the Adventures of the Maffeoberries: Gaming with the Xbox

Ramona and Beezus have found the wonderful world of video games!

Many parents might turn their noses up at video game play. As far as I am concerned video games create problem solving skills, hand eye coordination (yeah, I said that), incentive to learn to read, and provides a great positive motivator for the girls to keep their room clean, do their homework and even learn anger management strategies. The kinnect has even increased their physical exercise. This is hard for me to believe on occasion, but I have heard my daughters complain about sore muscles the next day. Shocking. I do not suggest the kinnect for all forms of exercise. I do send the girls off to gymnastics once to twice a week. Of course living in the Midwest requires being house bound during the winter and as a result I have used the TV for yoga/Pilates and my indoor eliptical for exercise.

Recently I am very grateful for the positive motivation viedo games provides. This is one of the few positive motivators that truly inspire my children daily, for even 30 minutes of play, to take care of their chores. My girls know each day they can have video game time provided they have cleaned their room, have completed 20 minutes of reading, have completed at least two lessons on IXL (or other Internet learning sites) and keep their temper in check while playing.

Video games can be aggravating; however, nothing yet has motivated my kids to take a deep breath and calm themselves like a timeout from their video game time. (I have another post on the way about helping children utilize mindfulness techniques to calm themselves and helpful tips from moms groups on settling arguments.)

Keep in mind I am referring to games rated E for everyone. Nothing violent or inappropriate. AND too much video game time is associated with negative affects. The key to good affects are light usage, "good games" with stories and puzzles and are age appropriate.

I looked up benefits of video games for kids from other sources:

A recent study from the Education Development Center and the U.S. Congress-supported Ready To Learn (RTL) Initiative found that a curriculum that involved digital media such as video games could improve early literacy skills when coupled with strong parental and teacher involvement. Interestingly, the study focused on young children, and 4- and 5-year-olds who participated showed increases in letter recognition, sounds association with letters, and understanding basic concepts about stories and print. (Scott Steinberg, ABC News)

As Dr. Ezriel Kornel explains on WebMD.com, playing certain video games (e.g. Brain Age or Guitar Hero) can also improve hand-eye coordination, enhance split-second decision making and even, potentially, boost auditory perception. Just playing isn't enough, though, says Dr. Kornel. The key is that you have to be improving each time you play, because in order to improve you have to be learning. "Anytime the brain is in learning mode," Kornel says, "there are new synapses forming between the neurons. So you're creating thousands of connections that can then be applied to other tasks as well."