Early Exposure To PC Gaming

Hi,

There was some news on gaming addiction in the papers so here is my experiences with Jason.

Be prepared to be shocked....!

As I am in the IT profession, I have a PC at home for work.

I was keen to introduce Jason to educational software and I bought a few especially those on learning Mandarin.

During one visit to Challenger at Funan IT Mall, Jason was watching some kids playing the game, The Age of Empire. He was interested and got me keen on it too. BTW, I was not into any gaming at all then.

So I bought it and then we tried to play it. I was no good at it and Jason was still not schooling yet so he cannot read the instructions on the screen. Jason cried when our soldiers got killed! I was up to my wits as it was my first time on gaming. I actually went to the Internet to buy an instruction manual to learn how to play, for USD5 I think. Downloaded it and read it in one go but it did not help much other than giving me the bakground to the game but did not teach me how to fight and not die!

Somehow, we managed to overome the problem and it motivated him to learn to read English else cannot follow the instructions on the screen,

Importantly, I made him rest after every hour and since he did not know how to switch on the PC then, we only played in the evening.

He never really spent much time on all the educational software so I gave up on it and father and son got into playing more games. Mum also got into a few of his games and played with him, one of them is Road Runner I think. It is a game where you are riding on a motorbike and using weapons to beat your opponents who are along on their bikes too....! Ha...ha..... Shocked?

I would have to played with him and showed him how to go about it as he was only 4 years old then! I know many of you may not approve of it ...!

I think the important thing is to be involved and educate your kid what is good and bad or what is real and entertainment only, as you cannot escape all these things in our daily life. You cannot paint an unreal world where there is no such thing as violence or bad guys or things out there but you create awareness and teach the kids how to deal with it.

Anyway, Jason got me sucked into gaming and sometimes he would have gone to bed by mid-night but I would continue playing till 1am to move up to the levels. It also became a distraction from my work stress. It may looked like I was addicted to it for a short period but importantly, I was able to walk away from it anytime and not ignore my family or work.

One observation though. As Jason was exposed to PC gaming early under our guidance, he was able not to be addicted to it and took it as another learning experience or phase in his growing years. His cousins or friends who were only exposed to it or learned about it when they started Primary school, became so intrigued by it that they neglected their school work. Whereas it was like no big deal for him as he has been playing PC games years ago.

I think early controlled exposure is good provided the parents are involved and give adequate guidance. But you have to decide on it based on your own principle and background or beliefs, what is good for your kids.

Similarly, for watching TV and other console gaming like PSP, Ninendo....