and am awaiting feedback. The final five lectures are due by March 31st. My aim is to finish these by March 25th, my birthday. (I'd love to have more review time for editing and other improvements.)

In early May, after a speaking gig in St. Louis, I'll fly to Virginia to record the course. I'm not sure when it'll be released, but I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Plutus Voices: Portland (April 16th)

Get Rich Slowly turns fourteen on April 15th. To celebrate, I'll be hosting a Plutus Voices event here in portland.

The Plutus Foundation is a financial-literacy non-profit for which I am a board member. Plutus Voices is “a series of learning and networking events for the financial media bringing attention to important topics”. The Phoenix event, for instance, discussed meeting the financial needs of underserved communities. In Denver, we discussed financial independence and women.

On April 16th (or perhaps the 15th), Luna Jaffe and I will co-host a Portland event during which we'll explore our changing relationships with money. We may or may not be joined by our pal, Dougls Tsoi.

We're in the initial planning stages for Plutus Voices: Portland. I'll post more info (such as time and location) when I have it.

Financial Freedom Summit: St. Louis (May 1st to 3rd)

In early May, I'll fly to St. Louis for the first-ever Financial Freedom Summit. This event is “for anyone interested in pursuing financial freedom”, whether you're just starting you're journey toward F.I. or you've already reached early retirement.

Because this is the first FFS, I can't comment on what it'll be like. I have no idea. But it's being organized by some smart folks, so I'm hopeful that it will grow into an annual mecca for money nerds. I've agreed to speak in some limited capacity — possibly an on-stage Q&A about life after early retirement — but mostly I'm looking forward to hang out with readers and colleagues.

Camp Mustache: Seattle (May 22nd to 25th)

Several years ago, a group of Mr. Money Mustache readers got together at a retreat center outside Seattle over the long Memorial Day weekend. They've repeated this gathering every year since. This year, Camp Mustache tickets sold out in twenty seconds.

Camp Mustache is fun for a variety of reasons. It's low-key. It's egalitarian (meaning there are no “speakers” per se; anyone can present). And it's a place for like-minded folks to share their stories of extreme frugality and travel hacking. For me, it's an opportunity to spend time with people that I don't get to see as often as I'd like.

Chautauqua: Ecuador (August 29th to September 5th)

My big event for the year will be yet another money chautauqua.

In 2013, J.L. Collins from The Simple Path to Wealth partnered with Cheryl Reed to host the first-ever F.I. chautauqua, a week-long retreat for like-minded folks to discuss the path to financial freedom — and what comes after.

That year, I spoke for the first time about about the connection between money and meaning. Since then, I've returned to give the same presentation in 2014, 2016, and 2019. I'll do it again in 2020.

Out of all the money events I'm a part of, the chautauquas (chautauquae?) are my favorite. They're intense. For an entire week, a group of twenty or thirty people spend nearly every waking moment together to talk about money. Each speaker gives a two- or three-hour presentation. Plus, we have hour-long meetings with interested attendees.

Today, there are two different chautauqua events.

The official J.L. Collins chautauqua hops around Europe. In 2018, it was held in Greece. Last year, we met in Portugal. This year, folks will fly to Croatia. From my experience, this event is targeted at folks who are “fatFIRE”, those who tend to have higher net worths and higher spending. It's deliberately designed as a “premium event”. Dates and speakers for this year's European F.I. chautauqua aren't out yet, but should be announced soon.

The Ecuador chautauqua tends to have a different focus. It's more geared toward the “leanFIRE” crowd. Presentations are often about the Big Picture rather than simply about wealth-building. And some years are barely about money at all. (In 2016, I hosted a week with Leo from Zen Habits and David from Raptitude. Not really a money event!)

For this year's Ecuador chautauqua, I'll once again be speaking about money and meaning. (This is my life mission, after all!) Right now, it looks like I may also cover the nuts and bolts of FIRE — the basics — but that's not certain yet. And, as always, Cheryl will present on happiness and well-being.

