PC Game Counter-Strike Sharpens Vision

Hi,

TODAY 30 March 2009 reported that a study showed that the fast paced PC game, Counter-Strike, improves vision.

Far from being harmful to eyesight, action games like Counter-Strike provide excellent training for what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity.

Contrast sensitivity is the ability to notice tiny changes in shades of grey against a uiform background, and is critical to everyday activities such as night driving and reading.

It often degrades with age.

Of course, excessive gaming or addiciton is bad!

BTW, it was also reported last year that surgeons trained or enhanced their pinhole surgery abilities by playing PS2 consoles.

As mentioned in my earlier posting on gaming, the whole family including my maid is now playing Bejeweled Twist and it provided some bonding amongst us. We also notice that Jason picked up the game very fast and his eye can see the pattern so much faster than us. After teaching us his strategies, all of us started to have very high scores now.

So do not condemn gaming totally as it is more of managing it well within the family even though it can be additive at times but with family support, it can be more of an entertainment and family bonding too.

Happy Gaming!

David

P.S. BTW, the community is supporting gaming as I just came across a gaming competition amongst schools at Funan IT Mall during the recent one week school holiday. One of the popular games now is World Tour Guitar Hero and it was the main feature of the tournament too.

Gaming - Parents Be Aware

Hi,

I have written about gaming earlier but am compelled to say a few more words about it since there was this article published recently.


We cannot run away from gaming or deprieve our kids from it as they are born into this digital age.

Importantly, I must stress that parents must be aware of the gaming that they are involved and manage it well.

Do not fall into the trap whereby you used gaming to keep them occupied and give you some free time or time to do your chores.

If you get involved and manage it well early, I do not see any problem with gaming.

If you only notice the addiction or so-called violence in your kids when they are in their early teens or puberty, it will be very tough indeed to correct them.


Jason was exposed to PC gaming at the early age of 4 but I was there to guide him and even played with him.

At one stage, we have PS2 and Xbox consoles in addition to PC. If managed well, all these can be home entertainment and help in family bonding.

The latest craze is the Wii and it has been reported that family members got together to play games like tennis and golf.

Jason wanted one but I refused his request as he wanted to play this game, Guitar Hero.

He has 3 real or proper guitars so why has a game to press buttons on a toy guitar, I asked him! He told me it is the challenge to play the game.

Anyway, I managed to convince him that it is a bit too expensive as a set will cost about S$500 and his guitar is about SS$300. I rather upgrade his guitar instead than a toy guitar, make sense isn't it?

You may also want to read my earlier posts at

http://parentingmemoriesofmychild.blogspot.com/2008/12/gaming-consoles-like-ps2-xbox-psp.html

http://parentingmemoriesofmychild.blogspot.com/2008/12/early-exposure-to-pc-gaming.html

http://parentingmemoriesofmychild.blogspot.com/2009/02/beware-computer-obsessed-kids.html

Our children are known as Digital Natives and we the Digital Immigrants....!

Happy Parenting.....

David

P.S. BTW, the whole family ,including our maid, is now playing this PC game called Bejeweled Twist. We are competing yet sharing strategies on how to get the highest score. So if we manage it well, this can also bond us in addition to being a source of family entertainment.

Spending Time With Your Kids

Hi,


Typically, mothers are the ones that spent the most time with their kids unless both parents are working.

Eventually, the children reach puberty and they will like to be on their own and have friends to hang around. Not so cool to be seen with the parents.....

In no time, your children will be working and the parents are retired and start to miss the children!

It is true so think about it and start spending more time with your children especially during the period when they are below 10 years old.




This article sums up well what I am trying to say above.

I tried to make weekend family time but with the many CCAs spilling into the weekends, we are losing our family time lately.



But we really make an effort to have dinner together or just watching a movie, TV or just hanging around in our study room.




Play your role as their parents now and not when you are retired and lonely at home but they have already started their own career and family too.

It is all about time management and making an effort to make it happen.

Many things can wait for us but not your growing children who really needs you more than you know.

So start today if you feel that you have not been making time for your kids!

David

Jason's 16th Birthday

Hi,

17 March 2009 is Jason's 16th birthday......!

We have dinner last Saturday at Swenson restaurant and then his birthday cake at home.


Time flies and Jason is 16 today.... he will be going out with some friends this evening to celebrate his birthday.









He indicated what he would like to have for his present and he wanted a surprise when I tried to discuss with him on what we should get for him.



So we bought him a MP3 with a large 2.5 " screen and it can play video too. He loves it!

We bought a Happy Birthday banner for him too to make it special this year.

Happy Sweet 16th Birthday, Jason!

Loves,

Mum & Daddy Poh

Garage Sale

Hi,

We bought so many toys for Jason when he was young and some were gifts from friends too.

One day, we talked about it and I suggested having a garage sale so that we can use the money to buy new toys and also recover some storage space too.

We went through the toys and selected what we wanted to sell and I put stick-it notes with prices on them.

We also make up a garage sale notice and photocopy 100 copies to advertise our sale.

One evening we walked around the neighbouring streets to put the notices into our neighbours mailing boxes. Mid-way, Jason complained that he was tired but I forced him to complete the job.

So on the garage sale day, a Sunday, we displayed those toys at our car porch and waited for our customers.

Honestly, we did not expected to have such a poor response. We only got 2 families dropping by and made 2 sales only.

By 4pm, Jason wanted to close shop but I told him that the notice said we closed at 5pm so we have to honour it.

It was indeed an interesting experience for us and I hope Jason learned something from it too.

He looked like one of those workers in the hawker centres with a pouch around his waist.....isn't he cute...!

You sould try something like this with your kids too and good luck too!

David

Some Old Photos Of Jason

Hi,

I found a few of these old photos of Jason that brought back memories of his growing up.

Thinking back, I missed those days and I even remember that telling him that I hope time could stood still.

Jason was so cute as a young kid then and I enjoyed playing with him so much; eg soccer, wrestling on the bed,....

Jason playing PS2 with his best friend, Ryan Tay.

Ryan & his family has gone to live in Geelong, Australia now.

Jason and Ryan posing as .....PowerRangers..?

Notice that both of them are wearing England soccer jersey too!

Jason in his Spiderman costume.

Jason posing as The ROCK.....look at his left eyebrow......!

Well, some of you must be objecting to your kids being exposed to such a 'violent' sport but all I can say is that parents must be involved in your kids interests and manage them well.

Jason has lost interest in wrestling and move on to other teenager interests now.

But what a cute photo...!

BTW, I am donating the 2 wrestling belts to Red Cross soon....they are not cheap either so hopefully, some parents should find them a good bargain for their kids.

David