Video games and children - top tips for parents

Video games and children is a hot topic - so what's the best way to add parents and carers to the mix? If you're looking for tips on how to approach video gaming with young kids, here's my video games guide on how to get the most from these games :

Check the video game ratings of all games your child plays

Whether it's games your child is playing that belong to an older sibling or family friend, a game that your child wants to buy themselves, or a game they are wanting for their birthday or Christmas - make sure you check the rating.

EC or "Early Childhood" rated video games are suitable for kids of 3 years old and up. E or "Everyone" rated games are for kids of six and older, and "may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language".

For more info about ratings for video games and children, you can check video game titles at the Entertainment Software Rating Board website, where you'll also find a full explanation of what the ratings mean.

Whether playing online games, or reading books or magazines, or watching movies or TV programs, you'll want to know that what your child is reading, watching or listening to is suitable for their age and stage of development. The same holds true for video games.

Set time limits

Younger children are often happy to spend twenty minutes or so doing one activity, before zooming off to do something else.

Sometimes they really get "into" things, don't they.... and they only want to do that activity all day and nothing else - be it playing with trains, painting, arranging the dollshouse, or watching a favorite movie again and again.

You might not worry about your child wanting to run around in the yard all day, or spend hours and hours coloring in pictures of pets! Activities involving video games and children might make you think twice, though. You might not want your child to sit looking at a small screen of a handheld video game all day; and you might start to worry if they start to get so much into the video game that they never want to go and do anything else.

If your child starts to spend too long playing video games

set a time limit
tell your child how long they have to play
set a time when they will need to finish playing their game
and let them know what you will be doing afterwards

Spend time playing video games alongside your children

Little kids love you to get involved. So play the games yourself, sit next to your child from time to time while they're playing and chat to them about how they're doing and what's happening.

This way you will be familiar with what the game is about; your child can chat to you about the game knowing you are interested in it; and it won't seem strange to your child that you want to be involved with their video gaming.

This approach to the often-debated video games and children dilemma makes it easier for you to talk about video games with your child; if your child feels that he or she can have safe fun with video games, and that this is something you are fine with and are familiar with, it's easier a little later on to explain to your child that some games - like some movies or TV programs - are not suitable for them.

Vary your child's activities throughout the day

Making video games just one part of your child's many activities is a healthy way to incorporate these games into your routine. It's like most things in life - all things in moderation! Hard to keep to sometimes, but you get the idea.

And so we go full circle - choosing appropriately rated video games for your child which match the other child- friendly activities your child does during the day means there doesn't have to be a clash between your child's video games fun and other types of fun.

Top of Video Games and Children | Back to Kids Video Games

Little Kids' Games Online Home