I'm excited to be joined by some of my favorite colleagues:

Piggy and Kitty from Bitches Get Riches, which is one of my favorite money blogs. (I love it so much that I send them money every month via Patreon.) The Bitches think they'll be speaking about “how to lift as you climb”. What should you do with your financial independence? Share the wealth, contribute to the success of others, and use your newfound power and autonomy to help others achieve the same.

Tanja Hester from Our Next Life. I just had dinner with Tanja and Mark last Saturday. She told me that she hopes to talk about using money for good, toward purposeful ends. But she'll probably cover more about life after FI rather than the journey itself.

Want to join us? You should book a spot for the Ecuador chautauqua today!

Note that Tanja will host another week in Ecuador. That event — from August 22nd to August 29th — is only for women.

Fincon: Los Angeles (September 30th to October 3rd)

No surprise that I'll be at this year's Fincon Expo, the annual convention for money media — not just bloggers, but newspaper columnists, television journalists, and more. This year, to celebrate its tenth year, Fincon will be held in Los Angeles. (Long Beach, to be precise.)

At this point, I have no plans to speak at Fincon, but that will probably change. I'm sure I'll end up on a panel, or moderating a panel, or participating in some other way. The Fincon folks have become my family. I love them. (And, in fact, I'm writing this while on a week-long ski trip with 25 other Finconners!)

Other Possibilities

It's possible that I'll add other travel and/or speaking to my year, but it's unlikely. If I do anything else, it'll probably be to fly to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to help remodel the caboose commune.

A few folks in the FI blogging crowd have begun to buy adjacent units from an old caboose hotel. The group currently owns three cabeese, and may soon add a fourth. Two of the cabeese need hard-core renovations, so we're hoping to get together for a work party. But whether I can join the fun is currently up in the air.

I may also be able to make it to one of the Camp FI retreats held across the U.S. I love these gatherings, but it's getting more and more difficult to justify the expense of traveling to them. If I can make it fit with other travel, I'm glad to go. (Camp FI is an outgrowth of Camp Mustache. It's generally held on holiday weekends at retreat centers around the U.S.)

Lastly, there's a small chance that I'll return to Europe this winter to re-visit the Christmas markets. My cousin Duane continues to defy the odds and beat his throat cancer (yay!). He's hinted that he'd like to repeat our trip from December 2018. I would too, and maybe Kim could join us this time. We'll see. I'm guessing that we'll start serious planning for this in October if it still seems appealing.

As always, I'm happy to meet with GRS readers when they find themselves in Portland — especially if they're able to come my direction. Now that I have office space in Lake Oswego, that makes a perfect meeting space. Let me know if you come to town! We can meet up for beer or coffee — or a dog walk.

The post My travel and speaking schedule for 2020 appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/my-travel-and-speaking-schedule/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[edivupage]

How Effective Screen Time Tears Down Barriers to Early Learning

      For many of the country’s most vulnerable kids, a blended approach including 15 minutes of online learning a day is the key to success in kindergarten and beyond.

By Benjamin Heuston, PhD

One of the concerns that I hear about the most in early childhood education is around young children and screen time. You can often tell someone’s stripes by the way he or she frames the issue: it’s a no-brainer when phrases like “being exposed to a screen” or “leveraging technology” are used. If you’re ever bored at an early education conference, you can always bring it up and watch the ensuing fray. Not since the reading wars has there been such a broad hot-button issue in early education, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

At the risk of being burned in effigy, it’s worth trying to bring some common sense and rationality to this endless debate. After working for almost a quarter-century at the intersection of technology and education with researchers, policymakers, parents, teachers, and children, I think it’s safe to say that there are some things that we know—and quite a few more that we can reasonably surmise—from which we can chart a practical path forward.

Focus First on the Child Let’s start (as I believe we always should) with the child. There is no debate around the fact that children are natural learners. No matter where a child is—inside, outside, standing on her head—that child is sponging up everything that’s around her. We don’t need to worry about “enticing” a child to learn. That’s already built in. Likewise, there is little to no debate around the fact that young children do not just learn in “formal” ways but much more often through what is loosely termed “play,” whether that’s with a friend (real or imaginary), or going for a walk, or digging in the dirt. All of these things are widely accepted and agreed-upon.

