Why do parents let their (young) kids play video games all the time?

United States
January 7, 2007 8:57am CST
First off, I'm not a perfect parent by any means. There are probably a lot of things I do that others might find fault with, so I am not here to judge. I'm just curious why there are so many parents who let their kids play video games seemingly ALL the time... then (for example) come on here and complain about how they can't get their kids to play outside, or to read books?! I have a few cousins who are now in their teens, who were pretty much handed a game system at the age of 2. They mastered those things right away, and I can tell you that their social lives, and their school work, suffered because of it. But instead of really doing anything about it, the parents bought MORE games, bought BETTER systems, etc.. After seeing how my cousins were (not to mention my husband and I don't have the money to waste on this stuff anyway), we decided this was not how we were going to raise our kids. Our children are both under the age of 5, but we do not have anything more than 2 or 3 "plug n' play" games in our house, which are rarely ever used. There are no gameboys, or nintendos or anything of the sort. The kids do play on my computer for about a half hour or so a day (on sites like Disney, Noggin, Nick Jr, etc), but that's it. They don't have a tv or computer in their rooms, either. My kids both really enjoy reading, love playing outside, and actually play with the toys they own. LOL Some of the parents I've seen on mylot claim that kids this age don't like reading, and only care about toys and video games anyway. Um, I beg to differ. They know what they are taught. If you show your kids that reading is fun and exciting, they're more likely to want to read. If you don't introduce a game system until they're older, then they won't become hooked when they're still in diapers. LOL Or am I just crazy?
2 responses
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
8 Jan 07
im a parent but i have some certain schedules which my children should follow after that i allow them to watch or play games...i dont know about the others though..
• United States
8 Jan 07
Setting a time limit is good. I know one of my cousins who ended up obsessed, was only on a timer (as far as I know) when he had company. And that was so he had to share. LOL
@xelissa (776)
• New Zealand
17 Jan 07
Probably kids like to have heaps of bonding time with their parents and rather to have fun with gaming.