Hello, folks. My name is Stephanie Kuzy Jenkins and I'm here to tell you all about the horrible, irreparable, gruesome, unspeakable damage that video games are inflicting upon your child. Yes, yours!
Just kidding. Let's start this thing off a little less menacing, shall we?
This is me:
Once I became a mother, naturally I wanted to research all that I could about the subject in order to prepare myself to be the best I could be for Felicity. I learned a lot simply by reading other parents' experiences with raising children, and some things required me to draw my own conclusion. There's only so much you can learn from a computer screen, and the rest has to come from hands-on experience, mistakes and all. Coming from a "non-traditional" parent's viewpoint has been a learning experience as well. Pinterest and Tumblr became my very best friends on the days when Felicity was at school and I was off work, and I would spend hours perusing them trying to get the best ideas and activities for Lissie and I to do together.
I am a firm believer in "Active Parenting", that is, being actively and continuously involved in raising your child. Children gather your level of affection based on how much interest you show in the things they enjoy. My idea of active parenting on an entertainment level involves being interested and excited about the things Lissie likes, experiencing them together with her, and also offering to show her things that I am interested in (that are age appropriate for her, of course.)
However, when I was browsing these parenting sites and advice columns, I noticed something a little disheartening to me. Almost every website, while promoting a healthy and holistic lifestyle (something I strive for) also denounced video games and other electronic media as "terrible for children's social skills", "detrimental to brain development", "an absolute nightmare for child growth" and worse. As an avid gamer and Geek Mom myself, I was devastated. Video games are a huge part of my life. I have really fond memories of learning to play them with my Dad when I was growing up, and a lot of my school friends, even from a young age, were the video game geeks like myself who would come over for a play date and play Mario Kart or Pokemon with me. I consider myself very well adjusted, with no more troubles than the average adolescent struggled with, and I've certainly never gotten into any sort of violence-related trouble.
When I stopped to think about it, though, I started to understand where some of these websites might be coming from. Working at the GameStore, while giving me the opportunity to meet and befriend several awesome gamers such as myself and interact with other Baby Geeks and their Geek Moms, has also shown me a dark, nasty underside of the electronic world. First Controversial Statement Of The Blog: It is highly inappropriate to let your child play games such as Grand Theft Auto. Games that feature (predominantly, I might add!) content such as drugs, rape, prostitution, burglary, murder, and assault are simply not acceptable to give to your child.
Whenever a parent would come up to my counter holding the offending M-rated game, I would always say: "I would like to warn you that this game contains mature content and is not suitable for children under the age of 17."
"Yeah, he watches cable TV." The parent would sometimes say offhandedly.
"This game contains drugs, sex, and murder." I'd insist. "It's really recommended for older players."
"I don't care. Let him have it, it's what he wants." The parent would say, rolling their eyes.
It was interactions like these that made me ANGRY. I'm ANGRY that these games, while fun for older audiences, are affecting children as young as five or six. I'm ANGRY that parents are taking a media that I love and have thrived in and are using it to harm their children. This is not how video games were intended to be used. This is not what I have spent the past 10 years defending vehemently to anyone who says that video games are bad. And I am very angry that this has polluted what could be an awesome way to bond and encourage children.
Let me also add something here: This isn't a blog to hate on Grand Theft Auto. I've played it. I enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed stealing the Taco Truck out of the hospital parking lot and driving it straight into the lake while a vaguely-Latino man chased after me yelling "Nooooo! My tacos! You crashed my tacos!!!" This isn't a blog to tell adults what they can and can't play, nor is it intended to be a judgmental blog towards people who choose to play games for themselves that have a mature rating.
There are far too many blogs that will tell you that the solution is to ban all video games from your child and to restrict all electronic media from your home. This is not one of those. This is a blog to promote and assist in responsible electronically-friendly parenting. Video games were a great part of my childhood and I am enjoying every second I get to share them with my own daughter. I truly believe that with proper supervision and a commitment to active parenting, any form of electronic entertainment can be turned into a great experience for both parents and children alike, resulting in awesome benefits for the child such as increased motor skills, higher reading level, a closer parent-child bond, and boosted confidence.
My blog will be focused on mine and Felicity's experiences together, daily or weekly, and the benefits I see her getting from the time we spend together. I'll also be writing reviews of games and featuring a weekly Game Of The Week that I recommend for parents of children of certain ages. My hope is that Geek Parents such as myself will find a place where they can feel comfortable with their decision to let their child play video games, and maybe even to be a resource for parents who have children that play video games, but were not very experienced with video games themselves, and need a little guidance on what they can do to make that experience a positive one. I'm also coming from a "non-traditional" parent standpoint, being a stepmother, and I'm sure some of my posts will reflect that as well. Felicity's mother and I have a very friendly relationship, which has been great for raising her in a resentment-free environment with open access to all her family members on all sides. Remember-- the only parent in the world that knows your child as well as you do is YOU. So read with your own discretion, enjoy the little tidbits of parenting that I share here, and Happy Gaming!!
My Lissie and I love Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Mario, Donkey Kong, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and we have just started Kingdom Hearts together! The next post will be about how I got the inspiration to start this blog in the first place: when I heard her exclaim with excitement "I did it all by myself!"
May the Force be with you...
-Steph
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