But children do not just learn through hands-on experiences; they (like adults) are visual learners as well. Starting from birth, where the focal length of a newborn is from the breast to the face of the mother, children learn by observing visual cues. In the same way that adults might benefit from a video showing them how to fix something around the house, young children can learn from watching an educational video, and it’s therefore not surprising to note that teachers have used videos in classrooms for years.

So, if everyone, both inside and outside of education, seems to agree that children can and do learn in a variety of ways, including from screens, what’s all of the fuss about? At the risk of oversimplifying, what appears to be at the heart of this discussion are two main concerns: the amount of time that children spend with screens and the quality of that time.

Quality and Quantity of Screen Time The American Association of Pediatrics has provided parents with clear, helpful guidelines about how to construct a family media-use plan that addresses both of these issues. For instance, for young children ages two to five, it recommends no longer than one hour per day of digital screen time, and it further stipulates that the content should be high-quality.

In my experience, these guidelines are both practical and powerful. There’s a reason why screens are proliferating in our lives: it’s not just that they’re less expensive, it’s that they’re downright useful, and as they continue to get better with each technological jump, odds are that they’re going to increasingly be woven into our everyday lives. Eventually, screens are going to become, like all mature technology does, transparent in the sense that we’ll stop referring to it on its own and instead focus on what it allows us to accomplish.

How Technology Helps Take the area of early literacy, for example. It is widely acknowledged that a key component of school success rests on a child learning to read and eventually being able to read to learn. Children who enter school without the proper preliteracy experiences often struggle to keep up with their peers and only rarely are able to catch up. One of the ways that states have sought to proactively address this need is by fostering high-quality preschool centers that support early literacy.

But as anyone in early education will tell you, this is a not a perfect solution. Many families in America do not live anywhere near a center of excellence. In fact, here in Utah we have one school district the size of Rhode Island with 14 four-year-olds and another district that’s larger than Massachusetts with 226. It’s not just impractical to bring these children to one central location, it’s illegal: it’s considered cruel and unusual punishment to keep the kids strapped into car seats that long. Add in other vulnerable populations like refugees, migrant families who cross state lines, and the homeless, and you begin to see that “universal” preschool is a difficult goal at best.

So, Utah decided that, instead of bringing the children to school to learn about literacy, it would find a way to bring literacy into the home. Now in its 10th year, the Waterford UPSTART program has done just that, at no cost, for tens of thousands of families, and the results are turning heads around the country. The idea behind the program is blessedly simple: help parents engage more with their children’s education and help the children master the key preliteracy skills that they need to be confident and competent when they reach school.

From the child’s point of view, the program is a series of games, puzzles, books, songs, and activities that they use for 15 minutes each day, five days a week. The program adapts to each child’s individual needs and is self-pacing, so while the parents are welcome to sit alongside and watch, the software can be run independently by the child.

Promoting Success for Parents and Students One of the key components of our work is that we support the parents all the way through the program. We reach out to parents on a regular basis and talk with them about how their children are doing. And because it’s a cloud-based program, we’re able to see how much each child is using it on a daily basis, and we actually intervene with parents when we see kids using it too much.

It’s like aspirin: You don’t want to take too much and you don’t want to take too little. Fifteen minutes is well within the age-appropriate range, and it’s an amount of time during which even young children can maintain their focus. That ability to focus is very important for children when they get to school. Children who have never been in a formal learning environment are not generally capable of sitting down and focusing on the tasks that school requires. Learning to focus the mind and to be task-oriented takes a long time and a lot of repetition for a child to learn, and a regular regimen helps foster this critical ability.

Early reading is one of the hardest things that any of us ever do. Children who work with our program 15 minutes a day, five days a week for an entire school year learn to do hard things. They develop a genuine sense of accomplishment, and the benefits are ongoing.

Children who participate in Waterford UPSTART at age four outperform their peers on state literacy assessments in the fourth grade. That’s not necessarily just because they learned the letters better years ago. It’s because their parents are much more engaged with their schooling, and they’re coming into school with a sense of wellbeing. They’re coming in with a sense of accomplishment and a love for learning. That is the birthright we want every child to have: access to an excellent education.

Through this program, we are able to strengthen families and reach every child—even when that means building solar panels and bringing in satellite internet. And we’re not asking parents to learn the arcane differences between phonological and phonemic awareness; the software can take care of that so we free parents up to talk with their child and have those meaningful back-and-forth interactions that build vocabulary and help children learn important social skills.

The Conversation We Need to Have About Managing Screen Time Where does this leave us when it comes to screen time? First off, we need to recognize that screens for children have the same opportunities and pitfalls that they hold for adults—nothing more, nothing less. Children who use screens in appropriate measure and for high-quality content are not just going to be fine, but arguably could be advantaged in the same way that we all are when we have access to other technological tools. But in the same way that we don’t let children choose what to eat for dinner, or when to go to bed, it’s vital that young children be taught the appropriate use of these tools and given the support they need to ensure that it is only one facet of what should be a rich and varied life.

And that might be part of the problem. What this means is that parents and educators who work with young children now have an additional task before them: the management of screen time. That’s new and uncomfortable and more work than it’s been in the past. But in the same way that we learned to put appropriate guidelines around other technologies like TVs or MP3 players, I’m optimistic that we will be able to move past the current emotional debate and instead focus on helping our children successfully navigate both the challenges and the opportunities of our rapidly changing world.

Benjamin Heuston, PhD, is president and chief executive officer at the nonprofit Waterford.org.

The post How Effective Screen Time Tears Down Barriers to Early Learning appeared first on The Edvocate.

How Effective Screen Time Tears Down Barriers to Early Learning published first on https://sapsnkra.tumblr.com

[dorothyd89]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

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[fitnetpro]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids published first on http://ift.tt/2kRppy7

[ruthellisneda]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

http://ift.tt/2m4LVW7

[albertcaldwellne]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

http://ift.tt/2m4LVW7

[johnclapperne]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

http://ift.tt/2m4LVW7

[neilmillerne]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

http://ift.tt/2m4LVW7

[joshuabradleyn]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

###

http://ift.tt/2m4LVW7

[almajonesnjna]

A Nerd’s Guide to Gaming with Kids

This is an article from Rebel Correspondent and Parenting and Mental Health Wizard, Dan.

Back in the early 90’s my older brother and I were playing Dragster on the Atari 2600 when our father walked in and looked over our shoulders for a minute. We expected the typical, “Alrighty boys, time to do something else,” but to our surprise, for the first time we got, “It’s my turn next.”

I remember him fumbling with the controller, blowing the Dragster’s engine several times, and explaining to us the best timing for gear changes.

The reason this sticks in my memory so clearly is because we were spending time together, learning and enjoying something different that we all loved.

Because home video games were so foreign to my father’s generation, gaming with your children was never seen as an acceptable pastime and way to spend with your kids.

However, those of us who grew up playing the Atari, NES and Genesis have come to see videogames, if facilitated properly, as another way to bring together generations and create some quality bonding time.

Like a lot of Rebels, I have always loved video games, and now that I’m a father to three, I’m beginning to see the wonderful benefits, along with the dangerous pitfalls, that gaming with my children has to offer.

Gaming and kids can be a controversial topic for parents – some are all for it, while others are dead against it. So today we’re going to weigh up benefits and problems on this issue, to help you make your own educated decisions with when it comes to your own kids, nephews and nieces, or any other children, be it now or in the future.

GOOD GAMING

If we believe what we’ve heard from the media since the release of Mortal Kombat (wow, was it really 1992?), video games are literally the worst thing ever for anyone under the age of 21. However, when we dig a little deeper, lots of actual research indicates that it may not all be gloom and DOOM (get it?).

Research has established that under the right circumstances, video games can be very beneficial to your child’s developmental, educational, social and emotional needs.

Now, whether it’s beneficial will depend on certain factors:

how much time your child spends gaming

what type of games your child plays

why your child is playing games

if they are playing alone or with someone

Developmentally, video games can improve your child’s:

hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills

problem-solving, strategy and planning, decision-making and logic skills

ability to set and achieve goals and time management skills

Emotionally, video games may help them feel:

less stressed – video games can be a way to manage mood or ‘let off steam’

capable of doing something well – their self-esteem can grow as their skills as a gamer does

connected to other people – particularly with online play (more about that later)

Socially, games may help a child:

strengthen existing friendships and make new ones – both online and IRL

learn to play fairly and take turns – (a concept my kids have yet to learn, unfortunately)

feel closer to family and friends – especially when you all play games together.

Video games can have some educational benefits too. These include helping your child get better at:

remembering things and critical thinking – I know the power of memory and video games personally; the Konami Code has been etched in my brain for decades

recognizing and understanding visual information

understanding concepts like mathematics, learning new words, navigation, and more.

All these things aside, the reason I, and many other parents, play video games with their children is because it’s an awesome bonding experience.

Researchers from Arizona State University explain,“Parents miss a huge opportunity when they walk away from playing video games with their kids….often parents don’t understand that many video games are meant to be shared and can teach young people about science, literacy and problem solving.

Gaming with their children also offers parents countless ways to insert their own ‘teaching moment’.”

Gaming with kids certainly has its benefits in terms of development and creating some special time between you and the kids. There’s nothing like multiplayer Mario Kart family nights, coaching your child through a level you learnt at their age, seeing their face light up as they conquer a difficult challenge, or just absolutely schooling them in NBA 2K, but there are certainly some downsides when it comes to mixing kids and gaming, so be sure to do so wisely.

BAD GAMING

Like anything, particularly with developing little minds and bodies, gaming should be done in moderation. Issues can certainly arise when kids are spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time playing outside, getting some exercise, hanging with friends in real life, and just doing regular kid stuff.

We want our children to live their life, not a second life!

Along with the issues that come with inactivity playing video games too much can lead to:

stress

poor performance at school

poor sleep or not enough sleep

mental health problems

and square eyes (according to my mum, an expert in this field who still calls a PS4 ‘The Sega’)

Excessive gaming can be detrimental to developing minds, and we all know how easy it is to get lost in a great game. Who else has ever said ‘I’ll just play for an hour’ and then suddenly it’s next Tuesday? So be sure to supervise younger children and keep tabs of how long older children are gaming.

To avoid this trap, it’s important is being able to provide your child with alternatives to gaming that they find stimulating and engaging that you can do together.

For starters, try:

Board Games

Live Action Role Play

Sports – Take 2K to the driveway

Explore the outdoors

Catch up with families with similar aged children together

Get active – Play, Swim, Jump, Chase, Hide, Seek. Just spend some time being a kid with your kid, you don’t need to overthink it.

Moderation and supervision are the ultimate tools needed here. I’m not going to try and answer the classic ‘how much should my X year old be playing games a week?’ question, because each child is totally different.

There are a range of (widely varying) guidelines available by ‘experts’ on the topic, but I’ve worked with children who play Minecraft for hours on end each day with zero impact on their development or wellbeing whatsoever, and also seen some children’s mental health and school grades deteriorate due to some very casual tablet gaming.

As a rule of thumb, if any aspect of your child’s wellbeing or regular routine is becoming disrupted as a result of gaming, start implementing strategies with them to address these behaviors.

This could be simply setting a gaming schedule or working on a contract together, disabling the wifi after a certain hour, or seeking professional help.

UGLY GAMING

Even as video game lovers and supporters, we can’t deny that there is a really dark side to gaming, and this force can be especially strong on our younger rebels. 

As we gamers know, the media loves to talk about violence in video games. Although there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of violent video games and violence in general, I agree that violent video games are not appropriate for younger children. This is because at a young age, many kids find it hard to tell the difference between fantasy and real-life, and witnessing violent content can not only upset younger children, but impact on their perceptions towards violence in reality.

But for older children…it’s not so clear cut. Once again, our mates ‘The Experts’ can’t seem to all agree on whether violent video games lead to aggression in real life, but I think the vast majority of us who have played a violent video game aren’t planning on shooting up the neighborhood any time soon.

If you’re in doubt about whether a game may be appropriate for your child:

Read some reviews – our favorite source is IGN.com

Watch some Twitch or YouTube gameplay

Even play the game yourself (Any excuse will do, right? After 87 hours of gameplay and selfless research, I have now concluded that Grand Theft Auto V is probably not suitable for my 3 and 5 year olds).

You know your child the best, so do your research and before calling the shots. As with every aspect of parenting, you’re not always going to make the right decision, but that’s all part of the fun (and also why I got to play Mortal Kombat at the age of 7).

If you’re having concerns about the types of games your child is playing, have a talk with them about it. Share your own values, and ask for theirs. Speak with them about how to properly deal with anger, respectful relationships with the opposite sex, and what they’re gaining from gaming.

By showing an interest in their gaming, you can keep a line of communication open, which can be vitally important throughout the adolescent years.

Online Gaming

In addition to violence, in recent years online game play has opened up a whole new can of worms with younger gamers.

As with any social situation bullying can happen online. (Feel free to join any Call of Duty match if you don’t believe me. According to my competitors, my mother has become quite fond of many 14-year old American boys).

Jokes aside, bullying is a real issue with many children and adolescents and if left unnoticed and not dealt with, in extreme circumstances, the consequences can be devastating. Our children can also be taken advantage of in online games via the world of microtransactions and shady game developers deliberately exploiting our children for cash.

I know parents who have installed “Free to Download and Play” children’s’ apps on their tablets, only to receive huge credit card bills the next month because they left their password saved on the device and their child had unknowingly been paying for DLC every few minutes of gameplay. So also be sure to protect yourself in these instances.

As with any online activities, when your child is gaming online, they are interacting with strangers. So ensure your child knows how to stay safe online, and knows they can speak to you about anything they see or hear without getting in trouble.

Finally, we get to the really ugly beast of Gaming Addiction. Games have always been enjoyable and rewarding, they provide us with clear goals, measures of success and achievement.

We as humans love this kind of stuff, but since the instant feedback nature of games works at such a faster time scale than our choices in real life, gaming can also contribute to players (particularly young players) developing addictions if they become the only ways in which a person experiences these rewards and achievements in their life.

Recognizing when the gaming has changed from a form of enjoyment way to meet some or all of these psychological needs is difficult, but if you feel that gaming may be impacting aspects of your child’s (or your) life, start by questioning why this is so and exploring what is missing from their life that is contributing to this.

Yes, there are pitfalls and a big dark side when it comes to mixing games and children, but if we educate ourselves and our children and communicate well, most of this can be counteracted with supervision and moderation.

For starters, try keeping all consoles or devices in a common area of the house. Not only will you be able to keep an eye on the game content and time spent gaming, but it will give you an opportunity to game and interact with each other.

START, PAUSE OR EXIT, IT’S UP TO YOU.

So there we have it: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. Nobody knows your child better than you, and what works for one child may not always work for another.

Educate yourselves, try a few different approaches, know the risks and how to avoid these.  Like a lot of aspects of raising kids, when it comes to video games, the healthiest approach is moderation.

Playing video games in moderation and balancing video games with other activities are the keys to avoiding most problems that can come with gaming.

Any parent quickly realises how little time their kids stay kids, so it’s vital to spend some special time with them doing things you both love. Whether that be gaming or something else, make sure your child is safe and enjoying themselves.

And as a parent to three younger rebels just starting to game, I want to hear from you:

Gaming with kids, yay or nay?

What games do you love playing with your children?

What alternatives to gaming work well for you?

What challenges have you found with kids gaming, and how did you work through it?

Did anyone actually get square eyes in the 90’s?

Let us know in the comments!

-Dan

photo credit: clement127: Sweet family, kid with controller, ps4 controller, greyscale xbox controller, Dan Schmidt.

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